More about the “I found Jesus” people whom we encounter in life from time to time: Jesus does not play “Hide and Go Seek.” Never has. Never will. When people tell us, “I have found Jesus,” they are trying to put into words an experience in which they “feel” or maybe “believe” that Jesus is real to them. Perhaps this experience for them is a first. Why, is what bugs me!
If the Gospel you and I heard yesterday read among us is true, Jesus makes crystal clear that he wants us to know him, to know him alive, and to know him throughout the created order. He wants us to know him in Holy Scripture. He wants us to know him in bread and wine. He wants us to know him in what we see and experience in life all round us day in and day out. This is no “Hide and Go Seek” Lord Jesus. Rather, he nearly over does it.
So, “I found Jesus” proclamations like the one I heard Saturday night at the Bloomin Ball AIN celebration set my teeth on edge. For some reason people want us to be impressed by their declaration, not made ill at ease. One has to be glad that a fellow traveler in this life has opened up enough for Jesus to penetrate whatever “blocks” were preventing their experiencing him. I can rejoice in that with them. It is the piece that sounds “unique” that unsettles.
I want to ask: “Have you had your eyes closed all these years? Are you deaf? Are your senses so stove up that even our ever-present Lord Himself cannot open them? I don’t ask those questions, but I want to. Now that someone has “found” Jesus, the real work of spiritual well being can begin for them. They are not “unique.” The rest of us have known where Jesus is for years and years and we have had the wondrous experience of having Our Blessed Lord fill our life with joy and goodness all the while. And, we don’t think ourselves special because of that knowing. We have seen the Lord. Our hearts have been opened to Holy Scripture where we encounter him. We see, taste, touch, smell and hear Jesus among us and all around us. Novices to Jesus’ whereabouts are in for some real treats.
This is a point in a person’s journey through this life when having someone as a spiritual companion can prevent the novice from plunging into a deep and gooey quagmire. The fellow who “came out to me with having found Jesus” Saturday night needs that sort of companionship. Mercifully, he did seem open to going to his parish priest and telling him about his “best new friend, Jesus.” I hope and pray that he will follow my strong counsel to see his pastor.
We could use some of the enthusiasm these souls have in our own “walk with the Lord.” Sometimes looking at us and listening to us, a person might have to ask the question: “Where is the joy in that person’s life?” You and I “found Jesus” many years ago, perhaps. The truth is Jesus found us. Not many of us were searching for Our Lord when we bumped into him, when we opened up to the Author of Life himself and began to realize that we were among God’s beloved. A great wonder!
Perhaps it is just because it is Easter that this man finally found the Lord. Jesus spends Eastertide showing himself in every way he can to those with eyes to see and ears to hear. What do your eyes and ears see and hear this Easter?
Alleluia. Alleluia.
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