Encountering Christ in the Gospels—Jesus, How Can I Know You for Myself?

Photo albums definitely date us. In her bedroom, my mother has albums upon albums of treasured family photos commemorating our family lineage. The sepia-toned stories beg to be told, and over the years many of these treasured images and their captions have become part of my own memory and have shaped my approach to living.

The temptation to peruse the life of Christ in the same way that we gaze into history through old photos, is real. Recalling the Gospel stories that have become so familiar, we see Jesus move through the landscape of his life encountering the desperate, the lonely, the betrayed, and the dying. We know the trajectory of his journey to Jerusalem. He leaves timeless, indelible impressions, makes life-altering statements, and then suffers and dies.

Sometimes, the Gospels may be as impactful to us as family photo albums. We know where to find these stories when we need them. We may desire to have lived when our ancestors or Jesus lived and to have rubbed shoulders with the twelve, or to have spent time in Mary’s kitchen—but we didn’t. Do we know our grandmother’s story better than we know Jesus’ story?

As intriguing as this analogy is, there are gaps. Jesus is not pasted to the pages of a book, trapped within the frame of one person’s viewfinder. There is a sacred river of living water running from the beginning of time through the life of Jesus. We drink from that endless abundance every time we ponder his life and the application of his message to our own. As I make these applications—Jesus modeling behavior that influences my own choices, Jesus answering my questions through the answers he gives to the poor and the apostles thousands of years ago—I begin to understand the pattern of God’s self-revelation through Jesus. Karl Rahner, a Jesuit theologian, writes in his treatise Foundations of Christian Faith, that experience becomes the source of Divine Revelation.

The Gospels don’t just exist to inspire me; they are imperative in my search for how to live with God at the center of my life. Think for a minute about what you know deep in your bones about God. Not just what others have told you about God, but what you, yourself, have experienced and built upon. Every experience I have is intended to reveal more of God to me. Bit by bit, I grow in conviction regarding certain truths I’ve heard about God that are now definitely mine.

Years ago, while I was away studying to be a Spiritual Director, my best friend and roommate met a man and fell in love. Upon my return home, she shared that he had proposed to her and they were getting married. That meant that I had to quickly find a place to live—I was filled with anxiety. Neighbors across the street just happened to be moving back to Iowa and asked if I wanted to live in their house until it sold. Yes! The house sold in three weeks. Now what? Then another friend offered their home while they were in Mexico for three months. Thank you! In the meantime, a realtor friend took me around town. I did find a home for myself, but this whole out-of-the-blue, vulnerable, accelerated experience taught me something extremely important. God was not only with me, but God brought solutions. What do I know in my bones about the Divine through my life experience? God is my shelter. I can build my house on this Rock.

When you crack open the Bible, use that particular lens (experience and revelation) to look at your life. Don’t just put your finger on a quote—do the deeper work. Pray with the Gospels. Where are the parallels and applications to your life? Ask for God’s vision. God is not hiding. Remember that if you are alert, every experience in life is meant to reveal more of God to you.

What has God already revealed about GodSelf through your life experiences? The Gospel is a living book revealing a living Word describing a living relationship. The GodMan within those sepia-colored stories is reaching through the pages to point out parallels to you and reveal tender truths.

Slowly, we come to believe that what we know of God has value and authority. If you teach religion to children, your knowledge and authority are filtered through your experience. If you visit the sick or the homebound, the conviction of your life experiences is what animates your actions. This confidence in God is contagious! People will ask, ‘How can you be so sure?” I often answer that I track God’s fingerprints through my life, I seek and find parallels in the Gospels, and this uniquely personal revelation of God lives in my bones.

Going Deeper

• The Gospels are the authority behind everything we first know about God. Jesus, as God incarnate, reveals to us the God we cannot see. Often, we may wonder how God might respond to something we have done. Fear can freeze us and shame can shut us down. Jesus encountered many painful human realities in his time with us. Can you see yourself in any of these stories? Listen to the words Jesus speaks to these individuals. Is he actually speaking to you?

  • The Faith of the Oppressor—Matthew 8: 5-13
  • The Weeping Woman Who Could Not Speak—Luke 7: 36-50
  • When You are Old: Jesus and Peter—John 21: 15-19
  • Jesus Calls the Doubtful—Luke 5: 1-11

• Let the lyrics and melody of this song, The More I Seek You by Jessie Harris, become your own words, your own song to the God you long to see more clearly.

• Guided Contemplation is another powerful tool to recognize the parallels between our own experience of God and the revelation that Jesus offers as God incarnate. Allow Becky Eldredge to lead you in prayer with the man who sought healing at the Pool of Bethesda and Jesus asks, “Do you want to be made well?”

• Parallels between Experience and Revelation can also take place by observing the lives of others. Even for the apostles, their convictions of Jesus solidified when they saw the empty tomb (John 20: 3-8). Their intellectual knowledge of Jesus and his words were confirmed through experience. Run with them through this passage to see for yourself how Jesus keeps his promise to you.

• Join in prayer for the following graces during these days of Easter:

  • To believe in God’s powerful love to transform darkness into light and death into new life.
  • To know God’s mysterious mercy and grace, awakening in us a new commitment to the Gospel, like so many whom Jesus encountered during his lifetime.
  • To have lives filled with renewed hope from the Easter story exhibited by Jesus, himself.

Photo by Molly the Cat for Unsplash.

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Monique Jacobs

JMonique Jacobs has been engaged in professional active ministry in the church for 40+ years, offering workshops, retreats, and writing. She accompanies people in these roles, and as a Spiritual Director, using Ignatian methods and spirituality. Her joy is to serve as mentor and companion to others, highlighting their gifts and helping to build up the body of Christ. Monique also hosts a YouTube Channel: Finding God in All Things, new videos posted weekly. Monique serves as the Director of Mission and Identity for Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada. Subscribe to Monique’s YouTube Channel, Finding God In All Things.