Never Alone

Following on from what I wrote last time, one little expression of Jesus in John's Gospel has come to mean much to me. It's the comment he made to his disciples in John 16:32 about never being alone.

Jesus was about to be betrayed and crucified. His followers had expressed new-found understanding of  his knowledge of all things and with that had come a deepened conviction that he had "come from God." What they said amounted to a fresh declaration of their loyalty to him.

Yet, knowing them as he did, Jesus replied, "You believe at last!... But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me alone. Yet, I am not alone, for my Father is with me" (John 6:31-32).

"Not alone... for my Father is with me." What precious words these are. Not only was Jesus aware of the personal presence of his Father with him; he was always aware of it. The only time when that may not have been true was during those dark hours of his dereliction on the cross. His cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34) points to a time when the immediate sense of his Father's presence deserted him. Apart from that, however, he seems always to have known the real, intimate companionship of the Father.

Jesus had indicated that earlier in his ministry as well. Once, when condemning the Pharisees for judging by human standards, he declared, "I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father who sent me" (John 8:16). Then later in the same chapter we read, "The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him" (8:29).

I find these words incredibly comforting. More than that, I find them inspiring. How wonderful to know that we can experience the same personal presence of Jesus with us as he knew with his Father. For surely, when he promised his disciples that he would be with them to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20) he was referring to precisely the same thing - his personal presence as a constant companion at hand to help in every circumstance of life, especially those relating to his ongoing mission in the world.

Like him we can say, "I am not alone." We need to train ourselves to remember that moment by moment.