Strangely enough the Bible illustrates the difficulty people had in identifying Jesus. In fact only one occasion where Jesus was correctly identified by the apostle Peter, Jesus announced that Peter had successfully recognized him not by flesh and blood but my spirit. As it may be, it seems that spirits, evil spirits recognized the new Jesus more so than anyone else. This was to the effect that the demons were quieted and forbidden to announce the presence of Christ.
After the crucifixion, the arisen Christ, found walking on the beach, again was not he immediately recognized. It took for Jesus to call out the disciples before they could gain awareness of who he was.
So then, we Jesus exiting this world, he promises lo I am with you you unto the end of the world. This brings us into an important truth.
Whereas it is truthful to say Jesus resides in heaven on the right hand of God, equally true is that the spirit of Jesus dwells here on earth. Thus, our quest for Jesus should not begin in heaven, but here on earth. And where do we find our living Lord?
Jesus made it clear: we find him physically, spiritually in the midst where at least two pray in his name. We discover the personality, the person of Jesus in the homeless, in the forgotten, among widowers, the imprisoned, the sick, the dejected, the hungry, the thirsty, the browbeaten and all the others who are downtrodden and desire peace and a call into serenity.
So aside from the esoteric, ethereal depiction of Jesus, his words declare his manifestation through his children, his brothers and sisters. As one who desires the presence of Jesus, the task only requires a reaching out to his church or and to those in need. There you will find Jesus.
Jesus is located not with a GPS but among the suffering, the poor those who hurt and those without hope—there you will find Jesus. Peculiar, in this venue, Jesus probably will not be wearing nice clothes. He might possess a stench or some dirty odor,unkempt and markedly different from others. More than likely you will not see Jesus with the rich, nor sporting a guitar, probably not growling through a microphone, nor surrounded within the magnificence of a huge cathedral in the background. In some respects in particular when it comes to the physical, Jesus will be remarkable to the respect of all the things he is without. Consequently, meeting Jesus in the flesh requires sacrifice: it requires the giving up, humility, extending oneself out to another. In short, it requires doing all the things of which Jesus said and commanded us to do. It is in this process of giving that we are in the process of dying—and in the process of dying the new process, the transformation of the rebirth occurs. In a word, finding Jesus means finding our brother and sister. The question remains… Are we willing to do what is necessary to walk with Jesus? Are we willing to put up with the people of whom Jesus says he is? Last, our walk with Jesus will not rest so much in terms of what we say, yet in what we do in reference to our words. More importantly is not even our words at all that you reflect our commitment to God, yet the words of the Lord himself in his commissioning and commands of all in which we do. During these moments of performing the will of God to the words of Jesus we become the spirit, the very spirit of Christ himself, for it is at that time that we no longer speak, but in our actions we allow our behavior just for us. And that is when our neighbors discover God through us: for it is in us that Christ lives.
Hard Times Ministries 