I believe that human beings have a deep need to be known, perhaps even deeper than our need to be loved. After all, real love presumes intimate knowledge of the one we love, all that is wonderful about them and much that is not. So I feel for Jesus when he realizes yet again how little his closest friends have really seen him, recognized his identity, what is most authentic and true about him:
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”
“All this time, and still you do not know me?” Naturally, today’s pop tune link goes to Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' If You Don’t Know Me By Now.* In fairness to the disciples, though, it must have been very hard to take at face value the things Jesus said about his union with his “father in heaven,” even with the amazing spiritual power he demonstrated. Surely he’s being metaphorical, symbolic, hyperbolic, they thought… Often we say the same things about this One whose truth we can never fully grasp.
No one can grasp the truth about another until we “walk a mile in their shoes.” Our sacred story tells us that Jesus came in human flesh to walk many miles in our shoes. How might we walk in his sandals? By letting his Spirit, whom we name Holy, fill us. By truly being His Body in the world. By entering into conversation with him in prayer, reading about him, talking to other people who know him – the same way we seek to get to know anyone.
Today, in prayer, be bold. Ask Jesus something you want to know about yourself, or about him. Sit in quiet awhile and see if you sense any response – it may not come in words. It may come in an image that you see in your mind, or something around you that catches your eye. It may come later in the day in song lyrics, or in an encounter with someone, in a thought or insight. It may come in words.
And ask Jesus if he has a question for you.
Our Good News departs from the song title in that it’s never too late to get to know Jesus/Y-shua (a few scary parables notwithstanding….) As with any relationship, getting to know him takes an investment of time and vulnerability and desire. Billions of people have found it worthwhile. Meet him for coffee and see where it goes.
* Check this link for the Soul Train live version, with the appliqued pastel jumpsuits – some people really have had to suffer for their art…
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