How much Jesus said here in just a few words. It was not only an image of the approaching moment when Jesus’ followers would flee and the soldiers would take Him prisoner. No, these words also apply today:
‘you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave Me all alone.’
What remains of the fellowship of the Lord’s people when the uniting force of the presence of the Lord Jesus is gone? Then we become estranged from one another and everyone is busy with his own affairs. Jesus has said, ‘Remain in me, as I also remain in you’ (John 15:4a). Many have said, in overestimation of themselves, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you!’ (Matthew 26:35).
We all know how casually we leave Jesus alone. To us it is more important that Jesus remains in us than that we remain in Him. But then the mutual love grows cold, the fellowship gradually disappears and privacy becomes sacred.
He who really loves someone, will never let that person down. That is why Jesus will always remain in us. But why, and how, do we leave Him alone so easily? Yet, His love for us is unrepentant and even in our failing, He keeps offering us His peace. ‘Come, let us return to the Lord,’ is the prophet Hosea’s answer to God’s love (Hosea 6:1).
Only when we return to Him, will the kingdom of God be endlessly more important than all our own things. Only then we will be His people on this earth. Yes, then we will be noticed, because we are so different from the people around us. So it was with Jesus, so it is with the people who are His. If we remain in Him, in this world we will have trouble (:33), but we will live, filled with His peace.