In today’s reflection on the daily mass readings, Fr Richard considers how our life of faith is like a journey of discovery – and there are many things which we do not yet know.
Readings for 3 January: 1 John 2.29-3.6; Psalm 98.1, 3-4, 5-6; John 1.29-34. Text of readings can be found here.
Donald Rumsfeld, the former US Defence Secretary, was widely mocked for this statement he made in 2002: “There are known knowns – things we know that we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we don’t know we don’t know”. While this may sound like gobbledygook, if you stop to analyse the words it actually makes sense. Put simply, he was saying that there’s a mixture of certainty and uncertainty in the world.
In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist is prepared to admit his previous lack of knowledge about Jesus, saying twice “I myself did not know him”. We might find this surprising, since John and Jesus were related. John, however, is not speaking from a familial point of view, but from a perspective of faith. Later in the passage, John speaks of how the insight into who Jesus really is was revealed to him. He saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove upon Jesus, and at the same time God revealed to John that this was the sign of Jesus being anointed as God’s Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
The humility of John that we saw in yesterday’s Gospel continues. He is clear that the insight of faith comes not from himself but from God. In this way he makes sure that the focus is not on him but on Jesus. For all of us faith is a journey of discovery, no matter how long we have been a Christian. It is a mixture of Rumsfeld’s “known knowns” and “known unknowns”. Let us share John’s humility and open ourselves to God, that he may continue to reveal to us the mysteries of the kingdom.
Mass today is at 11.30am in St Mary’s.
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