John the Baptist shows us how to move from “not-knowing” to recognizing

After baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River, John gives a somewhat startling statement about his cousin, “I did not know him” (John 1).  Have you ever heard of a court case where two people who clearly spent a lot of time together claim to the judge to have not met before? It doesn’t pass the laugh test. 

So yes, John did know Jesus. It’s only when we exit the legal mindset and enter the theological world that we can start to see what he meant and how it applies to our own sacramental lives. 

First, it is important to recall that we believe Jesus himself is the “truth.” Theology is the study of trying to understand that truth. And this scene with John the Baptist really underscores that truth is not a doctrine or a checklist, but a true physical encounter. 

Truth is where Jesus “contacts” or touches our lives in the deepest ways so we can see reality more clearly.   

Remember that John the Baptist out of a sense of justice (knowing that in a legal sense, to be baptized by someone means they are subordinate to you) tried to impede Christ in the Jordan River. But his logic was incomplete. 

John did not want to make his cousin his subordinate. But Jesus insisted, “you must allow it now.” 

And the scene that follows, where a dove comes down from above and touches the Christ and takes residence within him, is the “contact” moment where John the Baptist realized exactly who his cousin really is. 

Jesus is divine. Jesus is truth. We are living in some form of darkness and the light of Christ gives us the ability to see things for what they really are. Theology is reality. 

This is where the liturgy of that baptism becomes evident to the onlookers as John proclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:29).  Dr. Andrea Grillo, a sacramental theologian in Rome, in his many writings on liturgy and its purpose, has helped me to focus on how these moments become a community movement from the not-knowing to the known. 

The sacraments (Baptism or the Eucharist) are contact points with the divine. They change us. They are a true encounter with reality itself (God). 

When the priest repeats the words “Behold the Lamb of God” at Mass, we’re stepping into John the Baptist’s shoes. Each Mass, we should go deeper into our understanding of what it means to be touched by the Christ and how he dispels our not-knowing. 

Our reflections should avoid the honest mistake of John, one that tries to uphold legal principles and appearances by impeding Christ from being baptized (even though it was out of a sense of justice), and instead promote and allow these encounters wherever they are lacking.