Searching For Jesus

Jesus is not physically here.  He is not in the Shroud of Turin, not in Veronica's Veil, not in paintings and holy cards, and not in sculptures small and large.  He has resurrected.  For someone who does not believe in and love Christ deep in the heart, He cannot be found but that is not always true.  For example, Jesus showed Himself to His disciples even though they had no idea who He was. He has not stopped looking for non-believers ever since, an assertion that is without proof, just as the existence of Jesus is not definitive.  Neither of that matters because people who did not believe in Christ who have become believers in Christ do exist in the flesh today, unlike Jesus Who no longer does.

The absence of Christ in the flesh had given way for the Holy Spirit to be present.  Since the Holy Spirit is invisible and likely free-form, It is difficult for one to imagine and even more difficult to forge a relationship with.  Therefore, believers in Christ talk often about the incarnated Son of God but seldom the Holy Spirit because the Former is easy for the mind to comprehend despite Jesus' mysterious existence, in particular His early years, and His even more mysterious disappearance. Believer or not, the relationship between man and God is close, similar to the one between Satan and man and in many ways to the one between man and wife.

In contrast to a couple who is dating, the question that is seldom asked of a person with a close relationship with Christ is: "How did you two meet?"  The answer is probably as dissimilar [1] as those of couples being asked the same question for every individual is different which makes unique the circumstances that unite Christ to that person.  Behind the varied circumstances that bring together Christ and man is the mystery as to who initiated the first step, man or Christ.

A good guess would be Christ Who is always the One calling out to man who in God's image he appears.  To see a stranger beyond what meets the eye is to experience the heart of God's creation if it had not yet been corrupted by Satan.  To see only for example the shallowness represented by one's grooming, dress and possessions is to refuse to see God within others.  Seeing hate is the rejection of good and of God.  Even one who sees hate can be called by Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul was an example [2], [3].

Why Jesus calls some people but not others nobody really knows.  Maybe everyone is called but not many can hear. They cannot hear because they may be too preoccupied with all things worldly, too self-sufficient to be humble and to acknowledge their limitations and too weak to refuse Satan's constant beckoning.  If everyone is called, then all the skeptics actively looking for Jesus would certainly hear Him but that is not necessarily true.  They do not hear Jesus calling because they could be too proud of their scientific intellect and their means of investigations and too obsessed with their determination to prove without a doubt that Jesus existed, trying to search for Jesus wherever they can, in the Shroud of Turin, in Veronica's Veil, in paintings and holy cards, and in sculptures small and large, again and again, but never truly find Him [4].

The words of Jesus: "seek, and ye shall find" [5] may, in general, apply only to those who seek Christ with love and faith and not to those desiring to prove His existence or non-existence with objectivity and science.


[1] The way people meet nowadays maybe more similar than dissimilar and less likely in church but more likely online and by using a dating app.
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%209%3A1-19
[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+13%3A1-12&version=NIV  Note: This passage of the Bible indicated that the Holy Spirit spoke.  I am still of the opinion that the Holy Spirit is an ever-expanding energy source that is limitless but does not speak with an audible voice, that It is a part of the Holy Trinity Whose actions speak instead.
[4] However, when Jesus wants to call a skeptic, His voice will be heard.  The Apostle Thomas, aptly nicknamed "Doubting Thomas," is an example of a skeptic who was called by Jesus to believe. See https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+20:24-29
[5] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7%3A7-11%2CLuke+11%3A9-13&version=KJV