“At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his native place” (Jn 4:43-44). Unfortunately, familiarity with a person or reality can prevent us from truly receiving a new thing that is being offered. Already here, Jesus encounters resistance from those who think that they already “know” Jesus. Later, others who think that they know Jesus will say “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (Jn 6:42).
God comes to us to say “lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Is 65:17). But if we think that we already “know” God, if we think that we “comprehend” him in such a way that we fit God into a neat little box, then we are not truly open to the “new thing” that God wishes to work for us. Let us ask God instead to explode from within our false certainties so that we might encounter Jesus Christ truly and ever anew as the one who comes into our midst to offer us the new life that he is for us.