Whom Are You Looking For?
John 20:1-18
April 20, 2014[1]
I
can imagine a bit of what Mary was going through. I have known the feeling of going back to the
cemetery the day after the funeral was over, after the tent had been taken down
and all the people had gone, wanting to spend a few moments by myself, in
quiet, to reflect, to remember, to pray.
But
I can’t begin to fathom what Mary must have felt when she discovered that the
grave had been opened up, and it was empty!
After
the awful way in which Jesus was executed, you would think that “they”—whoever
“they” were, would leave him alone. But,
as she told Peter and the other disciple, “they” have taken the Lord out
of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him” (John 20:2b).
But
determined as she is, she follows Peter and the other disciple back to the
garden. Maybe she can find out who the
grave robbers are. Maybe they left some
sort of clue in their hurry. Maybe she
can find a witness to the event, or maybe one of them won’t be able to keep
themselves from bragging about their deed.
In reality, though, Mary cares far less about finding out who “they” are
than she cares about finding the body of Jesus, so she can spend some moments
in quiet, reflecting, remembering, praying.
She
peeks again in the open cave that had served as a tomb, and she finds two men,
dressed in dazzling white, sitting right there at the very niche where she had
seen Joseph and Nicodemus place His body.
The men look up at her and ask her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” (v. 13a). She still is so beside herself with grief
that she doesn’t even note anything different or unusual about these two
strangers. All she can do is repeat the
same words that she spoke to Peter—“They have taken away my Lord and I do not
know where they have laid him.” (v. 13b).
She
hears a noise from behind her and she quickly turns around. She sees someone nearby. A gardener, perhaps. She approaches him, her eyes still blurry
with tears, her heart racing, pounding.
Her mind still in a fog. Maybe he
knows something. Maybe he can help her?
She
races up to him. By this time, her
emotions overcome her completely and without the least bit of embarrassment,
she weeps freely. The man is filled with
compassion as he asks her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” (v. 15).
Maybe
this man knows. Without lifting her
eyes, without really hearing his words or his voice, Mary immediately assumes a
“take charge” manner and begins to question, almost accuse this Man. “If you have carried him away, tell me
where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” (v. 15b).
It
is only when Jesus tenderly, firmly calls her name, “Mary,” that He is able to
break through her preconceived notions of what has taken place. Only then are her eyes opened to see the
Risen Lord. And she falls to the ground,
reaching out for Him, trying to hold on to Him so that she will never lose Him
again.
We
fall into that same trap, as well. We
have a notion of who Jesus is—of how we should encounter Him. We expect to find Him in a certain time and
place and under certain conditions.
Some
of us look for the miracle Jesus, expecting Him to do our bidding whenever we
want. We overlook the purpose for the
miracles that Jesus performed during his earthly ministry: His miracles were not performed for our
convenience but for the Glory of God. We
don’t recognize that the Jesus who is with us in our hour of need, who has bourn
our griefs and carried our sorrows (see Isaiah
53:4), the Jesus who wept at the loss of his friend Lazarus—this is Jesus
the Risen Christ.
Some
of us look for the philosopher Jesus.
Like Pontius Pilate, we would prefer to engage in dialogue with Jesus
about “what is truth” (see John 18:38)
and we fail to recognize the One standing before us who is “the way, the truth
and the life” (John 14:6). We like the ethical Jesus—the one who urged
His followers to “turn the other check” and follow a path of nonviolence (Matthew 5:39). But it is a far different matter when we hear
Jesus invites us to take up our own crosses daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23).
Some
of us look for Jesus in judgment, still waiting for Him to come and make all
things right in the world. There is some
element of truth here—we do read about a day of reckoning. But if we continue to wait for Jesus to come
in judgment, we might miss the One who came to “seek and to save that which is
lost” (see Matthew 18:11). And if we engage in some honest
self-examination, we might come to find that we ourselves might not be quite so
ready to face Christ in judgment.
Some
of us just aren’t sure who to look for or where to look for Him. We just keep looking, hoping that somehow, we
will recognize Him when we find Him.
I
had an “aha” moment this week when thinking about this search for Jesus. The New Revised Standard Version quotes Jesus
as asking, “Whom are you looking for?”
The New International Version, the one used in your Pew Bibles,
translates the question almost in the same way:
“Who is it that you are looking for?” But the Greek word that is used probably
would be better translated as “seeking.”
Whom are you seeking? The word
“seeking” connotes to me a sense that we are doing more than just looking
around—it is far more active, engaged.
It is the same word that Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount when He
urged us to “seek first the Kingdom of God…” (Matthew 6:33).
It
is one of those mysteries of our faith that seem to be contradictory, and yet
it isn’t. It goes right up there with “lose
your life to find it,” or “give and you shall receive.” On the one hand, in order to find the Risen
Christ, you have to give up your assumptions about when and where and how He
will appear to you. And yet, to give up
your assumptions does not mean that you give up the search. Even the Apostle Paul, as he neared the end
of his life, wrote of the deepest desire of his heart: “I want to know Christ and the power of his
resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings … (Philippians 3:10). Time
after time, God assures His people, “When you search for me, you will find me;
if you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah
29:13).
But
the best part is that just when Mary is at her lowest point, she finds out that
Jesus has been looking for her all along.
He sees her sorrow and he calls her by name. Jesus, the Son of God, desires to be in
relationship with us even more then we desire to be in relationship with
Him. He is continually with us, watching
us, accompanying us, inviting us to “abide” in Him. Jesus, the One who completed His earthly
ministry by promising to His followers, “… remember, I will be with you always,
to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
Whom
are you looking for this Easter? Are you
willing to give up your own preconceived notions about who Jesus is and
experience the Jesus who is with you? He
is calling your name. And when you
recognize Him, can you join with Mary and with the unending cloud of witnesses
who proclaim, “I have seen the Lord” (John
20:18)?
May
it be so!
Copyright
© 2014 by Thomas E. Frost. All rights
reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment