Who is it You're Looking For?

 "Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, 'Woman, why are you crying?' 'They have taken my Lord away,' she said, 'and I don't know where they have put him.' At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there but she didn't realize it was Jesus. He asked her, 'Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you're looking for?'"  John 20:11-15

    The chorus in a song by Johnny Cash goes like this: 

"Would you recognize Jesus if you met Him face-to-face,

Or would you wonder if He's just another one you couldn't place?

    What does Jesus look like to you? Would you know Him as the One who liberally sprinkled the diamonds in the snow on that frosty morning in January? Did you hear Him in the trill of a chickadee? Isn't that the scent of the One who scooped you up off the floor when you were prone with grief over one of your children? Are those the pierced hands that collected your tears in a bottle? Did He hand you a pen as you signed the papers for your first big purchase? Was that His gentle whisper as you tucked your babe to sleep? Did you hear His footfalls match your stride as your pensively plod a path? Did you recognize His laughter as your cat stuck his curious head in a box? Is that Him throwing His weight around during a summer storm? Did His eyes lock with yours in an anguished gaze as you denied Him at the company Christmas party when you had too much to drink? Perhaps it was the way He spoke your name during a favorite hymn or when you tearfully bade your father goodbye for the final time?

    My dad once observed that there seemed to be many people who talk about going to heaven when they die, but they didn't spend much time getting to know God while they were here. Why, then, would they want to spend eternity with Him?

    When my girls were small, I could recognize them in a dark room because I'd spent so much intimate time with them. Would I recognize Jesus in this same way? Would someone see Jesus in me?

    "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" Genesis 3: 8, 9