KNOWING JESUS

“Beloved: The way we may be sure that we know Jesus is to keep his commandments… This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked.” – 1 Jn. 2: 3, 5-6

What is it to know somebody? Just the other day I was introduced to a friend’s boyfriend. While we spent the evening hanging out, I am far from knowing him. As I reflect on the letter from John, I’m reminded of all the people who I would consider myself “knowing” and those whom I’ve met, maybe even spent time with, but whom I do not know. What separates these two categories? Perhaps John invites us into the answer – to walk as he walked, to walk with him. Those who know me well see all sides of me: my strengths, my joys, my struggles, my fears. They are by my side through it all, walking with me. The same is true for those I know well. They share their whole lives with me. Could this be the kind of knowing that John is talking about, that he is inviting us into? To share our lives so openly with God, to truly see God as more than ideals or morals so that we can create a deep knowing, a deep friendship with him?

I yearn to know God in this way, but somehow it doesn’t seem so easy. It seems like there is a hidden formula for creating this kind of relationship with God. But during this season of Jesus’ birth I’m reminded that Jesus came to be with us, to live with us. He came to eat, to walk, to fish, to recline, to meet with us. He came to show us how to know him – by treating him as any other good friend. To live with him and to share the hourly, daily, monthly, yearly journey of our life with him.

Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas

KNOWING JESUS