Some
Thoughts on the Liturgy
KNOWING
AND RECOGNIZING JESUS
Introduction:
John did not know Jesus
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Twice in the Gospel today John the Baptist mentions his
failure to know who Jesus was
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it is good for spiritual lives to try to get into John’s
mind to see why he didn’t know him when it seems that
he definitely should have
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perhaps his problem was not so much in knowing
him
as it was in recognizing
him
The
difference between “knowing and recognizing Jesus”
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I’d like to suggest to you that there is a spiritual
difference between knowing
and
recognizing
God’s
presence
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knowing about God’s presence implies a knowledge that
doesn’t necessarily move us to do anything about the
knowledge
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recognizing God’s presence in our world implies some
type of action that comes from the knowledge, that
is--something must happen as a result of the knowledge
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for example, I might know that love is necessary to help
some situation that I am involved in
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it is something else for me to recognize that it is up
to me to show the love that is necessary
An
example of “Recognition”
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The world of professional football has recently thought
of the dangers of playing football in a very real way
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and it has brought much discussion concerning the safety
of the players and in particular, the safety of the
helmet the players wear
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I think of recognition and the movie “Concussion”
which I highly recommend
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it is the story of Dr. Bennet Omalu who recognized what
the game of football could do to the brain and was able
to improve player safety significantly with his
persistence as he dealt with the leadership of the
multi-billion dollar sport of the NFL
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he not only knew that something was wrong, but he
recognized what it was and did something about it
We
are called to recognize Jesus
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Recognizing the presence of God in our lives is one of
the themes of our readings today:
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we see it in Isaiah who says that he was born to make
the people of Israel recognize God
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we see it in Paul who tells the Corinthians that they
must recognize the presence of Jesus in their lives
We
get too wrapped up in ourselves
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With spiritual recognition, the fact is that we often
become too concerned about our own situations to
consider what Jesus/God has to say
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we get all wrapped up in what we think of others or
other situations, what’s going on in our own lives
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and we miss our chance to be better spiritual people,
and in fact, may even become evil
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we must recognize God’s presence more in all of our
situations no matter what they are
An
experience
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I’ve mentioned this in a couple of times, so pardon my
mentioning it again, but it brings out the importance of
recognizing Jesus in our lives right now
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when I was director of discipline a number of years ago
at TMP-Marian, a high school in Hays, KS, I became very
angry at a young man who had done something wrong
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I don’t remember what it was, but I know I was furious
at him, and I knew that I was right
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I called him to my office, and was trying to control my
temper before I yelled at him
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before I could say anything he had the presence of mind
to say to me:
“Remember
now, you are talking to Jesus Christ.”
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I’m sure I covered myself somehow in that situation
saying something like, “well, Jesus Christ wouldn’t
do what you did”*
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but what a good point—every time we speak of or to
someone, we must recognize that we are speaking of
Jesus
Christ or to
Jesus
Christ which is exactly what Jesus said we should
believe
Conclusion
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John the Baptist did not know Jesus for some reason
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whatever caused it, the fact was that someone as holy as
John did not recognize Jesus Christ
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it is a lesson for all of us: perhaps we are not
recognizing Jesus as much as we should, even though we
are worshipping him right now.
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