Luke 10:41

Through the entirety of history since his coming, people have shared this message of Good News. In every generation, in every age, this message has been proclaimed. In castles to Kings, and in the simplest of dwellings, in Churches and hospital rooms, among families and friends. In ease and in difficulty. In every age this good News has been repeated. In dramatic and non-dramatic circumstances. To rich and poor. To men and women, and to young and old this message has been proclaimed. And at some point, at some moment like Paul, you encountered this Good News. Whether you can remember the moment or not, someone shared this Good News with you. If this is your first time hearing it, I’m telling you this good news – Jesus, Emmanuel is come, he has conquered death. He is with us. My life is different – better – because I know Jesus. And if you know him, yours is also. But that only happened because someone shared Jesus with me, because someone, indeed many people, told me about Jesus and how much he loves me. The question is for us – will we do the same for others? Will we share Jesus with others?

The question used to be about getting information, but now it is much more a question of how to get the true information. Because we have so many sources of information being thrown at us, we are often overloaded and we cannot distinguish signal from noise, truth from fiction. Signal is information that matters, that helps you achieve the goals, and that allows you flourish because it allows the mind’s conformity with reality. It bears good fruit in your life. Noise is at best just trash, and at worst something that does the opposite. It leads you away from the goal. It does not bear good fruit.

But though the noise is on an unprecedented scale; this is not a new problem. For as long as human history discerning which voices to listen to, which things to pay attention to has been a challenge. John like all the prophets before him helps those around him to see reality as it really is. To distinguish the noise from the signal. But he is the greatest of all the prophets because he himself will literally point out the light from light. The one who is truth himself.

John helps us realize that we not only have to meet Jesus, but we need to know him. To meet him and to know him are linked. As people who have meet this man Jesus we want to grow in knowledge of him. We want to know who he is (God), what he did (his life, death, and resurrection), how he continues to act today (the Church), and what our response (prayer, love, and following him).

John goes to the wilderness. He eats the same food over and over again, and wears simple clothing. Why? Because he knows that in order to encounter and learn about God he must cut the noise from his life. Friends do you have silence in your life? It is difficult to find it. But how can you find some silence? How can you develop a habit of silence? Study is the opposite of vain curiosity – it seeks to gain knowledge and wisdom not just information. It asks big questions and goes deep into topic or person at hand. It uses the best resources. So here’s the challenge – set aside time this week to read one of the Gospels. And ask questions: in the silence ask Jesus to teach you to know who he is so you can love him more and see reality as it really is.