Christ’s Presence in His Absence
By: Anteneshia Sanders
Here’s a question I ask everybody: Do you watch The Chosen?
Season four came out recently, and I’ve already watched them all. As the show goes along, you know what to expect if you’re familiar with the timeline of the Gospels. The creators of the show take some liberties with the narratives here and there, but we know that Jesus’s character is progressing toward the cross.
As I’ve watched in anticipation of the crucifixion, I’ve felt a growing sense of dread. There’s an episode in season four where the disciples learn that Jesus is going away soon. And as the actor-disciples were trying to figure out what actor-Jesus was talking about, I was sitting there on my couch coming undone. Because in real life, I knew exactly what was coming.
In fact, after the credits on this particular episode had long since rolled, I was still weeping. It wasn’t the kind of crying I always do when I watch The Chosen—the kind that comes from awe or gratitude—this was something different. It wasn’t just a reaction to a dramatization of the life of Jesus, it was grief. And for a long while, I couldn’t figure out why.
Days later, I sat in the dark, reading. A hurricane had just blown through the Houston area, and I was trying to make the most of the lack of electricity. There, in the silence of my candle-lit living room, the Lord graciously met me. I came across this quote by John Sherrill:
“I was following—perhaps all Christians follow—the path the disciples took: First, there was a direct, personal encounter with Christ. Then, He appears to go away. There is a longing for His return, and a helplessness, because nothing we do seems to bring that return.”
There it was—the experience I had been trying to name.
Jesus is not physically here. I cannot reach out and touch Him. I can’t audibly hear His voice. There’s nothing I can do about it, and I grieve the fact that—though I know He will one day return—Jesus is no longer walking the earth.
But then, the last part of the quote says this:
“Wasn’t the lesson I had learned from the Bible…that in order to see Him again we need the mediation of the Holy Spirit?”
And I had to ask myself, “Anteneshia, did you plan to white-knuckle life until Christ returns? Were you just gonna ‘grin and bear it’ until heaven? Were you planning to sit in the sadness of Jesus’s physical absence until He comes back?”
Jesus imparted these words to His disciples in John 16:5–7:
“But now I am going away to him who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Yet, because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you.”
Yes, we should long for Christ’s return. But Jesus tells us that it’s better that He went away. Because when He did, the Holy Spirit came to us.
As Christians, we know that the Spirit lives in us, but do we really know what that means? I fear that many Christians today are deficient in experiences with the Holy Spirit—myself included. But it’s vital that we intentionally lean on Christ’s presence with us in His Spirit here and now.
This is not something that will happen overnight. In fact, I’m still asking the Lord to show me what it looks like to be comforted by His presence through the Holy Spirit in my daily life—to show me what it means to hear His voice even though He’s not here physically.
I know that this looks different for all of us. Maybe you don’t experience Christ’s absence as grief. Maybe you experience it as helplessness, frustration, or despair. But if and when these feelings do arise, I encourage you to go to God and express yourself through prayer.
If you’re struggling to find the right words, feel free to use these:
Thank You, Holy Spirit, for Your presence with me and within me today.
Show me how to cultivate awareness of Your existence around me. Comfort me today, Spirit of the living God. Teach me that I’m never away from You—because You are never away from me.
Holy Spirit, even though I’m not physically in the presence of Jesus right now, help me to see that it is better that You are here with me, moving and working in my life.
You are the Gift that keeps on giving.
Remind me, moment by moment, of Christ and His words, teaching me to be more like Him and shaping me into His image.
Thank You, Holy Spirit. I pray these things in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Sources:
Sherrill, John. They Speak with Other Tongues. Grand Rapids, MI: Chosen Books, 2004.
