Do You Know Jesus?

Gospel Reflection for March 9, 2026

“And he said, ‘Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.’ When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.” (Lk. 4:24-30 NABRE)

Have you ever felt misunderstood or unknown by the people who are closest to you? Have you ever felt unseen by those who should truly “see” you the most?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus was speaking in a synagogue located in the place where He had grown up. He was surrounded by the people who knew Him best and who were the most familiar with our Lord. One would expect that with being in His “hometown,” the people who were present would embrace His words and teachings more than anyone else who witnessed Jesus’ ministry. Yet, exactly the opposite happened. These people who knew Jesus the most, did not understand Him and did not believe in Him. They did not truly see Him or recognize Jesus as being the Messiah.

Instead, they believed Him to be a blasphemer and sought to kill Him.

In our closeness to Jesus and familiarity with Him, we, too, may sometimes lose sight of Who the Lord really is. We hear of His greatness, His miracles, and teachings so often. We pray to the Lord throughout each day, we read the Bible and seek to learn about our Catholic faith, and we go to Mass and receive the Sacraments.

And this is all so great and important!!!

However, because we know our Lord and our faith so well, do we ever let our knowledge of Jesus and our faith cause us to stumble into not truly knowing and seeing Him? Do we ever lose sight of Jesus or forget the importance of knowing Him not only intellectually, but intimately?

Similar to the people of the Lord’s native town, we may sometimes be the kind of people who “know” Jesus the best, but truly and intimately know Him the least.

Ultimately, we must ensure that we don’t confuse our knowledge of Jesus and belief in Him, as equal to having a deep and personal relationship with the Lord. We must take the time to get to know Jesus one on one. We must give Him our hearts and seek to understand His heart. May we take the time to grow in true love with the Lord by communicating personally and intimately with Him. May we seek to have a deep relationship with the Lord in which we truly know Him.