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Jan 10, 2023 18:30pm

Love Itself

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It was there the whole time and I didn’t even see it.

Love.

I met Shaun Merrell in 2005 when I was just starting as a reporter at the TV station. We would do morning live shots out at the Nature Center and he and his staff would be cooking us breakfast. One morning we left and my photographer, Keith, asked me what I thought about how the morning went. I talked about how much I enjoyed it and they were great interviews, especially the tall one, Shaun. I even said to him, “He is so fun! One day when I get married, I want to marry someone just like him!”

Fast forward to 2010.

I wasn’t necessarily looking for love. It had been a rough few years for me and even though I prayed for that special guy the Lord had for me, I wasn’t really expecting anything anytime soon. And then I got an email from him. And then we exchanged numbers, you know, just to stay in contact since I was changing emails. And then we struck up more of a conversation, but that’s where it
stayed.

Until the end of the summer of 2010.

We had started chatting again here and there, but it started to be a little more frequent. But I wasn’t really looking for anything, especially not serious. I mean, I was still waiting for God to send me ”the one”.

And then one day, I realized, it had been staring me right in the face and I never knew it.

Love.

The one.

He was it! How could I have not seen it?

“And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee. And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.” (Matthew27:11-14)

Pilate was a Roman official, one who was supposed to keep peace in this area. Rome ruled over the Jewish people, but allowed them to make their own decisions when it came to religious squabbles. However, this was something different. The religious Jews wanted Jesus dead. They couldn’t do that according to the law, only the Romans could. So how could they cause Rome to see Jesus as a threat? Maybe Jesus would stir up trouble. Maybe He would cause people to rebel against the Roman
government and refuse to pay the high taxes. Maybe He would start a war. Maybe they would find their strength in Him and follow Him into battle.

The Romans did not want that.

So, the religious Jews said just that.

“He claims to be king of the Jews.”

Claiming to be king was treason and punishable by death.

So, Pilate, seeing exactly what the Jews were trying to do, gives Jesus the opportunity to speak for himself.

“Art thou the King of the Jews?”

But Jesus just replies, “you have said that”.

Isn’t it amazing to see this picture? Close your eyes. Envision the Roman official standing there and Jesus has just been brought before him.

Jesus.

The real KING.

God Himself.

Staring Pilate and the Jews right in the face and they never knew it was love itself.

Wow.

I want to yell, how could you not know?! But their own pursuit was blinding them to the truth.

Is yours?

Would you even recognize true love if it was staring you in the face?

What are you searching for? Will you know it when you find it?

Jesus wasn’t at all as they had hoped, but He was exactly what God had told them He would be. They wanted a valiant knight to ride in and save them from the horrible Roman oppression. They wanted a king that would defend them with the sword and slaughter their enemy. They just didn’t realize who the real enemy was.

Do you?

Far too often we mistake the enemy for the one thing we are searching for…

Love.