Have you seen Jesus?

The Bible records separate endeavors to find Jesus.  The first endeavor was that of the wise men who searched for Jesus and found him.  They followed the star to the manger.  They overcame obstacles to bring their gifts to Jesus.  The second was another effort made by Herod to find Jesus.  He was willing to kill all the baby boys up to a certain age to insure that he killed this rival to his throne.  He was always nipping on his heels but he never found him.  The third is that of his own parents after their trip to Jerusalem when he was twelve.

Jesus lost and found in the Temple represents a life event.  We know how Joseph and Mary searched anxiously for the young boy when they discovered that he was not in the caravan with the pilgrims returning from Jerusalem.  Mary felt both frustration and confusion… “why did you do this to us?” she asked Jesus, when they finally found him sitting in the temple among the doctors of the Law.  In a similar way, we too experience ups and downs in our religious or ordinary life.  At times we become disappointed and discouraged or we even seem to go through a crisis of faith.  We don’t feel Christ’s presence anymore among us and life seems hopeless and meaningless.  These are moments when we need to act and start looking for Jesus through an ongoing conversion in order to restore peace and harmony within ourselves and with the members of our community.  There are still people in our world today searching for Jesus.  Many of them will not be successful because they search for him for the wrong reasons and in the wrong attitude..