I would like to think that I am not alone in feeling as though I am constantly searching. Searching for hope, answers, healing. When I read today’s scripture, I imagine that the disciples who approached Jesus felt the same restlessness that I do.

“Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

I suppose we could read this and think of the disciples as feeling hopeful, but when I read it, I sense despair. Weary disciples who have been searching for the Messiah, a healer and savior, but are not convinced that the man in front of them is the one. I imagine they were afraid when they asked themselves what if this man is not the one? The disciples ask Jesus “Should we look for another,” but I think they feared that there was no other. It must have taken courage simply to ask the question. 

The world feels very much in need of a healer right now, and yet how often do I actually believe that Jesus is the one? Aren’t I constantly looking for another? I’m not sure that I have even had the courage to approach the Lord and ask if he is the one. Because what if he’s not? Perhaps the disciples felt the same fear: that our world might be a little beyond saving. 

Even when the disciples knew of the miracles and saw them performed, they still were not convinced at times that the man in front of them was the promised one. And how much harder it is for us to believe during Advent, where we don’t reflect on the image of Jesus as a healer or miracle worker, but Jesus as an infant, entirely dependent.

Yet our scriptures are full of people who saw the child Jesus in all his humanity and still believed in his divinity and his ability to heal. My favorite among these witnesses was Simeon. 

After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph brought him to the temple, and in the temple was an old man named Simeon. Simeon had waited his entire life for the one who was to come and knew that he would not die until he saw the Messiah. When Mary and Joseph entered the temple with the infant Jesus, Simeon held Jesus in his arms and prayed saying, “Lord, now You let Your servant die in peace. Your word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation which You have prepared in the sight of every people. A light to reveal You to the nations and the glory of Your people Israel.” Simeon was a man who saw salvation in a newborn. My prayer today is that we can see the infant Jesus through Simeon’s eyes, and know that he is the one to come. He is Emmanuel, God with us, and we no longer have to look for another.

What a terrible wonderful thing to be aware of our despair and our need for healing. May we have the courage of the disciples to approach the Lord and ask if he is the one, and the faith of Simeon to know that he is.