Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park is on highway 199 east of Crescent City. I’ve driven by it on my way to Grants Pass or Portland.

There are many reasons people may go to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park:

• Camping
• Bird watching
• Hiking
• Biking
• Horseback riding
• Fishing

Or, if you’re George Lucas, you might want to film some scenes for a Star Wars movie.

People come looking for different things, for different reasons.

But most people, I would guess, come back from the park having learned something.

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Let’s go to God in prayer.

God of wisdom, may the words that I speak, and the ways they are received by each of our hearts and minds, help us to continue to grow into the people, and the church, that you have dreamed us to be.

Amen.

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Today’s Gospel reading describes two motivations for seeking Jesus.

One is to worship him. The sages from the East were seeking to pay homage to a new king born in Bethlehem, though this was probably a couple of years after his birth. But they’re looking for a prophesied ruler, an important one. So this might even be a diplomatic mission.

Once King Herod hears about this, he’s looking for Jesus too, but for a different reason. Herod is afraid.

The sages don’t tell Herod where they found Jesus.

In verses 13 to 15 an angel appears to Joseph and tells him to take the family to Egypt, an example of a family seeking asylum in another country.

In verse 16 Herod, for fear of losing power, orders the killing of every child two years old and younger.

The sages look for Jesus to honor him.

Herod looks for Jesus to eliminate him as a threat.

Why would someone look for Jesus? For what Jesus would someone look?

There are several different Jesuses:

There’s baby Jesus, wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. He’s cute. He’s adorable (“O come let us adore him…”) Best of all, he’s quiet (the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes”)

There’s Epiphany Jesus, who is probably a couple years old, who is receiving gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Maybe not the best gifts for a toddler.

There’s 12 year old Jesus in the temple, who amazes the teachers with his answers. We are blissfully unaware of the specifics of the conversation.

There’s miracle Jesus, who makes wine, walks on water, calms storms, and feeds thousands.

There’s healing Jesus, who casts out demons, stops bleeding, cures disabilities, and raises the dead.

There’s “gave his life for my sins” Jesus, brutally executed, giving me a free pass to heaven.

There’s Jesus in Heaven, to whom we can pray.

And there’s apocalyptic Jesus, returning to earth in a righteous fury.

There’s one more Jesus who probably doesn’t get as much as he deserves: teaching Jesus.

Our relationship with most of these Jesuses doesn’t ask much of us:

• Adoration.
• Giving gifts.
• Expecting Jesus to do miracles for us.
• Expecting Jesus to heal us.
• Receiving forgiveness.
• Praying.
• Waiting for the end of the world.

For us these are low-risk Jesuses.

But teaching Jesus has a message that I repeat a lot on Sundays: “Love your neighbor.”

He says it directly. He says it indirectly by specific examples. He says it by how he lives.

This is the Jesus we shouldn’t look away from. But this is also a Jesus who can be scary to us.

He’s the Jesus who tells the wealthy man to sell all he has and give it to the poor, and the man goes away sad. This is the Jesus who tells us to love people we don’t like, love people who don’t like us, love people who make our lives difficult.

This is the Jesus who makes us uncomfortable enough to turn away and look toward the silent baby Jesus or the distant heavenly Jesus or at least the “he’s going to come and fix it” Jesus.

I grew up in a church where I learned to look for Jesus to wash away my sins with his suffering. The only things this Jesus asked of me was to “accept him into my heart” and to follow a moral code that seemed very concerned with sexuality.

And every December we looked for a Jesus who was quiet while also looking for a bearded guy in a red suit to bring us presents.

And we also looked for the coming of a Jesus who would wipe out the people we – and therefore he – didn’t like.

But I really don’t remember looking for the Jesus who taught us to love our enemies. I guess that would make vengeful Jesus seem… weird.

But the Jesus I see repeatedly, in the Jesus to whom we give gifts, in the Jesus to whom we trade faith for salvation, in the Jesus who rewards our faithfulness in the future by destroying people who are not like us, is a transactional Jesus.

This is a Jesus who does something in exchange for something we give or do. And I don’t think Jesus came for some sort of supernatural trade. I think Jesus had something to offer us for our growth as people.

So my challenge this week is to look for the Jesus who tells us how to love, especially to love those we don’t like.

I guess this challenge is to look for the Jesus who challenges us.

Why are we looking for Jesus?

Maybe it is so we can come and follow him.

Amen.

* Scripture quotations marked NRSVue are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue

* Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James version of the Bible.