And he did not work many miracles there because of there lack of faith.
We read in today's gospel and intriguing narrative about Jesus going back home. He arrives at home, a very familiar face on very familiar turf surrounded by very familiar faces staring back him.
The people who grew up with him, walked on the same roads as Him, went to the same school as Him, worshiped in the same synagogue as Him, shopped at the same market as Him were astounded and confused and they took offense at Him.
The reality was they knew all about Him but they did not know Him. Knowledge about someone is very different than knowledge of someone.
They let this knowledge about Him become the foundation of the prejudice, the foundation of their judgment. Because they judged without knowing, they missed out on the miracle Jesus was so eager to give.
How often do we, who know about people, judge them before we actually know them and miss out on the miracle waiting to happen?
How do we discern the difference between knowledge about someone and knowledge of someone? True knowledge is meant to lead to compassion and love. False knowledge, superficial knowledge will always lead to judgment and prejudice and distance.
Do we know Jesus? Or do we just know about Him?
A detective story I once read made this declaration. If you want to guess who someone is then you keep your distance in front of them but if you want to know someone then you must follow behind them,stray when they stray, and walk where they walk, move when they move, and you begin to see what they see and then you shall discover true knowledge of then, true intimacy.
This is what devotional practices are about. They give us the opportunity to stay behind Jesus and walk where he walks and move when he moves and see what he sees. The way of the cross gives us the opportunity to walk with Christ and experience his conviction and earnestness, the rosary gives us an opportunity to live with Christ the mystery of his life, scripture gives us the opportunity to meet and converse with Christ and enter into a lively conversation, the Mass gives us an opportunity to sit with Christ on the last night before he died and see him give himself away.
We Know Him by following after Him, walking in his footsteps and thus getting to love what we know. Only then do we surrender those false judgments, only then do we move from having knowledge about Him to actually knowing Him, and then our faith grows; here we might begin to open up to experience the miracle He waits to give.
No comments:
Post a Comment