Jesus Has Not Forgotten

Around two thousand years ago, Jesus, a man who had been dead, rose up out of the grave (we celebrated this last Sunday). A number of days following his resurrection, this same Jesus would ascend into heaven, back to where he’d been before, to be seated at the right hand of the Father, and be continuously worshipped and surrounded, by a myriad of angels, and bright and burning Seraphim, and four living creatures with eyes all around, and a great multitude from every nation singing “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” …What a change from the fishing boats and fire sides of Galilee.

Some might ask the question: Now that he’s up there, and no longer down here; and being that up there is so much greater than down here, might Jesus forget about us? Might we become for him — out of sight, out of mind? But bring those questions to Scripture, and we’ll find not only, that Christ never takes his eyes off his people. But, it is, instead, his people who take their eyes off of him. The King keeps caring for his people, it is his citizens who stop caring for their king. 

Heaven forgets not its Galilee, but Galilee forgets its heaven.

Consider: That Jesus is, right now, interceding for his people. Are we, his people, right now, praying to Jesus? That Jesus is actively preparing rooms for his people in heaven. Are we, his people, actively preparing room for him in our hearts?  That Jesus, in this moment, is anticipating the day he’ll return to take us home.  Are we, his people, in this moment, aware that this world is not actually our home? That Jesus, presently, bears the marks of his peoples’ penalty for sin. Are we, his people, presently, boasting in the cross — Jesus’ payment of our penalty for sins?

Jesus has ascended into heaven. Even still, we are not out of his sight, nor his mind. Jesus has ascended into heaven, out of our sight. Is he out of our mind as well?

Let’s pray:

Father, we recognize, in this moment, that if any set of eyes are closed to the other, they are not Jesus’, but ours. He has not forgotten, we have forgotten. He has not gotten distracted, we have gotten distracted. He has not stopped loving, we have loved but little. It is not he who has sinned against us, but we who have sinned against him. And we own up to that, confess it to you, along with all the other ways we’ve sinned and fallen short this week. We bring it to you now in this moment of silent confession... 

…Father, you sought us when we were running from you. You opened our eyes when we would rather have kept them closed. You took hold, when we would have let go. And we look to you now as our king, our God, our life, and our redeemer. Amen.