“When Jesus had made an end of commanding His disciples,
He left there to teach and to preach in their cities.” Matthew 11:1
Jesus had just been giving instructions to His disciples concerning the next phase of “following Him,” . . . getting into the nitty-gritty of realities they were about to encounter as they began to obey His directive to “Go” into the world. . . but without His physical Presence with them. They had been following Him, watching Him, listening to Him, learning from Him on a daily, 24-hour basis. Clearly, He was “pushing them out of His “Nest” in which they had His attention, care, and living example of all the Words He had spoken throughout the three years they had been together.
Now it was their turn.
If you have ever been privvy to being around a small child who is going from a “crawler” to a “toddler”, you can understand the thoughts and emotions of the parent as they watch that phase unfold. They of course knew that it was coming, but they had not yet experienced what that new reality would be. Following almost a year of very watchful care, “boo-boo’s to kiss, tears to wipe, and rescues to perform, dashes to unseen spaces that have created sounds emitting that bring up your “antennae” . . . there comes that Moment when you realize that they’re stepping into the “on your own” phase that will likely never end.
Jesus had a Moment like that with His twelve. He of course knew the timing, how to do it, what to say, how each would feel and respond. He knew of the changes in their lives that were soon to begin. And He knew the dangers, fears, worries, mistakes and victories ahead for them. His final Commands had been spoken. These men whom He had personally chosen to be with, 24/7 for the past 3 years, would now be without His physical Presence. He was not yet completely gone from their lives, but it would never again be the same as it had been.
Jesus went on to “teach and to preach in their cities’” but it would not be the same as it had been. And I wonder about that. Jesus would be “in their cities,” but not in their company. They would not be with Him. They would not be doing what He told them to do. He would not be caring for them. He would not be talking to them . . . walking with them. . . leading them. . . being the focus of attention.
But He would be near them . . . “in their cities.” I find that added detail to be a very sweet part of that coming “farewell” to this team of men who had spent the past 3 years of their lives with this One called Jesus. He was handing off what He had been doing with them, but they would soon be carrying on His Work without His physical presence. He gave them the new responsibility in a context that they knew. . . their own hometowns. He didn’t begin this chapter of their lives with the “Go into all the world . . . “ He sent them to the familiar. People they already knew. A language in which they were very comfortable. Jesus didn’t send them off to the “all the world.” . . . .yet. He let them begin this new journey of following Him within their own familiar world.
Jesus never asks us to do things in obedience to Him, and then leaves us on our own. He has been with us every day. His Presence has surrounded us in our lives, if we have remained near to Him. He has taught us. He has cared for us. He has “drawn near” to us if we have “drawn near to Him”. And there comes a day. . . a “Moment” . . . when He has taught us what we needed, lived out how that looks in our own hearts and lives, given us the tools for the work ahead, and provided His Spirit to live within us, helping us to carry on into our world. He has also put us in fellowship with other co-workers to carry out His Mission throughout the Earth.
But in our own hearts . . .which only He Sees . . . we must “leave behind the “What Was,” and turn our faces to Him, see again His Scars, look into His eyes, take His Hand, and follow His Lead.
And wherever He leads us, we can be confident that He is already there.
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