Knowing Jesus, and Recognizing Jesus
Scripture references
Reflection
I don’t know about you, but I find that often the Gospel writers make use of opposing figures to help us to understand the reality of our faith, and what is required of the disciples of Jesus. Today we celebrate the Epiphany, and the Gospel passage is no exception. The Epiphany is the moment of the revelation of God. As Advent reminds us, there had been many predictions of the Messiah in the Old Testament; however, the definitive moment of that revelation occurs today, with the coming of the Magi. The contrasting figures who help us to meditate are Herod and the Magi. We could say that Herod knew Jesus, but the Magi recognized Him. This is the question we must ask ourselves: do we merely know Jesus, or do we recognize Him?
Remember that the Magi were pagans, they came from somewhere in the East, perhaps even from one of the cultures that had oppressed the Jewish people. They probably didn’t believe that there was only one God, and they certainly didn’t believe in the Jewish God. However, they must have been honest men, and must have led moral lives. How else could a group of pagan rulers who took their guidance from stars and not from Holy Scripture come to know that the King of the Jews was born. Also, knowing this, why would it have mattered to them? You might think that they felt there was some kind of important political benefit to them; however, once they arrived and saw Him in the manger, their hopes would probably have been dashed. If the poverty of Jesus’ surroundings and the simplicity of his parents did not cause them to reconsider, something else must have been at work. That something was the grace of the Holy Spirit, the very same grace that led Paul to tell the Athenians that their altar to the unknown God was actually dedicated to the God he was preaching.
In order to recognize Jesus then, we have to lead moral lives. At times it may seem as though the Church is too demanding of us, but in comparing Herod and the Magi, we can see why this is so. Herod was a bloody, paranoid ruler who killed his own wife and three of his sons. As the Feast of the Holy Innocents reminded us, when he could not find where Jesus was born, he had all male children under a certain age killed. Being the ruler of the Jewish people, Herod knew Jesus, but he did not recognize Him. If he did not know Jesus, he would not have been afraid, but, if he recognized Jesus, he too would have worshipped like the Magi.
Here too we see another aspect of recognizing Jesus. The Magi did not fear for their own exalted status in life, for they knew that, unlike an earthly king, Christ the King does not demand submission and domination. To worship Christ is not to have to give up your freedom; on the contrary, it is the path to freedom. Since Christ the King is no earthly ruler, but God Himself, to worship Him is to fulfill your purpose as a human being created in the image and likeness of God.
There is a wonderful little book called The Friendship of Christ written by Robert Hugh Benson. In it, he describes the various ways in which we must recognize Christ, starting with the obvious ones, such at the Church, the Eucharist and the Saints, then moving on to neighbours, the poor and finally even sinners. The important point is that since Christ became human, all of humanity is now called to be part of His mystical body, the Church, and so, each and every person we meet is if not already Christian, then called to be Christian, and it is the job of each and every one of us, to build up that mystical body, both by encouraging those who are already a part of it, and by calling out to those who are not.
Do you merely know Jesus, or do you recognize Him? If you are afraid of Jesus, of what He might be asking of you, or of whether He cares for you, then you merely know Him. If, on the other hand, you are willing to worship Him, whatever it may cost you, then you recognize Him. May the Magi intercede for us today and give us the strength to recognize Jesus as they did so long ago in Bethlehem.
