I want to make one additional blog on Matthew 18. In verses 19-20, Jesus said:
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (NIV)
The presence of God in Jesus is affirmed from the beginning of Matthew:
Matthew 1:23 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). (NIV)
The ongoing presence of the ascended Jesus is affirmed at the end of the Gospel:
Matthew 28: And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
In Matthew 18, the Lord promises His presence with His disciples as the community of faith seeks reconciliation with one who has been estranged from another through sin against that person. It is in this setting that Jesus pledges His presence. In the Mishna, Rabbis said, “if two sit together and words of the Law (are) between them,(1) the Shekinah (God’s presence) rests between them.” Jesus promises His own real presence when two or three come together in His name. Being under the name of Jesus, is being under His rule as King. This is not a carte blanche promise to do anything our hearts desire, but that which aligns with His will. Jesus is not the Wonderful World of Disney singing “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Instead, He is the sovereign Lord promising His very real, though unseen, Presence when we gather under His rule.
In a stark exhortation about one who defiantly continued in a life of willful rebellion, Paul called the Corinthian church to, for the man’s own sake, “hand this man over to Satan.” I mention this here to speak of the presence of the Lord in such an assembly:
1 Corinthians 54 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. (NIV [emphasis mine])
Yet is it only at “judicial” assemblies that Jesus promises to be present? My answer is “NO!” All gatherings of the disciples of the Messiah should be under His rule. When we come together, we come into His awesome Presence. Throughout most of my life in our churches, this truth has been neglected, if not specifically denied. We worship, we were told, because we were commanded to do so. We carry out 5 acts of worship because we determined that these, and only these, were required. Likewise, we sang, “The Lord is in His Holy Temple,” but didn’t generally acknowledge that we are His holy temple.
Awe and wonder should fill us. Worship in faith would be doing what sight would demand. If my eyes were open, as were those of Elisha’s servant in 2 Kings 6:17, I might be out of my wheelchair and on my face in awe. Worship would not be a performance to the church, but the church in the worship of heartfelt praise to the Holy One in our midst.
Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again and has ascended to the right hand of our Father, we should also believe His promise to be with us always, to the very end of this age. At all times, but especially if we seek reconciliation, fellowship meals, small group meetings, and even casual lunches would be transformed by knowing that He is among us. Let us live what Jesus has promised!
Tim Kelley
(1) France, R. T. (1985). Matthew: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 1, p. 279). InterVarsity Press.