I am with you always

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Viri Galilaei

The monks of Glenstal Abbey

Today is Thursday the 14th of May, the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, in the sixth week of Easter.

The monks of Glenstal Abbey sing Viri Galilei, the Antiphon for the Feast of the Ascension. “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? The Lord will return, just as you have seen him ascend. Alleluia.”

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Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 28:16-20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

4:26

All four gospels tell a story which many in today’s world have forgotten or have never even known. It is the story of how Jesus became the king of the world. That’s where we have been going, ever since, back near the beginning, Jesus came into Galilee announcing that ‘heaven’s kingdom is at hand’. Is this how you think of the Gospels?

This is the great message of the whole gospel. Jesus is King and Lord, not just ‘in heaven’ (that would be quite a ‘safe’ idea) but on earth as well.

But what – on earth, we might say – does that actually mean? If Jesus is really King and Lord, why is the world still in such a mess? How does he exercise this ‘lordship’? How does this sovereignty, claimed so strongly in this passage, work out on the ground?

As you hear this short passage read again, ask yourself this question: how did Jesus come to this point of being king?

7:34

Matthew 28:16-20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

8:47

We find encouragement in the final words of Matthew’s gospel, picking up neatly the promise made to Joseph at the very beginning. His name will be ‘Emmanuel’, said the angel, which means ‘God with us’. That God-with-us promise, that heaven-on-earth assurance, has come true in Jesus. Millions of Christians know this in their daily experience, their praying, their living, their work for his kingdom. ‘I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ That is a promise you can stake your life on. It is also a challenge: if Jesus himself is ‘with you’, what could you be doing? How then could you live? Easter is a time to ask precisely that sort of question. It is also a time to discover God’s powerful answer.

11:51

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be

World without end

Amen