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Word of Life. June 2014. “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” ( Mt 28,20). Matthew, the Evangelist, opens his Gospel by recalling that Jesus, whose story he is about to narrate is Emmannuel, which means “God is with us” (cf Mt 1,23),.
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Wordof Life June 2014
“And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age”(Mt 28,20).
Matthew, the Evangelist, opens his Gospel by recalling that Jesus, whose story he is about to narrate is Emmannuel, which means “God is with us” (cf Mt 1,23),
Then he concludes it by repeating these words of Jesus, His promise to remain with us always, even after He goes back to heaven. He will be “God is with us” until the end of time.
Jesus spoke these words to the disciples after entrusting them with the task to bring His message to the whole world.
He was well aware of the fact that He was sending them out like sheep in the midst of wolves and that they would meet adversity and persecutions (cf Mt 10,16-22).
That is why He doesn’t want to leave them alone in their mission. And so in the very moment in which He was leaving them, He promises to stay!
They’ll no longer be able to see Him with their eyes, they won’t be able to hear His voice, nor will they be able to touch Him, but He will be present in their midst, as He was before; indeed, more than before.
Up until then, His presence on earth was limited to one precise spot, in Capernaum, on the lake, in the mountains, or in Jerusalem. Instead from now on, He will be wherever His disciples are.
Jesus was also thinking of all of us, living out day after day what can sometimes be a complex lifestyle.
Because He is incarnate Love, He might have thought: I would like to be with them always, to share their daily worries, to give them advice; I would like to walk down the streets with them, to enter their homes, enliven their joy with my presence.
That is why He wanted to rermain with us a This is why He wanted to remain with us and make us feel His closeness, His strength, His love.
Luke’s Gospel tells us that after having seen Him ascend to Heaven the disciples “returned to Jerusalem with great joy” (Lk 24,52).
How could it be?They had experienced the reality of His words.
We too will be full of joy if we truly believe in Jesus’ promise:
“And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt 28,20).
These words, the last words that Jesus addresses to the disciples, mark the end of His earthly life and, at the same time, the beginnng of the life of the Church in which He is present in many ways:
in the Eucharist, in His Word, in His ministers (bishops, priests), in the poor, in the little ones, in the marginalized... in every neighbor.
We like to underline one particular presence of Jesus, that which He Himself indicated to us in the Gospel of Matthew: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (cf Mt 18,20).
If we live what He commands, especially His new commandment, we can experience His presence even outside of the church, in the midst of a crowd, wherever His presence is kept alive, everywhere.
What is asked of us is mutual love, made up of service and understanding, of sharing in the sufferings, anxieties and joys of our brothers and sisters; a love which endures everything, which forgives everything, typical of Christianity.
Let us live in this way so that everyone may be given the opportunity to meet Him already on this earth.
“And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt 28,20). Text written by Chiara Lubich