"Whom are you looking for?"

Jesus asks this question at two incredibly important times near the end of His earthly ministry.

The first time occurs at the time of His arrest (bolded emphasis mine):

After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus replied, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they stepped back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.” This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, “I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.” Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?” So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him.

John 18.1-12

The second occurs after His resurrection (bolded emphasis mine):

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

John 20.11-18

How different these two scenes are, yet how pertinent they truly are to us today!

In the first, He is speaking to those who will soon put him to death; in the second, He is speaking to one who loves Him more than life itself.

I believe that He continues to speak these words to us today. He is asking us all, “Whom are you looking for?”

What is the hole in your soul - your spirit? What is it within you that cries out for fulfillment? What is it desirous of? Whom is it desirous of?

Really dig deep for the answers.

Are you in a state of joy? Have you realised the certain hope that is ours if we trust in Him? What about the peace He gives His children? Do you know His love? Can you know His love?

Hard questions, to be sure. Not ones we like to have to answer. But eventually, everyone comes to a time in their lives in which they must face both self and God, soul laid bare.

It’s okay if now isn’t that time for you. Just remember that it will come eventually.