JQuery :: Colorbox: Can't Show Div With Selector

I'm trying to show a div using colorbox, and for some reason, the following is not working: jQuery("div#the_div_that_i_want_to_show").colorbox();

Calling the function directly, however, does work:

$.fn.colorbox({'href':'div#the_div_that_i_want_to_show', 'open':true, 'inline':true});

And passing the div as an argument also works (with arguments 'inline' and 'open' set):$("div#the_div_that_i_want_to_show").colorbox({'href':'div#the_div_that_i_want_to_show', 'inline':true, 'open':true});

This, of course, is sort of redundant, as we're already selected the element with jQuery; there should be no need to also pass it as an argument.However, when I strip out the 'href' argument this does _not_ work--All I get is an empty colorbox/modal: $("div#the_div_that_i_want_to_show").colorbox({'inline':true, 'open':true});

For completeness, here is the div:

<div id="the_div_that_i_want_to_show" style="font-size: 18pt">Hello world</div>

why colorbox is not receiving the wrapped set from the jQuery selector?This call is very similar to that discussed on the following page:: [URL]