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Reading the 2nd reading for Sunday’s Liturgy (1 John 2:1-5A), I can tell why John was the beloved disciple (other than the fact that he was writing about himself).
That man is not pulling any punches here:
Those who say, “I know Him,” but do not keep His commandments are liars, and the truth is not in them”
I reflect on that passage, and realize…maybe I really don’t know Jesus… I don’t follow all of His commandments – after all, I am a sinner.
But then, does anybody really know Jesus?
(Mother Mary’s in heaven like)
And the unfortunate part about this, is I think many people will just shrug their shoulders and say, “Oh well,” and go on living their lives as they have been.
And then we become like the disciples from Luke 24 in the Road to Emmaus story. They listened to Jesus and followed Him. But they decided, even after all that they had been witnesses to (including being told He was alive and not dead), to go back to their homes and to their lives before they knew Jesus.
If you’re like me, then you grew up Catholic. I went through the Sacraments, always believing in God – but I never really knew God. Even when I started volunteering, and when I was getting really involved in youth ministry here – I didn’t take Jesus’ teachings seriously. I didn’t put much effort into changing. I came to Mass, sang all the songs, tried to listen to the readings and homily, and didn’t really pay attention when receiving Jesus’ Body & Blood, Soul & Divinity in the Eucharist (sorry Jesus). But every time I did listen to the readings, if I heard something that I agreed with, I would think about other people who I knew weren’t following that teaching, and judge them in my mind. If I heard something I didn’t agree with (or just didn’t want to follow), I’d think, “Oh, that’s not what Jesus really meant,” or “I’ll start doing that when I’m older” (actually, I still have a tendency to doing this at times, although I’m slowly getting better at this).
I was picking and choosing how to live my faith. And although I am completely free to make those choices, I was only hurting myself. I was only holding myself. And I was keeping Jesus at a distance, not allowing myself to really know Him (sorry again, Jesus).
Jesus loves you. He knows you. And He wants you to know Him. Make time to do so.
Side thoughts: one of the ten commandments is not to bear false witness, and yet to say we know Jesus is to keep the commandments, so if we say we know Jesus but don’t keep His commandments, then not only are we bearing false witness about knowing Jesus but we’re also breaking that commandment.
