I miss living in Germany. I loved everything about it while I was there for two years…from the food to the people to the ease of travel to the crazy driving…even the obsession with Christmas markets and ornaments. I loved it all.
I didn’t recognize just how much I missed it until this last week, when we were on summer vacation in Helen, Georgia which is modeled after a little Bavarian town. This town has it all…the cool temps, the lazy tubing river, the schnitzel, the German bakery…even the spaghetti ice cream.
It’s interesting how you don’t know you miss something until there is a memory jogger. If you think about it, I’m sure there’s a song or a scent that takes you to another place. Perhaps the song takes you back to your first dance. A smell has you reminiscing about Grandma’s kitchen.
It makes me wonder if these experiences happened to people in scripture. Was there a moment after Jesus’ death, where Mary was preparing his favorite meal and it made her miss him more than normal? Did Paul ever pass a well and think about his boyhood well in Tarsus? If Peter passed a fishing net, did the smell take him back to his time as a fisherman?
Did the disciples miss Jesus after His death?
In Luke 24:44 (NASB) scripture reads, “Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things that are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
This offers an assurance that all prophesies about Jesus will be fulfilled. And if that is true, then it is also true that God has provided us with a means to be continuously surrounded by aspects of the Trinity. Jesus’ departure from the Earth enabled Jesus, as the Son of God, to no longer be subject to time, but rather embody the full power and authority of God in Heaven.
As promised, Jesus is available to all of us for guidance, for prayerful conversation, for forgiveness, and for grace. Most of all, He is available as the Savior to those who believe.
Did the disciples miss Jesus after his ascension into heaven? From a human perspective, I’m sure the answer is yes. Mostly because the face-to-face immediate responses were gone. However, God’s fulfillment of the Holy Spirit allows for continued relationship. Perhaps, the promise of God’s continued presence in a believer’s life mutes that emotion of missing the physical Jesus.
Missing Jesus in our lives isn’t as simple as missing Grandma’s cooking or the experiences living in another country. It can’t be replicated by something similar, like going to a small mountain town.
In this instance, you need the real deal relationship with Jesus to fulfill the emotion of “missing.”
If you are missing Jesus in your life, please come to the porch and let us know…we’d love to tell you how to become a believer!
~Emily
Iron Porch 