WHOM DO YOU SEEK?

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she
stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white,
sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one
at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She
said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do
not know where they have laid him." Saying this, she turned round
and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you
seek?" (John 20:11–15)

This question "Whom do you seek?" runs through the Gospel of

John like a light red thread. It isn't overwhelming at first and it is
easy to overlook, but once you see, you can't unsee it. The thread
started running with the very first words Jesus spoke in this
Gospel, which formed a question directed at the disciples of John
the Baptist that started to follow after him. To them, Jesus said,
"What do you seek?" (Jn 1:38).

When Jesus utters an even more personal form of this question

to Mary Magdalene, it is not the second but rather the third time
this basic question has appeared. In between the first and the
last is the question of Jesus not to his would-be disciples, not to
this first witness of his Resurrection, but to the band of soldiers
his betrayer has gathered. To them, too, he asks, "Whom do you
seek?" (Jn 18:4).

This very question Christ asked Mary Magdalene goes way

beyond her trying to locate the body of her friend and master,
Jesus.

I have overtime thought out this very question and come up with
statements like: Who are you looking for? Who do you want to
find?

Rephrasing it goes thus: what is your purpose? What is your

intent? Why are you here (on earth)? What is your heart desire?

It is always helpful to know exactly what we are looking for. If we

are not sure what we are seeking, we may believe we have found
what we need and settle for the wrong thing. We may also simply
not look very hard, as we may be completely confused as to what
we need.

On the other hand, if we have a clear vision of what we are

seeking, we have a much better chance of locating it. How do we
go about making sure we have a clear sense of what we need and
what will truly meet our needs?

Mary was outside the tomb weeping. What, in fact, is she looking
for? She has gone to the tomb early in the morning in search of a
dead body. She is looking for a corpse, a remnant of possibilities
lost and of hopes dashed. Whom does she seek? Jesus, of course,
but does she seek Jesus as he is, for who he is, or for who she
thought him to be, wanted him to be, settled for him to be? Is she
looking for her own image of Jesus? It appears so.

We like to think of Thomas as the "doubter" and it is easier to

slightly disparage him and what appears to be his lack of belief.
When we follow that light red thread from the beginning to the
end of the Gospel, though, we see that rather than just a late-
comer or a final hold-out in the apostolic community to belief in
the Resurrection, Thomas is actually the one who responds in
full to the first and continual question of the Gospel of John. 

"What do you seek?" The first two followers said, "'Rabbi' (which
means Teacher)..." (1:38).

"Whom do you seek?" The soldiers in the garden said, "Jesus of

Nazareth" (18:4–5).

"Whom do you seek?" Mary, at first looking for a corpse,

eventually says, "'Rabboni!' (which means Teacher)" (20:15–16).

But Thomas says, "My Lord and my God!" (20:28).

He is the first to confess, in full, who Jesus is and matches that

recognition with the deepest desire of his own heart, which has
now been revealed to him through the encounter with Jesus in
his glorified flesh.
Today, we tend to run from pillar to post seeking Christ while in
reality we are not certain whether we seek the Christ or we seek
who He is to us.

People attend different programmes from different churches: 5

Nights of Glory, Holy Ghost Convention, Coconut Night, Night of
Bliss, Shiloh, etc. I can tell you categorically, there are those who
avail themselves in all these programmes. What then is their
motive? Are they actually seeking Christ or after their self-serving
expectations?

If they seek Christ, must they attend all crusade programmes

before they find him?

We must start debugging our minds from this self-deceit. Seeking

Christ is important, but why we seek him is more important.

If we seek him for the sake of our selfish gains, we may not find
him soon but when we seek him for the sake of the kingdom. We
will find him. And in Him comes the whole package. (Matt 6.33)

Redirect your focus today.