The French have two words for know; savoir and connaitre. The first is knowledge of facts. I know 2+2=4, I know where New York City is, I know how to drive, how to read, etc. its acquired or learned knowledge. The second, connaitre, is a rough synonym for recognize in an emotional or spiritual sense. I know that guy. I know that feeling. Today they both apply. I know that a 33 year old Jew named Yeshua was executed by the Roman government of Judea about 2,000 years ago, and that it was because both Romans and Jews in power saw Him as a threat to order and to their power. Too many people were followers, too many were ready for revolution, too many were prepared to go with Him no matter where He went. So he had to die, in order that his public would be dispirited and go back to the status quo. This is historical knowledge. Je le sais, in French; I know it as fact, as well established as many other such facts of history. Savoir, to know. Mais je le connais aussi; but I also KNOW it, in the connaitre sense, the sense of familiarity, recognition, a kind of resonance in my spirit, like a bell that rings. Today, I know that Yeshua volunteered to die horribly, to endure it in spite of the truth that He did not HAVE to. I know, je connais, that His death was a gift to me, that I might be able to stand before God Almighty and claim a perfection that I did not merit. Christ paid my tab, for all the consequences of my imperfect, unjust, wrongly lived life. I know it like a bell that rings in my chest. I CONNAIS, I ken as the scots say, I recognize the truth of it intrinsically. When I see a movie with Romans nailing his hands to the cross, it pulls me up short and makes me well up in tears. There is a resonance to it all, in the core of me. The greatest good that was ever done was done today, Good Friday. He saved me from myself, solved the unsolvable problem of my intrinsic badness, at an unimaginable cost to Himself. I know it in both French senses, connaitre and savoir, but its the connaitre, the emotional response in my spirit, that proves it for me. If I lean on a stove I get burned. If I contemplate Christ crucified, I start weeping. Both are proof of a reality. Is not in my head. Its a response to stimulus. Biological, physical, emotional. It is connaitre, to recognize. My soul KNOWS.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 18:41:52 +0000
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