The word "knowledge" occurs three times in the first reading. This is quite intriguing because at the time the letter was written "knowledge" was a slightly suspect term. Some early Christians seem to have been attracted to a rather elitist, mysterious concept of a knowledge which enabled one to escape from the world. This knowledge revealed the secrets of the universe and enabled one to live in a divine realm of light, absolved from the rather "messy" contact with a world through which less enlightened people have to make their way as best they can.

Any possible misunderstandings are ruled out by the fact that the first time knowledge is mentioned it is the knowledge of Jesus Christ. John Marsh in his "Penguin New Testament Commentary" on John's Gospel puts the meaning of this knowledge beautifully: "The knowledge John would bring to people is not pure intellection; it is a response of mind and heart and will to an acceptance of and trust in what God has done, in the gratitude of obedience and devotion of love" (pg 34). Knowledge in our first reading is no different. By the light of this knowledge we make Christ the centre of our lives and live.

Pope Benedict in his encyclical God is Love writes, "being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but an encounter with an event, a person which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction".