06/02/2026
Absentee Savior?
Is Jesus absent in the world today? When He ascended did he leave us behind? If He didn’t what does Jesus look like today? How would we spot Him? Is He the guy with long hair knocking at the door to let us in? Is that Him on the piece of toast or fogged window? Will we find Him in the church? Perhaps yes; perhaps no. As I thought about that question this morning I was reminded of the passage in Matthew 25 we gain insight into what Jesus looks like today.
Speaking to His disciples Jesus is telling them about His return. He will say to those on His right, “‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me” (25:34-40)
Jesus is the people we see every day. He is the person in need we extend a hand up. He is the person who has nothing with whom we share what we have. He is the person feeling loveless we show love. He is the person who is alone we take time to sit alongside. In his book The Jesus I Never Knew Philip Yancey wrote, “He has taken on a disguise, a most unlikely disguise of the stranger, the poor, the hungry, the prisoner, the sick, the ragged of the earth: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.” “If we cannot detect God’s presence in the world, it may be that we have been looking in the wrong places” (pg.232).
Jesus is all around us but we have allowed ourselves to become jaded to seeing Him where we want to see Him not actually where he is. The tunnel vision of our definition of Jesus must be removed, the blinders must come off if we want to catch a glimpse of Him. When we serve the people the world considers the least, we are serving Jesus. Quoting Mother Theresa, Philip Yancey notes how she was able to endure and serve in Calcutta, the poorest of the poor regions in the world. She told a visitor, “First we meditate on Jesus, and then we go out and look for him in disguise” (pg.233).
Lord, forgive us for not seeing you.
May we be a people who do not attempt to define you as we would like to. May we be a voice for the voiceless. May we say enough is enough to the steady stream of violence playing out before us and take a stand for what we know needs to happen. May we offer more than thoughts and prayers but word and deed. May we be people living without blinders so that we may truly see you in the people around us. Our Savior is not absent. He is in front of us and he is us. Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus. We want to be Jesus.
Pastor Rob
