Looking For
Jesus
( Who Is
Jesus Christ? )
By Dr. G.
Byrns Coleman
Who Has
Sought Jesus?
The biblical narrative
reminds us that many came, and they all came
looking for Jesus. The shepherds came, and Luke in
his Gospel says they saw, they rejoiced, and then
they returned to the field telling everyone the
“good news.” The Magi (“wise
men”) came bringing their gifts acknowledging
Him to be the “king of the Jews” whose
“star” they had seen.
From that far away place
– probably in the vicinity of what is now
Baghdad -- they had traveled seeking the new thing
God was doing for the world. This is one way
Matthew has of saying in his Gospel the good news
of God was for all people everywhere!
Zacchaeus came looking and
had to climb a tree in order to see. His life was
changed when Jesus looked up and said, “Come
down, today I must abide at your house.” Blind
Bartimaeus heard the noise and cried out; he
received his sight, and followed Jesus.
The Greeks came that last
week and declared, “Sir, we would see
Jesus.” John says it is at this point that
Jesus said, “Mine hour has come!”
Something about the Greeks coming, perhaps because
they were foreigners and yet came seeking
God’s revelation of himself, that clicked in
Jesus’ mind the fact that his mission has been
completed. The cross and resurrection came shortly
thereafter!
They all came looking
for Jesus . . . !!
Each of us at one time or
another in our lives came looking for Jesus, and
our lives, too, were changed! Even today we look
for Jesus . . . in our world of war, acts of hate,
busy malls, crowded places, fears, and frustrations
of everyday life. Ours is much like the world of
2000 years ago . . . poverty, poor, homeless
people, no room in the inn, taxation, folks in
trouble with no one to help. Still, we look for
Jesus in the midst of all of it.
Where Is
God?
Victor Frankle described the
awfulness of the concentration camps of Auschwitz
and Dachau where 100’s of Jews died. The
question came, “Where was God in all of this
human tragedy?” The answer most often given:
“He was there in all the awfulness. He was
there with his people in their suffering and
death!” EMMANUEL – GOD WITH US.
The Rev. William Curlen,
Bishop in Mecklenburg County and greater Charlotte,
was on our campus some time ago. He told about
being with Mother Teresa once in Calcutta. (A side
note – I always wanted to meet Mother Teresa
and I felt that we stood on holy ground that day
when Father Curlen, a man who knew her well, told
us about one of his visits.)
Who Is Jesus?
There in that awful place of
poverty, sickness, and suffering of poor people who
seemed to have little or no hope of life, Mother
Teresa said to Father Curlen, “Would you like
to see Jesus?” “YES!” came his
excited answer. He said, “We went out into the
street.
There was a poor man, almost
a complete oozing sore from head to toe, dying.
Mother Teresa took him in her arms, prayed, and
spoke words of comfort to this poor, dying man.
Later, she said to me, ‘You know who that was?
That was Jesus!”
The “word” in that
moment became flesh – “As you’ve
done it unto the least of these my brethren,
you’ve done it unto me.”
The Real Meaning Of
Christmas
At this Christmastime, we try
to remember the reason for our celebration. I even
heard serious words from “Santa Claus” at
a church program in 2001 reminding us of the
“real meaning” of Christmas – more
than giving and getting! It’s our love for God
and our love for each other, he
“preached.” Our gifts are simply
reminders of God’s gift of His Son to us for
the saving of the sinful world.
Dr. Seuss knew the real
reason for the season and tells us clearly in his
classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It’s
more than presents, lights, and trees, we are
reminded. After the visit of the Grinch with his
idea of “stealing their Christmas,” the
Postman says, “I’m glad he stole all the
presents. Christmas is more than that. We’ll
still have Christmas because we’re with our
families and friends and we have
love!”
WOW! We can say
“Amen” to that, for sure!
Where To Find
Jesus
We look for Jesus and we find
him – in families, in friends, in church (in
the music that leads us into worship, in sermons
that remind us of the real meaning of the Christmas
message), in love that binds us together (binds us
to each other and binds us to God).
We look for Jesus and we find
him as we serve each other. Holy Scripture pictures
graphically this truth. “Love God, love your
neighbor.” “As you’ve done it unto
the least of these.”
Even in John’s
foot-washing scene in the Upper Room, where the
message seems to be – “Go out and do what
Jesus has done,” and the “what Jesus has
done” in this scene seems to be acts of loving
kindness. This is the reason, I think, that Jesus
seems to say to the disciples, “You don’t
know what I’ve done to you, but when you know,
do it.”
Loving acts of kindness
– how the world needs that. Beyond the walls
of the Upper Room, people need our love, our
kindness; beyond the walls of the sanctuary, people
are there in need of God’s love. They
experience God’s love in our love for
them!
Jesus In The Seminary
I remember at Southern
Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, one night in the
dorm a friend came to my room and asked for help. I
followed him to his room and for the next hour or
so helped him hold a man down who was having
delirious tremors, seeing snakes, bugs, all kinds
of beasts that were tormenting him!
The man knew my friend from a
mission in downtown Louisville and had no one else
to turn to in his desperation. After more than an
hour, he was able to calm down and sleep soundly.
The snakes, bugs, and other beasts had been
defeated by love and care and prayer. At the
Seminary, we looked for Jesus . . . and we found
him in a dorm room, in a Louisville alcoholic who
needed God’s help! “As you’ve done
it unto the least of these my brethren . .
.”
Jesus In A Small
Southern Church
I remember at Immanuel
Baptist Church in Lancaster, S.C., one Sunday
evening a family was there. Strangers. A Mom and
Dad, and two little children. They told of their
struggles to make ends meet and their hard times.
We took up a love offering and sent them happily on
their way with food, gasoline for their car, and
some extra money for unexpected needs as they made
their way home in Florida.
At church we looked for Jesus
… and we found Him in a family in trouble.
“As you’ve done it unto the least of
these my brethren . . .”
Where To Find Jesus? --
Wherever We Look!
The point of all this –
we confront Jesus not just in sermons, or music, or
Bible stories . . . We confront Jesus almost
everyday in every place in people.
SO . . . always, always
remember and especially at this Christmastime, when
you are looking for Jesus ---- “As you’ve
done it unto the least of these my brethren,
you’ve done it unto me . . .”
AMEN!
About the
Author
G. Byrns Coleman is Professor
of Religion and Chair of Department of Religion
& Philosophy, Wingate
University, Wingate, NC
. He is also a member of Wingate
Baptist Church
.
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