Jesus: Present or Absent?

Did Jesus contradict himself? In Matthew 28:20 he says "I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age." Then in Acts 1:9, Luke records that "After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him."

How could he keep his promise to be with them "day after day after day" but no longer be visible? Acts 1:2 says he was with them visibly "until the day he was taken up to heaven" but that was "after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit." Now, that's interesting. He was visibly with them, teaching, but he taught through the Holy Spirit. Why?

Two reasons, I think. First, Luke records the Holy Spirit's work many times in the book of Acts, so he notes here that Jesus taught, but not just by his own words but "through the Holy Spirit." Was this something they could somehow sense? It's possible, but not likely -- we don't see any visible or audible signs of the Spirit until Acts 2:2-4. Instead, it's probably a note that the Spirit was there, already working to prepare them for what was shortly to follow.

Second, the Holy Spirit continued to teach and lead the apostles on through the New Testament record, both in Acts and in the epistles. But let's remember that God is one (Mark 12:29) not three separate beings who happen to be united. The Spirit is called "the Spirit of Christ" in Romans 8:9 and "the mind of Christ" in 1 Cor. 2:16. So the risen Son of God, Jesus, continued to be with them in the person of the Holy Spirit. And he was teaching them at this point in the same way -- not just with his audible words and his visible facial expression and gestures, but in the work of the Spirit.

How about us, today? Since we haven't seen him with our physical eyes, we 'see' Jesus through the eyes of the Spirit. 1 Cor. 2:10 says "But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets."

So Jesus is with us, "day by day by day" through the Spirit. That means a large part of being his disciples is seeing him, hearing him and following him through the Spirit. How do you do that? Something called the Spiritual Disciplines, (also called the Holy Habits) which help us hear and follow. We'll keep talking about those.