We have all probably heard the joke, "I found Jesus!", to which someone replies, "Oh, I didn't know He was lost". But maybe there's more to this little joke than meets the eye. Sometimes people are looking in all the wrong places for the King.
I always found it a bit strange that many churches would have an icon or statue of a man pinned to a cross prominently stuck on the outside of their building, when in reality a big hole may have been more appropriate, representing an empty tomb.
Without the resurrection, the cross is pointless and powerless. Together they are unconquerable, even by death itself!
Some people seek Jesus in a dusty stable among the mewing cows - but He is not there, only on a Christmas card.
Other pilgrims look for the Carpenter of Galilee on the shores of the lake or the streets of Jerusalem - but He is strangely absent. The streets teem with religious humanity, but Jesus is nowhere to be found.
Then we venture deeper and look to the cross. Where is He that died for my sins? I take a look, but the cross is empty. Well, not really, I am there - He was my substitute, and all that hangs there today are the filthy rags of my sin, not the glory of my Saviour.
I walk on to the tomb. Surely I will glimpse Him there. Only to discover the angel that spoke to Mary still guards that spot. "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" he questions, and sends me on my way.
I run to the very spot where he ascended, only He's not there either. Another angel this time urging, "What are you standing looking up into the sky for? He will come again in the very same way, but until that moment, get to work, and do what He says!"
"Oh, God!" I cry, "Come visit me, come down and touch me, I cannot find Jesus."
And in an instant He replies.
"No, no, my son, I'm not coming down. I already did that - you come up. The way is open, a new a living way into my presence, and no thing on earth or in heaven can bar your way."
And so I do. Simply, by faith.
And there, at the right hand of Majesty on high, sits my Lord and my God, my friend and the Saviour of all - Jesus Christ.
"There You are!" I exclaim in delight and awe.
"Of course I am, where did you expect to find Me?"
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