His Own Receive Him

“I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’

“I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me” (John 13:18-20). 

I never really thought about the use of the verb “to know” someone until I moved to Switzerland for work and was in a meeting when someone referred to a colleague whom I thought we both knew. The other person said he didn’t really know them as they’d only been in a few meetings together.  Funny thing was that I too had only been in a few meetings with them, but thought it was enough to say that I know this person.

The Brit in me was fine to casually say I knew someone from a few conversations while my Swiss colleague was quite adamant, he didn’t know this person. He wasn’t trying to be difficult; he just had a completely different assessment of what it meant to know someone.

When Jesus says in v18 “I am not talking about all of you; I know those I have chosen,” I think about how we are assured that our Lord Jesus not only knows us, but has indeed chosen us with all our imperfections. To be known by God, we don’t have to have long chats with him as he knows us intimately and the Bible even tells us our names are already engraved on his palms. In contrast, to know God, our maker, really is to receive him into our hearts, read and meditate on his Word and by so doing receive the Father who sent him. In receiving him and believing in his name, we receive the ultimate right to become children of God. 

 No matter if we ourselves fall into the category of being happy to say we know someone after having a 5-minute chat or can only make that sort of statement after years of speaking to someone regularly, isn’t it wonderful to know that Jesus knows everything about us and has chosen each of us individually to not only receive his message, but to share it with others! So why not carve out some extra time daily to know God more by reading his Word, meditating on his promises and listening to his message?

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for choosing me and giving me your Spirit and your Word. Help me to realise what a precious gift this is and to have the courage to share it with others so that they may know you and receive you into their lives. Amen.