The question that arises from this passage of the Gospel of John is obvious: why didn't the disciples recognize Jesus standing on the shore? According to John's Gospel, this was the third time He had appeared to them, so it wasn't a new experience, and yet John tells us that even with Jesus standing right in front of them, they  didn't recognize Him. That's astonishing, and yet, sometimes it's the things that should be the most obvious that we can most easily overlook, or ignore or take for granted. Or perhaps we get so obsessed with details that we forget to look at the big picture. Or perhaps embarrassment causes us to ignore whatever it is that causes our embarrassment. All those things might help to explain why the disciples didn't recognize Jesus, and why even many faithful Christians today believe that they haven't really encountered the risen Christ. That's a shame, because I believe we just have to learn how to see Him. To begin doing that, let's consider those three things that I suggested prevent us from being aware of the presence of the risen Christ in our midst. The first was a tendency to overlook the obvious, the second was the trap of becoming so consumed by details that we miss the big picture, and the third was embarrassment. Then, having identified the problems, we can try to see how we might be able to overcome them.

 

     So, first, do we overlook the obvious? The disciples certainly did. Having already experienced the risen Christ, should they have been surprised to see Him again? Surely it should have been obvious to them that this was Jesus speaking to them, and yet it wasn't.  The most obvious things are the things we can easily overlook as well. I once searched desperately for a pencil I had been using, growing more and more frustrated until it was pointed out to me that I had the pencil stuck behind my ear! How much time did I waste searching for that pencil, when it should have been obvious to me where it was. In the same way, many people yearn for an encounter with the divine, and they search desperately for such an encounter. How much time do they waste in that frantic search, when the only thing they really need to do is sit back and let the experience of the risen Christ come to them. Perhaps God's hand in the world is so obvious that we overlook it and we choose to find other explanations for what should – to me at least – be obvious. For those who desperately seek an encounter with God, my first piece of advice is simple: don't overlook the obvious things around you. Rather than expecting to experience the risen Christ in blinding, extraordinary, earth-moving and life-changing experiences, expect, more often than not, to experience the presence of the risen Christ in the obvious, ordinary, everyday things of the world. Just look around – the risen Christ is there.

 

     The second reason I suggested why so many people aren't able to see the presence of the risen Christ in their lives is because we become so obsessed with details that we forget to look at the big picture. I'm sure you've all heard the old saying “you can't see the forest for the trees.” The point, of course, is that if you become obsessed with each individual tree you miss out on seeing the forest that all of them together create. Or perhaps faith is like a picture painted by a great artist. We can become obsessed with each individual brushstroke – with the artist's technique – but to truly understand the meaning of the picture we have to see the whole thing. Concentrating on details takes our eyes off the big picture, and I believe that also helps to explain why many people never seem to experience the presence of the risen Christ. If we become so totally consumed by ourselves and by our own immediate world, it's easy to miss God, because the only way to ever begin to see God's presence in all its glory is to see everything that God has done. If we build our image of God only around a small slice of creation, then we fall into the trap of creating our own God rather than honouring the God Who's done the creating, and Who as Christians we believe is revealed to us by the presence of the risen Christ. Jesus tried to point people outward to find God in all the glory of the creation, rather than simply limiting God to what we want God to be. We can never truly start to see God until we understand in our minds and in our hearts that God is bigger than we can fully grasp; that God can never be confined to a narrow viewpoint; that God can never be contained in a box. So my second piece of advice to those who truly want to experience the presence of the risen Christ is this: widen your viewpoint. See everything. Don't get consumed by the details of your own world or the limitations of your own imagination. Accept that God is bigger than that. See the whole picture and not just the individual brushstroke. See the entire forest and not just the single tree. See God revealed as God has revealed Himself in the risen Christ, rather than seeing God as just what we want God to be.

 

     The third reason that I suspect causes many people to have difficulty seeing the risen Christ is simple: many people are embarrassed. Embarrassment creates a barrier between people. If you're walking down the street and you see someone coming towards you that you've hurt in some way, you might well just cross the street to avoid them.  Embarrassment was a major problem for the disciples. They had been the closest people on earth to Him, and yet, when He needed them the most, they had deserted Him. Their embarrassment (or even shame) seems to drip from these words: “None of the disciples dared ask Him, 'Who are You?' They knew it was the Lord.” Embarrassment might go a long way to explaining why so many people today miss out on experiencing the presence of the risen Christ. Perhaps people haven't rejected Jesus as much as they're embarrassed to be seen by Him. A part of Christian faith is the ability to look at ourselves and to own up to our failings, but many don't want to do that because their failings embarrass them. So we start to experience the risen Christ, but then we shy away from the encounter, because we don't want to face up to something in our lives. So, for those of you who really want to experience the risen Christ, my third piece of advice is this: be honest with yourself and with Him. See yourself as you are. Once we accept ourselves honestly, we come to realize that God accepts us as we are as well. In fact, through the risen Christ God came to be with we imperfect creatures. Jesus doesn't cross the road to avoid us; we cross the road to avoid Him. If we stop doing that, we'll encounter the risen Christ. 

 

     So, do you want to see the risen Christ? It's not hard to do. Jesus lives, and He's among us even now. We just need to put aside these things that get in the way when we look for Him. Once we do that, we'll see Him, because He's there.