Searching and Finding

What are you looking for? Who are you looking for? What are you looking to see and to find in your searching? Who are you hoping to find in your searching? What keeps you from seeking, seeing, and finding God?

Most of us feel like we are searching for something more in this life. We can find ourselves seeking and searching for God and God’s joy, God’s presence, God’s purpose, God’s hope, and God’s peace.

The people of the first-century were seeking the messiah who was to come and to bring the hope of God, the peace of God, and the joy of God and his kingdom. John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus the Messiah who would bring God’s hope, peace, and joy, fulfilling Isaiah as the voice who cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3, ESV). After his imprisonment, however, John doubted Jesus and questioned if he was the one or should they look for another. 

The Gospel of Matthew tells us of John the Baptist’s search for God. Matthew tells us, “Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ And Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (Matthew 11:2-6, ESV). 

When we are disappointed and when life does not go as we had planned or had hoped, it is easy to get discouraged and to doubt and to question God. John saw his imprisonment and circumstances and was blinded to the work of God and the person of God who was right there before him.

Instead of rebuking John, Jesus encouraged John with the joy and the hope that was before him and invited him to see what he was looking for—Jesus the Messiah. Jesus was inviting John to see that he was the fulfillment of the Prophet Isaiah, who John was also fulfilling.

Jesus was inviting his cousin John the Baptist to see himself in Isaiah 42:6-9, when God promised, “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.” (Isaiah 42:6-9, ESV).

Jesus was inviting John to see God in that “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” (Matthew 11:2-6, ESV). 

May we see and find what we are searching for as we see Jesus the Messiah who fulfills all prophesy and brings us the hope, peace, joy, and love we so desperately long for in our lives. 

A Collect for the Third Sunday in Advent: “O Lord Jesus Christ, you sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise make ready your way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient toward the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to judge the world, we may be found a people acceptable in your sight; for with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).