Christ Tells I Dont Know You
Every now and and then someone volition come past my door and request parish services of some sort. Peradventure it's to programme a wedding ceremony, a baptism, or a funeral; maybe information technology's for money! And then I expect at him or her and say, "Who are you?" (since I don't recognize the person). "Oh, well Father, you lot don't know me but my grandmother goes hither; this is our family unit Church." "Oh, I see, simply where practise yougo to Church?" I usually ask. The response is usually something like, "Well, you know how it is Begetter, I don't get to Church too ofttimes … but my mother goes hither."
Well, I've got news for you: your Mama's faith isn't going to save you lot. You gotta have your ain faith. You take to know Jesus for yourself. There are some things you just can't borrow. Once, you depended on your female parent and ultimately the Church building to announce the Truthful Faith to you. Just at some point you have to be able to claim the Truthful Organized religion equally your own. Your mother tin't get to Church for you and she can't believe for you.
On another occasion, a man came upwardly to me in the parking lot of the local food shop and began to talk to me every bit if we were old friends. Perhaps he saw the puzzled await on my face as I awkwardly wondered if I had e'er met him. He was mildly offended and said, "Gosh, don't you know who I am?" "No," I admitted with some embarrassment. He went on to explain that his family had been one the "colonnade" families who had helped build the Church building and that I actually ought to know who he was. "Practise you come to Mass ofttimes?" I asked. "No, but I was there at the last funeral, the one for my grandmother, whom YOU buried. Maybe y'all know who I am now!" I said, "No. I certainly knew your grandmother, but I can't say I know yous." "That actually hurts Male parent, 'cause if information technology hadn't a been for my family unit the Church wouldn't be there."
Eventually I got the human being to acknowledge that he hadn't been going to Sunday Mass for over xx years, from the fourth dimension he graduated from the parish school, and that his only real attendance was for funerals and a few weddings. "Consider this a clothes rehearsal," I said, humorously but with ironic seriousness. "Yous may be aroused and disappointed that I don't know you, just it will exist a lot worse to hear Jesus say 'I don't know you.'"
Indeed, one of the judgment scenarios has Jesus declare that he does not "know" some who seek entrance to sky:
- Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we non prophesy in your proper noun and in your name bulldoze out demons and in your name perform many miracles?" So I will tell them apparently, "I never knew yous. Away from me, you lot evildoers!" (Matt vii:22-23)
- Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them,"Make every endeavour to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will attempt to enter and volition not be able to. One time the owner of the firm gets up and closes the door, you volition stand up exterior knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where yous come from.' Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'But he volition answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'" (Lk 13:23-27)
- Later the other virgins also came, proverb, "Lord, lord, open up for u.s.a.."Simply he answered, "Truly I say to you, I do not know you."Exist on the warning then, for you practice not know the day nor the 60 minutes (Mat 25:12-13).
We may wonder how the Lord cannot "know" someone. Is he not omniscient?
Here it helps to understand that the "knowing" as understood in Scripture does not have the modern Western notion of unproblematic intellectual knowing. To "know," in biblical terms, more richly describes knowing throughpersonal feel.Hence information technology implies an intimacy, a personal experience of another person, thing, or outcome. Sometimes the Scriptures employ "knowing" as a euphemism for sexual intercourse (Gen 4:17,25; lk one:34 etc).
Hence the Lord, who does not force united states to be in an intimate relationship with Him, is indicating in verses like these that some people seeking entry to Heaven (probably more for its pleasures than for its supreme purpose equally a marital union with God) have refused His invitation to intimacy. He does non "know" them considering they never wanted to exist known by Him in any intimate way. They may accept known OF Him, and even spoken and taught of Him. Just they did not want HIM. They may accept used him for their purposes, but Him they did non want. Jesus stands at the door and knocks; He does not barge in and force Himself on anyone.
Thus, we must personally and individually take the Lord's invitation to enter our lives and transform our hearts. We cannot simply say, "My family built the Church," or "I went to Catholic Schoolhouse," or "My mother goes in that location."
Recollect the story of the wise and foolish virgins? (Matt 25:i-13) They were waiting for the groom (in those days you lot waited for the groom, nowadays we wait for the bride) to show upwards for a nuptials. Five were wise and brought actress oil for their lamps, while five were foolish and did not not. Only the groom delayed his coming and and then the foolish ones said to the wise, "Give usa some of your oil." The wise ones then told the foolish that they could not practise this because there was not plenty oil for all 10 of them.
You see, there are some things you only can't borrow and some things you just tin't lend. You can't lend your readiness to meet God to someone else. You can't infringe someone else's intimacy with God.
You know what happened in the story. The foolish bridesmaids went off to buy more oil and missed the groom's inflow and and so were not able to enter the wedding feast. In those days, when a nuptials banquet began, the doors were locked and no 1 else could enter. When they finally arrived, the groom said that he did not know them.
The bottom line is that you have to know Jesus for yourself. You can't borrow your mother's intimacy, relationship, or readiness. You have to have your own. No one can go to Church for y'all. You tin't borrow someone else's holiness.
There is an Quondam Gospel hymn that says, "Yes I know Jesus for myself." It's not enough to quote the pastor; it's not enough to say what your mother said. You lot have to know Him yourself. Do yous know Him? I didn't say, "Practise yous know about Him." This is more than intellectual knowing; this is the deep, biblical, experiential knowing. Do y'all know the Lord Jesus? Accept you experienced that He has ministered to yous in the Sacraments? Accept you heard His voice resounding from the pulpit and in others y'all meet? Do you know Him? Don't be satisfied that your female parent or grandmother knew Him. Y'all are called to know Him for your very self.
Here are a couple of renditions of the onetime Gospel classic I mentioned. The starting time is from the St. James Mass Choir. Merely then, lo and behold, the second version is sung by a choir from a Polish Girls' School! See the original and then relish a very different version, as the song leaps the Atlantic Ocean and lands in Eastern Europe. What a wonderful earth! Despite crossing oceans and cultures, the message remains the aforementioned: Yes, I know Jesus for myself.
Source: http://blog.adw.org/2015/01/what-does-jesus-mean-when-he-says-to-some-i-do-not-know-you/
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