Have ever had something right before you and you missed it? You missed the meaning, the purpose, or the greatness of it? You think, “How in the world did I miss it?” Well, this is what happened during the days Jesus walked on this earth. The festival had been going on for days… celebrations, food, dancing, drinking, and a lot of hoopla. Jesus was there. Finally, on the last day, He stood up and SHOUTED to the crowds. You can almost hear the grief in His voice… “You’re thirsty. You’re depleted. I am the answer. I AM THE LIVING WATER. Come and drink.” But many of them missed it. They were looking into the face of the One who they had been waiting for… the Messiah, the One who had come from heaven to save them from their sins. The One who had come full of grace and truth. Yet, they missed it.
We may ask… how did they miss it? How in the world did they miss the glory standing before them? Well, the short answer is that the ones who missed Him most likely were never baptized by John the Baptist. Maybe they thought… Why would I go and be dunked under water by that crazy man? You see, baptism by John prepared them for Jesus… the One who had a completely different message than the religious leaders. Baptism by John opened their hearts.
Perhaps they couldn’t get over their perception… what they thought about the Messiah. They thought He was coming to save them from the oppression of Rome, but in reality, He had come to save them from their sins. And they just didn’t investigate the facts… that He was actually born in Bethlehem. They accepted the religious leaders’ explanation rather than do their own research. Perhaps distraction, religion, wealth, or their agenda clouded their vision. So, they walked away. And this obviously caused Jesus great distress.
As I pondered this, I thought about how we often miss what’s right before us too. We miss what He’s trying to show us, we miss His power, we miss what He’s doing, we miss His greatness. He may be standing right before us and we miss it. So the question becomes… why do we miss it? I think the answer(s) may be the same as the Jewish people in the first century… first, we haven’t purified our hearts. Purifying our hearts from sin (like John’s baptism) prepares us and opens us up to see what we’re not seeing. Or perhaps God is trying to show us something in His Word and because we don’t understand it, we simply walk away rather than research it. We don’t try to understand. Or maybe our vision is so narrow, we cannot see outside… our religious upbringing can surely be the culprit here. And obviously, distraction, busyness, or our agenda can certainly crowd out what Jesus is doing.
So, what can we do to not miss what it? I think it starts with today… asking the Holy Spirit to help us… to open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts. Asking the Holy Spirit to break through all the noise, misconceptions, distractions. Starting each day this way will make a huge difference.