Jesus knew everything that was to happen to him, so he went out and asked, “Who are you looking for?”
They answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
He said to them, “I Am.” (Judas, his betrayer, was standing with them.) When he said, “I Am,” they shrank back and fell to the ground. – John 18:4-6
This weekend, after an interesting few days where I have celebrated my 70th birthday and shared the excitement of releasing a new book, I want to pause for a moment and ease my attention – our attention – back into this season of Lent, this time of preparing our hearts for the observance of Easter.
There is a passage in Saturday’s Reaching Toward Easter meditation (the chapter is Caught in the Shadows, Drawn to the Light) that speaks very clearly into today’s dark and confused world. The scripture is John 18:4-8 – it is the passage where Jesus is arrested, late Thursday evening in the Garden of Gethsemane.
There is a rude intrusion of noise, intimidation and violence, yet Jesus remains calm in the storm and he asks, “Who are you looking for?” Because even the thugs who come to arrest him are, like billions of others throughout history, looking for Jesus (page 110).
This scene gives me pause because we forget – when we become angry at the tactics used to oppress The Other and free speech and free ideas – that even “the tragically confused, the angry, the criminal, the hateful, the misfits, the lost and the resentful among us are looking for Jesus. Jesus recognized this in those who came to arrest him, and he was willing to meet them exactly where they were – Jesus always is.”
even the tragically confused, the angry, the criminal, the hateful, the misfits, the lost and the resentful among us are looking for Jesus…
Reaching Toward Easter
That’s why, in my birthday blog the other day, I said that I want to encourage people to live “as ambassadors of the Kingdom and practitioners of light and grace.”
This is what it means to follow Jesus. It means to recognize the need inside every human being for light and for grace. Even – and maybe especially – those who are so set on creating wreckage and destroying hope and advancing their own power.
Who are we looking for? I believe that everything any one of us is looking for can be found – and satisfied – in Jesus.
It’s Palm Sunday, let’s go wave some branches – DEREK
Hebrews 12:2, “looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” I had the opportunity to preach today, and my sermon was titled: “Undeterred by clarity”. As you say, He knew exactly what was going to happen, and He even knew his script (Psalm 22:1), yet He willingly laid down his life (note the subject of the sentence is “He”), for our salvation. What an Amazing God! Cheers!