Whom are you looking for?

“Whom are you looking for?”

-Jesus

 

Jesus asks this question twice in the last few chapters of the Gospel of John.  In the first instance, Judas Iscariot was leading a squadron of Roman Soldiers to arrest Jesus.  Judas appears to have become disillusioned.  He may have begun to doubt the ability of peace to change the world.  He may have succumbed to the need for revenge and prefer a warrior revolutionary, or perhaps Judas just wanted the money.  Whatever the reason, Judas betrayed his friend and the other disciples ran away.  When Jesus asks, “Whom are you looking for,” the response of Judas and the soldiers is a scapegoat.  The people wanted to place their fears and anger on Jesus… and that is exactly what they did.

The second time Jesus asks this question comes in John chapter 20.  Here Jesus has risen from the dead, but the disciples are still in a state of confusion and fear.  They believe someone has taken Christ’s body to another location, and Mary Magdalene is left weeping outside the tomb.  It is at this moment that Jesus appears and asks her, “Whom are you looking for?”  At first she cannot see who is calling out to her.  However when Jesus says her name, her eyes are opened.  Christ had never been far from her.  Jesus was present with her then, and He is present with us now.

 

Today Jesus is still asking us what we are looking for.  If we are searching for a scapegoat or someone to blame for our troubles, we are going to find that.  If we are looking for a source of hope and love in the world, then that is what we will find.  

 

This Holy week and Easter I hope we can all search for love.  Perhaps you can feel the warmth and love from a family member or friend this Easter.  Perhaps you can feel God’s presence in worship, or in the beauty of nature.  However we search for Christ, let us find God’s love here and now. 

 

Blessings!

 

Brian