Many of you may have seen the television show, "Survivor." Two teams of people are pitted against each another as they live for a few weeks on a Malaysian island. Members of the teams are "voted off" the island at regular intervals by their teammates. The last "survivor" wins the grand prize of a million dollars. It`s about winners and losers, and the dynamics of human relationships. The one most recently voted off the island was a man who was a real "go-getter;" a successful businessman. On the island, he managed, in one week, to build a hut, find a fresh water source, and alienate the others. They got to know him, not for the status he had in his successful business back home, but for the kind of man he really was. In spite of all that he accomplished while others played around, they voted him off the island, because of his bossy ways.

There`s a real difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone. In today`s gospel reading Jesus prays to His Father, "It is eternal life to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom you sent." To know someone, in Old Testament meaning,is to have an intimacy of heart,mind, and soul. The author of the book of Wisdom wrote, "To know your power is the root of immortality" [5:3]. In Proverbs we read, "By knowledge are the righteous delivered" [11:9]. Habbakuk`s dream of the golden age is that, "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God" [2:14]. Hosea heard God`s prophesy, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" [4:6].

In this Internet age, we have no lack for information; we can know about anything. We can study the Bible, the Fathers, the hymns, the Canons, and we can know about God. But we don`t automatically know God, because it`s not bout intellectual knowledge, though that can be useful. To know God is to have an intimate personal relationship with Him, as the nearest and dearest relationship in life. Without Christ, such intimacy with God would have been impossible. It is Christ who shows us that God is not remote and unapproachable, but the Father whose very essence is love.

Further in the Gospel reading, Jesus says to His Father, The disciples "have kept your word. Now they realize that everything you gave me comes from you...and they truly know that I came forth fro you, and they believe that you sent me." Part of being God`s disciple is realizing that Jesus came forth from God. On this Sunday of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, we remember that the Council was convened to resolve the heresy of Arius, who believed that Jesus didn`t come forth from God. Another part of being God`s disciple is in keeping His word, in accepting Christ as Lord and Master in one`s life.

Is our relationship with God characterized by knowledge of Him, or by knowing Him? Do we keep God`s word? Is Jesus truly our Lord and Master? Probably not as much as we`d like to think. As we approach the feast of Pentecost--the day God sent the Holy Spirit upon the disciples; the birthday of the Church--as a preparation, let`s take an inventory of the degree to which we really know God, and be determined to know Him even more. May we come to realize that this walk with God is not about winning a heavenly grand prize. It`s not about survival; it`s about life itself.