05242020 – John 17. 1-11
So, this week I did a STUDY on the word “GINOSKO” –
The GREEK word GINOSKO means to “LEARN to KNOW,” or to “COME to know,” “to get KNOWLEDGE of,” “to PERCEIVE” or “to FEEL.” It means “to UNDERSTAND.” “To become “acquainted WITH, to know.”
I pushed FORWARD.
I had to.
Because I wanted “to KNOW more.” (Very dry pun intended…)
This is the Greek Language at its finest.
“TO KNOW” – means “to appreciate,” “to have,” “to notice,” “to be VERSED IN,” “to recognize,” “to SEE,” “to comprehend,” “to discern,” “to KEN,” “to grasp,” “to prize,” “to be cognizant of,” “to sense,” or “to detect.”
There is a WIDE RANGE of meanings in there…all in this ONE little WORD.
Sometimes, the Gospel of John can be PRETTY-SCARY. BIG WORDS, big THOUGHTS, with even bigger CONCEPTS…
It can be SING-SONGY, THEOLOGICAL, POETIC, and highly SYMBOLIC, all at the same time. There are LAYERS to it, like an onion, you can peel back the various layers. It is not the gospel for EVERYONE and yet is LOVED and ADORED by A GREAT MANY.
In it, Jesus is BIGGER than life and almost FLOATS off of every page. He is all KNOWING and all SEEING and TOTALLY in charge of everything that happens to himself. HE calls “the shots!”
In the portion of the “High Priestly Prayer” for this week, we find Jesus in the MIDST of PRAYER with his father.
He PRAYS.
Therefore, WE SHOULD pray ALSO.
So, when was THE LAST TIME you prayed? (I’m asking for a friend!)
Often times in John’s Gospel we OVERHEAR Jesus at prayer.
We find ourselves “LISTENING IN.”
It is almost an “UNEASY an uncanny position to be in.” Almost like, we DO NOT BELONG. But here we are…eavesdropping away!
STRAINING to hear, attempting to comprehend his INTIMATE words of his conversation.
HOW DARE WE listen in, and yet, we gladly do so.
The words are PERSONAL…very personal…and so we press on, so that we might HANG ON and ABSORB every word.
The WORDS are between father and son.
Verse three says: “And this is ETERNAL LIFE, that they may KNOW YOU, the only TRUE GOD, and Jesus Christ whom YOU have sent.
For MILLENNIA the church, the people of God have been wrestling with the meaning of these words and this entire prayer.
What does it MEAN to “KNOW” God?
This is CRITICAL…and it hinges on all of the various translations.
I can almost envision the knock at the door, with the people outside questioning, “Do YOU KNOW the Lord?” Do YOU know GOD? Do YOU know JESUS CHRIST? Do you really know him?
Just exactly what does that mean- TO KNOW?
WE are talking about things of great importance here…
We are talking about ETERNAL LIFE.
We are not “messing around.” This is “serious business.” “Serious conversation.” This is the stuff of Eternal Life. It is therefore of MONUMENTAL IMPORTANCE.
All of which leads us very nicely back to the Greek word GINOSKO…to KNOW…
Obviously, it matters a great deal what the word GINOSKO means…HOW it is TRANSLATED, what it means to CONVEY or to IMPLY.
Is Jesus saying that we should “learn ABOUT God?”
Or that we should, “Come to know him” as in OVERTIME, GRADUALLY, as in, a life-long-learning process.
To simply “PERCEIVE of him” is something completely different.
To “FEEL the presence of God” or to “SENSE him” is also something completely different.
To simply “HAVE KNOWLEDGE of God” is something else again…
You WANT to get this RIGHT!
This is the Season of EASTER, the celebration of RESURRECTED LIFE, the time that we look forward to ETERNAL LIFE. Life with God FOREVER, a permanent place with him and with his Son…
So, the desire is, to NOT mess this one up- and to get it right…
At least, as best as we are able…
Perhaps it is as easy as this, to KNOW GOD is to LOVE him. So, the question for today is – DO YOU?
Amen.