Do You "Know" Jesus?

On a trip to the Holy Land, I visited the country of the lowly carpenter. I sailed the Sea of Galilee. I walked “the Way of the Cross”. I saw where Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. I looked into the tomb. I climbed to the Chapel of the Ascension.

But to “know” Jesus according to Philippians 3:10 is more than walking the pathways of Israel.

In Bethlehem, I purchased an olive wood carving. It was the head of Christ, circled by thorns. It was a beautiful piece of workmanship, and it showed the agony of his pain. I cringed as I thought of the cruelty of those who hung Jesus upon the cross.

Now, I come closer to “knowing” him, for Paul said that “knowing” him was to begin to share his sufferings, and even become like him in his death.

Most of the time, I have run away from sharing his sufferings. I don’t want to see movies of the hunger of the world. I resist programs telling about the agonies of people. I change channels all too easily from stories of people in anguish. My Jesus feels the thorns again and again, in the suffering of his children, but I don’t!

“Lord, how can I know the ‘power of your resurrection or obtain the resurrection from the dead’, if I don’t even now begin to care about your pain?”

Am I like most of you? I see suffering in
our world, and I give to charity. I read
about the poor and their devastatingly
terrible problems, and I bring food for the
food pantry. But when I really am honest
with myself, I discover that I tend to "pull
down the shades" on the suffering of the
world. I try not to see it a good share of
the time! Is that carelessness, or is that
my sin?