Fr. Frank Majka, SJ – The Bridge

Where Is the One We Seek: Fifth Week

We’re told to seek Jesus among the living, which I interpret to mean that Jesus is among people who are alive not just physically but intellectually, socially and, above all, spiritually. When it comes to the spiritual part, it seems to me that being alive is about seeking, finding, honoring and nourishing a relationship with God. Christians believe that Jesus has a unique place in the search for God, for in the gospel of John Jesus tells us, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Of course, Jesus’ statement can be read in a very restrictive way. We may think he is saying, “If you don’t know me, believe in me and follow me, you will never come to God. Without me you just can’t do it.” If that is how we read his words, then it appears that those who have never known of Christ cannot come to God. They are destined to never have a solid, loving relationship with God.

But another way of understanding Jesus is more expansive and inclusive, namely, that any time people come close to God, Jesus makes that possible and is with them whether they know anything about him or not. It is Jesus saying, “If you are looking for me, you’ll find me at work whenever people are sincerely seeking God.”

No one comes to God independently of what Jesus has done through his life, death and resurrection. But we don’t have to think that those who are not explicitly believers in Christ are eternally doomed to live without God. Whenever people come to the Father, it is because of Jesus. And the good news is that whenever people are coming closer to God, that’s where we can look for Jesus. That is where we can find the Risen One whom we seek.

Where Is the One We Seek: Fourth Week

In the gospel of John, Jesus says that those who belong to him will hear his voice. To hear his voice, though, we have to be listening for it and want to hear it. Otherwise it may get crowded out by all the other voices that come to us every day: voices that may give us useful information or good advice but may just fill up the air with white noise and distract us. Jesus wants us to hear his voice, and so does God the Father, who said, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”

Prayer is a wonderful place to hear that voice, especially if we realize that prayer is not just the place where we tell Jesus all the things that are on our minds and ask for all the things we need but is also the place where we let Jesus speak to us about the things that are on his mind and allow him to make his requests of us. It’s the place where we invite Jesus to speak.

And we have a good start on knowing what Jesus wants for us and for our world because he has revealed it in his teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection. We have his message to us in the New Testament (a good place to begin our prayer) and through the fundamental faith of the Church, handed on to the apostles.

We will likely hear Jesus’ voice in our own unique way. We may even be surprised at what he says to us and asks of us, because, as one person put it, Christ’s voice is meant to “comfort the afflicted” AND “afflict the comfortable,” and we in need of both comfort and challenge as we go through life.

But whatever we may need to hear most from Jesus at any given time, we will hear it if we open our hearts and genuinely listen.

Where Is the One We Seek: Third Week

It’s common to describe life as a tale, and the gospel for this week is about how we find Jesus remaking stories and hopes.

Two travelers set out from Jerusalem on the first Easter, having seen their hopes and expectations vanish with the death of Jesus. The story of their lives might continue; but, without Jesus, it wouldn’t be the one they’d hoped for. Suddenly a stranger appeared: Jesus, whom they did not recognize. They talked with him about all that had happened in Jerusalem and about how their hopes had been dashed.

But the stranger would not accept their version of what had taken place and what it meant. Through the Scriptures, he opened up a new way of interpreting what they had experienced, letting them see it as a story not of failure and defeat, but of fulfillment and salvation.

The travelers found their hopes reviving until, seated at dinner with their strange companion, they recognized that, in fact, the stranger was Jesus himself. He disappeared from their sight then, but full of joy, they ran back to Jerusalem to tell the news to their friends, finding that they, too, had encountered the risen Christ that very day.

What’s the meaning for us? We all have stories or narratives that we use to make sense of how our lives hold together. So, if someone says, “tell me who you are,” we’ll probably find ourselves telling a story of how our lives have played out. And, if we have too often experienced significant disappointments or tragedies, we may describe our life story as one of sadness and loss.

But if that is the case, then just as he did with the two travelers, Jesus sets before us another story to give our lives energy and purpose. It is the story of his own life, death, and rising. It is the story of grace defeating sin, of forgiveness overcoming hatred, of faithfulness being stronger than fear, of God’s aims working themselves out despite appearances to the contrary. He offers us his own story and shares his own life with us so that we may be people of thankfulness and hope — and so that the stories of our lives can, ultimately, be like his: stories of grace and blessing.

Where Is the One We Seek: Second Week

The gospel for the second Sunday of Easter is the story of Jesus’ appearance to his followers on Easter night. Though they were hiding behind locked doors, Jesus appeared, wishing them peace, breathing the Holy Spirit on them, and entrusting to them (and to us) a share in his own mission of bringing forgiveness and reconciliation between people as well as between human beings and God. The Holy Spirit was Jesus’ Easter gift to empower the church and individual believers to be agents of this reconciliation.

The angels at the tomb on Easter morning told the women to seek Jesus among the living not among the dead. And life certainly happens when forgiveness is asked for and given, when misunderstandings are talked out and settled without violence, when people regard each other with respect and give each other the benefit of the doubt and when they keep the doors of dialogue open to those they don’t like or don’t understand. That’s where life is and where Christ is. And finding Jesus there, we know that he is truly risen.

Where Is the One We Seek: Easter Sunday

In Luke’s gospel, the women went to the tomb on Easter morning only to find the stone rolled away and Jesus’ body gone. “Where is he?” was the big question in their minds and hearts. Suddenly two angels appeared and told them that they were looking in the wrong place, for Jesus was alive and they should not look for him among the dead. (Luke 24)

We, too, need to know not only that Jesus has risen; we need to know where to find him. Ignatius Loyola’s spirituality tells us that God is in all places and all people. Health or sickness, a long life or a short one, chaos or beauty, success or failure, people we like and people we don’t — we can find Jesus in any or all of them if we truly search, for there is no place he cannot meet us, nowhere he cannot be.

In our day we have been specially blessed in having Mother Teresa and Pope Francis remind us to seek Christ among the poor, the sick, those who have been marginalized and “don’t count” in our world. Just as Jesus was open to everyone before his death but showed special concern for the poor and sick, that continues to be true now that he is risen; and the pope keeps directing our hearts and actions to those who are most in need.

As individuals and as a church, when we seek and find Jesus he will share his risen life with us, too. And the power of Christ’s Resurrection will continue to shape and re-shape us and the world.

Happy Easter!