Do you know this man?

Today’s first reading (1 John 2:29-3:6) says:

...No one who sins has seen him or known him.

In today’s Gospel (John 1:29-34), John the Baptist says:

I did not know him.

It is interesting that while he was still in his mother’s womb John the Baptist recognized the physical proximity of the Lord Jesus in his own mother’s womb, when they are both adults he says “I did not know him.”

Why would John recognize Christ while both were in the womb, but not when they were face to face?

There are two key differences: as an adult, John was relying too much on his physical senses and he was also distracted.

Relying on eyesight alone, any one of us might have trouble recognizing a distant cousin we may not have seen for years.

As for being distracted, we know that crowds of people were coming to John for baptism: keeping him very busy.

Thus it was that in looking and doing (even doing God's work), John may have neglected to be discerning.

Moreover, even though he was a Saint and there was no man born of woman greater than he, John the Baptist was not sinless – none of us are – and as today’s first reading reminds us, sin gets in the way of our awareness and knowledge of God.

By the grace of God, John the Baptist overcame all of these obstacles, recognized the Lord Jesus, and loudly proclaimed him to the world.

As we begin this new year, may you and I be resolved to confess our sins, open ourselves to God’s forgiveness, and ask for the grace of continuous discernment: that we may see, know, and proclaim our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.