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April 21, 2019Easter“Where’s Jesus?”Matthew 28: 1-10, New International VersionAfter the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene?and the other Mary?went to look at the tomb.There was a violent earthquake,?for an angel?of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone?and sat on it.?His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.?The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid,?for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.?He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.?Come and see the place where he lay.?Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.?There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.?Suddenly Jesus met them.?“Greetings,”?he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.?Then Jesus said to them,?“Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers?to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”Have you ever searched for Waldo? If you have hung out with children in the last 25 years, you will understand this question as referring to a Where’s Waldo? book. This children’s book series originated from the creative mind of Martin Handford, a British illustrator. The books consist of double-page spreads of very detailed drawings of all kind of characters in a themed location doing silly and amusing things. The real fun of the book though, is that readers are challenged to find Waldo, a world-traveling young man wearing glasses, a beanie, and a distinctive red and white striped shirt. Waldo has been featured not only in books, but also in a magazine, television show, films, video games, a comic strip, and on boxes of Quaker Life Cereal. For a guy who’s hard to find, Waldo really gets around! And, in one of the crowing achievements of my life…I found him! He was trying to blend in at a comics convention, but my eagle eye honed in on him in the midst of a crowd of superheroes and Jedi knights. Where he went from there, though, is anybody’s guess…Which brings me to another guy who some have felt has also been hard to find: Jesus. Sometimes we lose track of him. He gets lost in the crowd of tasks in our daily lives, wanders away from our narrow field of vision, or goes to a new place while we’re not looking. Then, we wonder, “Where’s Jesus?”It’s something that people in Biblical times sometimes wondered, too. During his ministry on earth, Jesus was a traveling kind of guy. Like Waldo, he never stayed in one place for very long. He raised Lazarus from the dead at Bethany, healed a paralytic at Bethesda, healed the blind near Jericho, predicted his death at Caesarea Philippi, preached from a boat on Lake Gennesaret, healed a centurion’s servant in Capernaum, and healed ten lepers in Samaria. He also traveled to the boondocks of Galilee, and the big city of Jerusalem. There was no place too small or too large for Jesus to go. There was no place too out of the way or too crowded. It was never too hot or too cold or too wet or too dry, too dusty or too muddy. There was no person too great or too humble to be a part of his journey. He went where he was called and where he needed to be.So where’s Jesus? Jesus is wherever you need him to be. There is no place you can travel that is beyond his steps. There is no situation that is outside his comfort zone, no emotions or wounds that he hasn’t seen before. Your journey will forever be his journey. Jesus is available always.Another place Jesus is found is also a place few people expected him to be: on the cross. Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of kings. The Jews of Biblical times expected that the Messiah would liberate them from their Roman oppressors, and that his kingdom would be an earthly one that would establish the Jewish nation. They weren’t expecting a suffering servant. They weren’t looking for the kingdom of heaven. They didn’t imagine their king would be…humble! The cross was a place of shame and humiliation, not the place for a glorious Messiah and King. What they didn’t understand was that Jesus was ushering in a heavenly kingdom of peace, where leadership is servanthood and the first will be last and the last, first. Where greatness is measured in humility, and glory in love and service. So, in those times in your life, when you are suffering or bleeding or laboring, and you wonder, “Where’s Jesus?” look for him on the cross—bleeding, suffering, laboring and dying right along with you. One consequence of his human form and his human death is that Jesus knows your pain; he is well-acquainted with your trials and anguish. And he is with you in them, pouring out his blood for your redemption. There is one more place we can look for Jesus, and to discuss that I want to introduce you to Clarence Jordan.He was born in Georgia in 1912, and spent his life as a farmer and New Testament Greek scholar. From a young age, he was troubled by racial and economic injustice he saw in his community. He earned a degree in agriculture with the hope of improving the lives of sharecroppers with better farming techniques. He became concerned, though, that the roots of poverty were spiritual as well as economic, which led him to seminary. Jordan founded Koinonia Farm (based on the Greek word for communion or fellowship) as an interracial, Christian farming community. The people of Koinonia dedicated themselves to the equality of all persons, nonviolence, ecological stewardship, and sharing of possessions. Sadly, the white people near the farm saw it as a threat. It was the target of violent threats, bombings, and an economic boycott.None of these things ever stopped Jordan from preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. He became well known for his Cotton Patch translations of the New Testament, in which he put the Biblical text into modern, familiar contexts. He is also remembered as being one of the founders of Habitat for Humanity.He believed that one problem of contemporary Christianity was that most Christians preferred to place Jesus on a distant throne, or as part of ancient times, missing the radical implications of an incarnate Jesus immersed in human life. He thought it was important for people to realize:…the resurrection places Jesus on this side of the grave, here and now, in the midst of life. The Good News of the resurrection is not that we shall die and go home with him but that he is risen and comes with us, bringing all his hungry, naked, thirsty, sick, prisoner brothers with him. So, where’s Jesus? The women, early on the first Easter morning, looked for him in the tomb, but he wasn’t there. Instead, he was standing right there with them, on this side of the grave, here and now, in the midst of life. We can find him in the same spot, in the midst of our own lives. Look for him in the words and actions of your family and friends, in meals shared, in gifts given and received. See him in the uncountable blessings that come to you every day. Find him in spring flowers and colorful sunsets, in the songs of birds and the scent of the wind. If you are paying attention, the places you meet Jesus may surprise and delight you.You just never know when you will run into him!Jesus, like Waldo, is hiding in plain sight. He’s not tucked away in the tomb. He’s not invisible behind the glorious light of heaven. He’s not far away on a distant throne or secreted in a dusty text. The tomb is empty. Jesus is among us!References:'s_Wally%3F Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time, by Robert Ellsberg. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2001. See p. 471. ................
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