Do We See Jesus?

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). --John 20:15-16, NIV

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” --John 21:4-7a, NIV

John’s Gospel provides the reader with several post resurrection appearances of Jesus, and these have been interpreted in many ways. These two stood out for me today.

First, Mary does not recognize Jesus at the GardenTomb. Some suggest that because of her grief, she is so distraught that she is not paying attention. However, it takes only a word from Jesus for her to recognize him.

Second, Jesus appears on the shore as his disciples are fishing. Perhaps they do not recognize him because of the distance to the shore, but when they receive a miraculous catch of fish, one disciple (John most likely) immediately knows who he is.

Why did these who were so close to Jesus not recognize the risen Christ? Perhaps he had been transformed in some way or maybe grief or distance obscured their vision.

I wonder if they did not recognize him because they did not expect to see him. Mary thought of him as dead! Although the disciples had seen the risen Christ, they had not yet received the Great Commission, did not know what to do with themselves, and had given up on hearing anything else from Jesus!

The response in both cases is joy and celebration.

My takeaway is that perhaps we do not see Jesus every day because we do not expect to see Him. Let me put this another way. God is at work through the Son and the Spirit daily. The Trinity is presenting itself in some way in our lives each day; however, we are not looking for that activity, so we miss it. If we did, we would celebrate that abiding presence more.

Take a few moments at the end of the day and ask, “Where did I sense the presence of God today?” “Where did I see God at work?” and “What am I called to do as a result?”

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