REFLECTION

Knowing Jesus vs knowing about Jesus

"REFLECTIONS" pages are encouragement for you taken directly from Scripture.  We invite you to let these truths sink down deep inside you, and to begin to know, understand and feel Comfort directly from our Father in heaven, designed especially for you and where you are at in life!  Please take time for the Pause, Reflect and Receive at the end of every REFLECTION.

Scripture gives us an excellent example in two separate stories, both of which took place on Easter.  Mary, who was an outcast when she crossed paths with Jesus, began a relationship in getting to know Jesus.  She knew that Jesus knew her intimately, including her past, her fears, her shame, and her thoughts.  They became friends who knew what each other was thinking before the words were on the other person’s lips.  She knew him in her heart.
 
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark …Mary Magdalene stood outside the empty tomb crying.  As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been.
 
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
 
“They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him.”  At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not recognize that it was Jesus.
 
“Woman, why are you crying?  Who is it you are looking for?”
 
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
 
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
 
She turned to him and cried out: Rabbi!
 
She knew the sound of his voice, she knew his thoughts toward her, she knew the kindness in his eyes.  Jesus had entered her life.  They were best friends.
 
Later that day, Jesus took a walk with some of his followers who knew Jesus, but it seems that they knew him in a more impersonal way, a factual way, a theological way.  Good men to be sure, but they simply hadn’t made the kind of personal contact that Mary had.  They knew him in their heads.
 
 
Now on that same day (Easter Sunday), two of (Jesus’ followers) were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.  They were talking to each other about everything that had happened.  As they talked … Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.
 
He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”  They stood still, their faces downcast.  One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”  Jesus said, “What things?”
 
“About Jesus of Nazareth … the chief priests and our rulers crucified him; but we had hoped he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.  And in addition, some of our women ... told us of a vision of angels, who said he was alive.”
 
And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, (Jesus) explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.  As they approached the village to which they were going … Jesus went in to stay with them.  When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and Jesus disappeared from their sight.  They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
 
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem ... they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and said, “It is true!  The Lord has risen…”
 
Note that just a word was enough for Mary, but Jesus knew that these two followers needed teaching and inspiration; they needed to see the big picture and how everything was interrelated.
 
Sometimes people like you and I attend church for years and we have learned about Jesus, but we haven’t yet met Jesus. 
 
Meeting him personally, and experiencing his overwhelming personal blessings, is what Comfort.Guide series is all about!
 
 
At the end of various readings in Comfort.Guide, we will have a "Pause", "Reflect" and "Receive" section.  The purpose of this exercise is to help you better understand and to personally absorb the encouragement Comfort.Guide offers.  If you would like, visit the "HOW TO USE" on-line page for a review of "Pause, Reflect and Receive".


 
PAUSE … Take some time here for quiet reflection.
 
 
REFLECT ...
 
Ask for insight to become aware of your personal answer to the following question: Do you know only about Jesus, or are you like Mary, who experienced personally His life changing power for comfort and healing? 
 
Perhaps you have realized by reflecting on the above question that you only know “about” Jesus but you have not met Him personally.  He wants you to hear Him call you by name.  Right now, it is important to RELEASE any expectations that you, in your own strength, wisdom or intelligence can grasp about Jesus. 
 
 
RECEIVE ...
 
Simply ask Him to come and get to know Him!  Begin a conversation with Jesus asking Him to reveal Himself to you, to call you by name and to reveal His love for you. 
 
“Jesus, open the eyes of my heart to know who you really are as Savior, how you think and feel as a person, and how you want to heal and love me as a person.  Reveal yourself to me as you did to Mary and the men on the road to Emmaus.”

 
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