This devotional was originally published on April 5, 2017.
They came asking. They came by day, bustling in crowds of hundreds. They came by night, skulking through the shadowy darkness, alone. They all came asking. They came hungry, their mouths open like baby birds. And he fed them. They came thirsty, and he gave them living water. They came hurting, sick, and he healed them. They came as outcasts, dregs of society, and he welcomed them. They came with riddles, and he sidestepped their tests by pronouncing truth they could not comprehend. They wanted answers. They wanted signs. Eventually, they wanted blood. They wanted his death. They wanted silence.
But he kept speaking. Mostly, he taught. But, sometimes, he asked questions. “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They answered him, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” They had seen the healing. They had heard the teachings. They had witnessed some of the miracles. But they had missed what was right in front of them.
“But who do you say that I am?” And, in a moment, the Father awakened something in one of them. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The father had revealed the truth about his Son.
All this time, they had all come asking for pennies from a billionaire. They had come asking for moments from the One who offered eternity. He was right there, and they saw him partially, but they had missed so much!
I recently heard an interpersonal neurobiologist say something that struck me as profound: we are all born looking for someone looking for us. We take what must be a strange and frightening journey from our mothers’ wombs out into the cold and bewildering light of the delivery room. And we arrive crying out. Because we’re looking for someone to be looking for us.
And, throughout our lives, we never stop looking for someone looking for us. We never stop hoping somebody somewhere will love us, even the ugliest parts of us. Shame makes us hide, makes us perform, makes us pretend. We try to do the right things, say the right things, to earn acceptance. To earn the right to deserve someone looking for us.
There is One who came to this earth looking for us. And he never stopped. Even when we misunderstood him. Even when we scorned and mocked him. Even when we killed him. Death could not stop Jesus. If you find yourself still looking for someone looking for you, you can stop searching. You are found.