The only Son is the one who reveals God.  Without the Son, we can neither know God nor attain salvation.

No one knows the Father except the Son.  And only those to whom the Son wants to reveal the Father can know the Father.  Hence, Jesus is indispensable.

We need Jesus, moreover, because eternal life lies in knowing him and the only true God.  Through knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, ours in abundance are grace and peace.

To say that to know is important does not mean knowing is only a matter of the mind.

To know has to do with our whole being.  It is to grasp, to seize, to catch, to penetrate.  It suggests empathy, intimacy, accord.

Christian knowing refers, furthermore, to the intimate knowledge between the Father and Jesus.  It also points to the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.  He knows his sheep and they know him.  Because they know his voice, it is enough that they hear him, and they follow him right away.

The orientation, then, or the fundamental option of disciples is that of the Master.  That is why, even at the point of death, their concern is for others.  Their last words may be like those of the dying Robert F. Kennedy:  “Is everyone alright?”  But since Jesus gives them eternal life, true disciples shall not perish forever, and no one can take them out of his hand.

Revelation is decisive if we are to know really.

Authentic knowledge arises perhaps from the curiosity and wondering of those who admit they do not know everything.  But what is crucial is that they open up to divine communication.  Thus does John come to know the Lamb of God.  And since Galilean Aramaic talyâ does not only mean lamb, but also child and servant, one can suppose that John knows the Lamb of God to be equally the Son and the Servant of God.

Two of John’s disciples, after his pointing out the Lamb of God, accepts the invitation, “Come, and you will see.”  It remains clear thereby that, through this fellowship, those who call upon the name of Jesus become disciples, apostles, by the will of God.  And the practice of doing God’s will is even better than the practice of the presence of God (SV.EN XI:287).  It is also better than sacrifice.

True followers of Jesus, moreover, see beyond appearance.  They bow down before the one whom nations despise and abhor, before the slave of rulers.  They realize that the one lifted up from the earth is the one who says, “I am.”  It is evident to them also that the one giving his body up and shedding his blood is the true and life-giving paschal Lamb.

Father of glory, grant us, through your Spirit, to know Jesus better, love him and imitate him, so that we may know you likewise.

15 January 2017
2^nd Sunday  O.T. (A)
Is 49, 3. 5-6; 1 Cor 1, 1-3; Jn 1, 29-34