Emphasis Preaching Journal

In his book The Living Reminder, Henri Nouwen discusses the difference between an absence that occurs after someone has been present and the absence that is felt because no one comes at all. He says there can only be a leaving if there has been a coming; that without a presence having been there cannot be an absence, only emptiness. Christ could only leave because he first came. There is as much intimacy and compassion in his going away as in his coming. But how were the disciples to see that? Jesus was their closest friend, their master, their teacher.