Is Jesus still with us?

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you” (Luke 24:44) Is Jesus no longer with the Apostles? Is he not right there before them? Why does Jesus say this?

Until His death, Jesus was with the Apostles and the people as a mortal man, bound to the laws of nature, bound to the laws of space and time and subject to suffering. After His resurrection from the dead, Jesus’ Body is no more bound to those limitations.[1] His Body is penetrated with a glory that makes it participate in certain heavenly characteristics and, at the same time, can still interact with nature and human beings on earth. This is why today He lets Himself be touched by the Apostles and even eats a fish (Luke 24:39-43). His Body is still a body but is also free from natural limitations and endowed with special gifts.

So, in what sense is Jesus no longer in the world? Jesus is no longer in the world because He is in Heaven: His human Body shares the glory which is the reward of the just. Jesus is no longer in the world because the world cannot impose itself on Him any more. Jesus is no longer with the Apostles because now (after His Resurrection) they cannot find Him in his physical presence if He does not want to be found. Before, they could go, search for Him and find Him praying alone, on the mountaintop or in the desert (cf. Mark 1:35-37; Matthew 14:23; Luke 5:16, 6:12). Now, it is He who comes to meet them when He wants. He is now, forever, waiting for them in Heaven, not with them on the earth... at least, not in the way He was with them before.

Of course Jesus is still with the Apostles and with all of us: “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). He is with them in the Eucharist, in His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity; He is with them also in his spiritual presence; He is with them as the head is in the body. Even more, Jesus is in them and they are in Him (John 15:4; 17:21). By this presence of Jesus in them, the Apostles, and all of us with them, can continue Jesus’ mission on earth: the mission of preaching the Gospel and making people participate in Jesus’ life by means of the Sacraments, especially Baptism and the Eucharist.

How many times we would like Jesus to reassure us and strengthen us by appearing to us as He did to the Apostles! However, let us not forget His words: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Let us go and meet Him in the Eucharist, in pure faith. How happy we will be one day, when He himself will remove the veil from our eyes and bestow His glorious presence on us!


[1] Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 645-647.

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