Read: Matthew 28:16-20
I am with you always. (v. 20)
Has there been a time in your life when you wished you sensed Jesus’s presence with you? I felt Jesus’s presence with me before I took my ordination exams, before surgery, and at other specific times in my life. Sometimes, I could palpably feel the peace of his presence through people who were praying for me. This comforted and assured me that Jesus was with me. As a pastor, I would often tell people that when they felt like Jesus had abandoned them, that it was during those times that he was closest to them. Some struggle with this mystery, but in a similar way, we can’t see the wind, yet we know it’s there.
We have returned to our opening passage in this series to be reminded that what Jesus says is true—he will be with us, just as he promised! He told his disciples, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (v. 20). Throughout the last two weeks, we have seen how Jesus was with his disciples and the people he encountered no matter if they were feeling sick, ashamed, worried, afraid, or rejected. He came alongside them in their grief and in their sin. We also witnessed Jesus’s deep emotions. And he invites us to come to him with all we are feeling.
None of us knows what this new year will bring. But we need not be afraid. For Jesus, our Immanuel, “God with us,” the one who loves us, who died for us, and who rose again, and who will return for us, will never leave us alone.
As you pray, know that Jesus is with you always!
Nancy Boote, an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America, lives in Holland, Michigan, with her husband. She serves in a variety of leadership positions within the denomination. Besides being a wife, mother, and grandmother, Nancy enjoys taking prayer walks, hiking in nature, mentoring, and has a heart for justice matters.
