Luke 24:5-6  “The women were frightened and bowed their faces toward the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He isn’t here but has been raised.’”

These women search for Jesus because they find it unbearable to imagine their lives without Him. The previous day, they had witnessed His murder. They didn’t remember or believe what Jesus had taught them about His resurrection.

Since they had witnessed His death, they weren’t exactly sure what they were searching for. However, they visited the tomb in order to satisfy the void in their hearts. We look for Jesus in our society as well. However, we search in the wrong areas for Him, just like these women did.

We search for Jesus in science, which is the great ‘god’ of our day for many. However, the issue with science is that it is impossible to demonstrate that Jesus Christ rose from the grave through a lab experiment. Science may provide some hints, but it is not the place to find Jesus; He is not there.

We search for Jesus in contemporary culture. The foundation of contemporary western society is a strong belief in naturalism and materialism in particular, as well as atheism in general. To put it another way, you are merely a collection of fortunate atoms and there is no higher meaning to existence than to reproduce. There is no deity. And the assumption that goes along with this is that, in the end, random DNA believes nothing at all, meaning that the only objective reality that exists is what is material. This means that it makes no difference what you believe about Jesus – in fact, it makes no difference what you believe about anything at all. Jesus is just not present in contemporary culture; you cannot find Him there.

Some people look for Jesus in religion. The day before, after Jesus’ body was lowered from the cross, the ladies who went to the tomb had prayed and carried out certain religious rites over it. But in the end, their religion was unable to quench their desire for Jesus. They were grieving because of this when they arrived at the tomb early on Sunday morning.

There are far too many depressingly religious people in the world who think that religion is only about following rules and having certain beliefs. Jesus is sadly absent from most of what passes for religion in today’s society. He’s simply not there.

And so, we look for Jesus in all the wrong places, and never find Him. Why? Because He isn’t there! He is risen! Jesus is alive today in the presence of the Father, ministering blessings and grace to His children.

Stop wasting time looking for Jesus – just relax and let Jesus find you where you are and transform your life completely – opening your eyes and your heart to His grace – His empowering presence. Then, and only then, you will never have to look for Jesus again!