Becoming part of the Jesus story this Lent
People who write about religion sometimes refer to something they call “getting to know Jesus.” But read a little further, and you may discover that what is actually meant is “getting to know about Jesus.”
There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. Learning things about Jesus and his times — what it was like growing up in Nazareth, how people lived and worked and worshiped, the big religious and political issues of the day, who the Pharisees and Sadducees were and what they taught — can be very helpful. But it isn’t the same as getting to know Jesus himself.
This is the difference between learning about someone and becoming that person’s friend. The information is interesting and may even be useful, but it isn’t friendship.