Where do you know me from?


In our time, in addition to money, he also has power. It is not for nothing that it is said that acquaintance – it’s cash. Many would like something similar to apply in the Church, to come to values ​​, especially to eternal life after acquaintance.

After all, acquaintance also applies to God. We also see it in the gospel. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming, he said of him, “This is a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me ?! (Johan 1,47-48). Meeting each other brings people together, their interests, their lives. In the Gospels, John talks about how Philip, whom Andrew had already acquired for Christ, meets Nathanael, and in the enthusiasm he feels in himself after meeting Jesus, he also wants to split up with Nathanael. He tells him about Jesus, who comes from Nazareth, he is the son of Joseph and Mary, and he is the one whom Moses writes in the law. Behavior or reaction to Philip’s words to Nathanael arouses an ironic remark: “Can anything good be of Nazareth ?!” (John 1:46). Philip was certainly clever because he realized that he would not only convince Nathanael with enthusiasm. Therefore, he will use the way Jesus convinced his first two disciples. He says, “Come and see!” (John 1:46) – and it worked. Nathanael will not refuse an invitation to meet Christ, which ends with even greater enthusiasm with Nathanael than it did with Philip when he exclaims, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel” (Johan 1:49).

We may have a question or thought: What caused this radical reversal in Nathanael’s attitude? Nathanael did not yet have the notion of Jesus Christ’s deity as we have it today, but the Lord Jesus’s first words convinced him, and Nathanael believed that he must be a great prophet. We see that in a short time, Nathanael-the despised becomes a disciple, a follower, an apostle of Jesus of Nazareth. This event says that our personal paths to faith are different. Most of us grew up in a Catholic family, in an environment where faith was served to us as a matter of course. Often in such cases, one does not have to fight for one’s faith, one’s beliefs, and there are cases where real faith is lost from such an environment and only a tradition arises, which is often lost, even when changing one’s residence or employment status, or also by age. Faith is completely lost. But we know another way to believe. It has come to the forefront in these families in recent years, where faith was not lived, where God was spoken only negatively. People are beginning to seek their faith. As in the case of Nathanael, it is often that they see in the faith only something unhealthy, outdated; perhaps they themselves use ironic remarks against the faith. This is the path of Nathanael.

What can faith give me in today’s modern world? I have everything else, faith? Such and similar issues are often in the beginning. We often realize that we will not convince such brothers and sisters immediately; we will not convince them with their words. They follow our lives, compare, examine, and only then do they be oscillated, addressed, come to bite among us, to the church …. We can say that it is the work of the Holy Spirit if the way to Jesus is often found by those who lived outside of God and also in a negative, anti-Christ environment. In many cases, the first encounter with Christ was so powerful that one feels the desire for a new encounter. Otherwise, one feels like Nathanael that Jesus has known him long ago, and he did not know him. Are there cases where a person feels the love of Jesus so harshly that he asks himself a question – what did he do when he did not receive it before, he did not want to know …? In another case, he searched for the truth and found it because he was searching sincerely? There was no trick in it. Today’s times lead to skepticism, but if he does not submit to it and seeks if he desires to know the truth, he will certainly find it.

Two friends are working in the office. One is a believer and the other just baptized. However, he admires a practicing believer. He often asks himself where he takes strength, self-control, and self-control because he is the opposite. However, a believing Christian does not say anything about Jesus in the workplace. After one difficult test at work, he waits for this practicing believer and asks about the source of his strength, which stems directly from his behavior. A believing Christian knows that his colleague is only a registrar Christian, and yet he tells him, “I go to Mass every day.” What was his surprise in the morning at church when he saw his colleague in it! He began to pray for him even more fervently. He saw him in the church the next day, but also in a week. And this is how the moon passed. Once again, their department found itself in trouble, and this seeking Christian did not regain control. After the shift, he tells his faithful colleague, “I will not come to church tomorrow morning.” That evening, the believer prayed for his friend. In the morning, his surprise was even greater. His colleague was in church and even attended the sacraments. It wasn’t until a week later that they talked about it. A searching colleague said, “I could not sleep that night. In the evening, I was convinced that I would not go to church in the morning. But I did not sleep all night. I thought. And in the morning, I do not even know how I got up and went to church. Church, my eyes stopped at the confessional.

I know how I found myself in it. The chaplain was more worried about me. However, I left her with what moved me the most. After years, I felt an inner peace and special strength. “

Jesus knows us all. He knows about each of us. In many cases, he leads us to himself through incomprehensible paths. He allows us many trials, difficulties, suffering. However, he does not test anyone beyond our strength. If we persevere, we will win. Living with Jesus is difficult, but knowing the fruit also gives us the strength to persevere. Let us, therefore, let ourselves be whole and entirely like Nathanael to Jesus, and the words that Jesus addressed to Nathanael also belong to us: “Do you believe because I said to you: I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this “(John 1,50). This is the most beautiful and surest perspective. The meaning of life and its value: Christ the Victor, Christ the King, and Christ the Leader. This is the most valuable acquaintance – to have Jesus himself known. After all, Jesus said, “Gather treasures in heaven; there neither moth nor rust destroys them, and thieves do not conquer and steal ”(Mathew 6:20). Amen.

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  2. Peter Prochac says:

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