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Where Would Jesus Go?
Did Jesus Say He'd
Stick with Us Always, or Not?
James Patrick Holding
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Matt. 28:20 Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo,
I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
If this one is true,
the skeptics ask, what about these?
Matt. 26:11//Mark
14:7 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.
and
John 7:34 Ye shall
seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.
It would help to
read each of these in the context of their passages. First, John 7:34
is said to the temple police who are interested in capturing Jesus!
It is a taunt based upon their supposed action in detaining and arresting
the Son of the Almighty God, who can easily escape their grasp with power!
The first verse in
Matthew is said in the context of the story of the woman anointing Jesus
with perfume. It should therefore be patently obvious to all (except
skeptics) that "with you" is said strictly in terms of physical presence that
would allow acts like the anointing. (Indeed, the word Jesus uses here
for "have" is echo, which more accurately means "hold" or "possess".)
On the other hand, the Matthew 28 verse is said by the resurrected Jesus
just prior to Ascension in an eschatological context: re "the end of
the age." This implies not physical presence but something of a more "supernatural" nature.
Certainly the Gospel authors knew that Jesus was not going to be physically present
with them at the time of the end of the age -- he had already left!
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