You Will See Jesus by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

Have you ever been in trouble for being who you are? For no reason except that you were doing your job and living your life, but someone else, because of the clash of their culture with yours, decided to make your life miserable? It happens, right?

There are bullies in this world. Intolerant people. Mean people. There are people who decide that they don’t like us. Because we are the wrong color, the wrong gender, or because we are poor, or we are in a same gender loving relationship, or maybe because we emigrated from the wrong country. Whatever the reason. I have a friend who was the victim of such a bully. I’ll call my friend Bobbie.

Bobbie was minding her own business doing her job until “Mean Guy” came along and decided he did not like her kind. He began to make her life miserable at work. Bobbie tried to get along. She tried to work around Mean Guy. She adapted. She made herself sick. She tried to put up with Mean Guy but he was relentless.

Finally, she could do nothing else but go to a supervisor and complain. The union reps got involved. Bobbie did not want to get Mean Guy fired. He was too popular and Bobbie did not want to be the one to get him fired because everyone else would hate her. She just wanted to get moved to another location to work.

Long story short, she needed someone else from the union to be a witness to some of the things Mean Guy had done. Everyone was afraid to do so. Bobbie was off work for a while and her co-workers would send her texts saying the work environment was toxic because of Mean Guy. But they were all afraid. Just like Peter, Jesus’ friend, they got scared. They denied their friendship with Bobbie. When she stood up for herself and spoke the truth about what Mean Guy was doing to make the work place a toxic environment for everyone, her friends, sadly, turned their backs on her. When the time came for the hearing with the bosses, she found a union rep to go with her but it was someone who worked in another area. We’ll call him Joe.  Joe was someone she did not know but he believed her. However Joe was told he could not talk in the hearing. He didn’t know anything first hand. He could only sit with her and be supportive. She was devastated. The one person who believed her story, could not speak up for her.

But still Joe believed in her. And that made all the difference. One day when he knew Bobbie was getting really discouraged, Joe actually snuck into a broom closet when he was on a break, to call her and encourage her. He did not want her to lose hope. My friend felt so supported from Joe, hiding in a closet, talking on his cell phone and caring for her.

Joe was Jesus for my friend Bobbie. He gave her strength. He let her know she was not alone. He told her she was right to stand up to the bully. In the end, Bobbie was able to go work in another location and get away from Mean Guy. It has been a hard season for Bobbie, but Joe, sitting in that closet on a cell phone reminded her that she was not alone.

We just never know who will be Jesus for us. Jesus is everywhere. Jesus lives in us. We can see Jesus every day. That is what the angel told Mary Magdalene and the other Mary on that first Easter morning.

Let’s take a closer look at that Easter morning story, then, so we can get an idea how this all started.

28 ^1-4 After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb. Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God’s angel came down from heaven, came right up to where they were standing. He rolled back the stone and then sat on it. Shafts of lightning blazed from him. His garments shimmered snow-white. The guards at the tomb were scared to death. They were so frightened, they couldn’t move.

^5-6 The angel spoke to the women: “There is nothing to fear here. I know you’re looking for Jesus, the One they nailed to the cross. He is not here. He was raised, just as he said. Come and look at the place where he was placed.

⁷ “Now, get on your way quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He is risen from the dead. He is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.’ That’s the message.”

^8-10 The women, deep in wonder and full of joy, lost no time in leaving the tomb. They ran to tell the disciples. Then Jesus met them, stopping them in their tracks. “Good morning!” he said. They fell to their knees, embraced his feet, and worshiped him. Jesus said, “You’re holding on to me for dear life! Don’t be frightened like that. Go tell my brothers that they are to go to Galilee, and that I’ll meet them there.”

The angel said “You will see him. That’s the message.” They saw him, and he told them to tell his brothers that they would see him too. People were going to keep seeing Jesus. That is the miracle message of Easter. We will keep seeing Jesus. Even today, we will keep seeing Jesus.

For a season of my life, I met with a prayer partner every other week. This was a follow up to a spiritual retreat we both attended called The Walk to Emmaus. When we met each week we asked one another a series of questions. One of them was this: where did you see Jesus this week? It’s a provocative question. Every week we would share with one another where we had seen Jesus. The question calls to mind for me the story that comes late in Matthew’s Gospel, not much before the Holy Week narratives.

Do you remember this one? Jesus is telling some stories and then he says that there will come a time when the Son will judge the people at the end of their lives and will separate the sheep from the goats (meaning those who have done well and those who have not). And he says, those judged favorably will be those who:

·      saw Jesus hungry and fed him,

·      saw Jesus thirsty and gave him a drink

·      saw Jesus homeless and gave him a room,

·      saw Jesus shivering and gave him clothes,

·      saw Jesus sick and stopped to visit,

·      saw Jesus in prison and went to visit

I might add, who saw Jesus being bullied, and stood with him.

The people are confused because, of course, they never saw Jesus in any of those ways. And he says, “Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.”

Now this is fascinating because Jesus actually turns the tables. He tells us not to see Jesus in the person doing good, but in the person who needs help. In my story, I said the union rep who helped Bobbie was acting like Jesus. But if we apply this scripture, Bobbie would be Jesus. The person who was overlooked or ignored is Jesus. The hurting person is Jesus. Jesus told his followers that when you help the person in need you are caring for Jesus.

This is what it means to live as Resurrection people. It means that we see the living risen Christ in everyone.

You see, if I tell you that you need to be like Jesus, that is too much pressure. If I tell you that you need to love like Jesus and forgive like Jesus, I know what you are going to say. “I’m not Jesus. I am imperfect. He was JESUS! The Son of God. He was full of God and God’s love. I am not able to love somebody like Mean Guy.”

Okay, fine. I can’t be that Jesus either. I lose patience. I lose my temper.

Maybe Jesus is not asking us to be Jesus.

He is asking something more intriguing.

When we look at another person, can we see Jesus, who was beaten, betrayed, denied, spat upon, and nailed up on a cross? And then rose from the dead? When we see Mean Guy, and the person who makes us crazy, can we look into their eyes, and see Jesus in them?

I am thinking of the person who I am really mad at right now. And I want you to picture your person. Because when I picture that person and imagine that Jesus is in him, then my hatred softens just a little, and I want to cut him some slack. He is doing the best he can with the hand he has been dealt.

And what I really want for both of us, is new life. I want the stone to be rolled away, and I want death to be turned into life. I don’t want to waste my energy being mad at that person. I don’t think Bobbie wants to waste one more second of one more day being in conflict with Mean Guy. She just wants to do the job that she loves and get on with her life. She wants to live into the post resurrection Easter miracle.

This is how we do that. We see Jesus in every person. Even if they don’t see Jesus in themselves. We see Jesus in them. We don’t have to tell them we see Jesus. We don’t have to push it on them. But if we see Jesus in every person, we will treat them differently, and our relationships with them will be different. I promise you that.

When we see Jesus in another person we will breathe new life into our relationships with them. We will be moved to care for them in ways we never thought we would be able. Our care won’t be from our own power but from Jesus in us. This is what Easter is about – seeing Jesus. The women saw Jesus, the disciples saw Jesus. They were never the same. The world was never the same. We can see Jesus too. We can see Jesus in every face of every person we encounter every day. When we see Jesus we will be changed and we will change the world.

So let’s follow the invitation of that angel who rolled away the stone. Jesus is not in the tomb. He is in the world. We can see him. Look around. See Jesus.