HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, February 13, 2025 – From the gospels, we know a little bit about Jesus’ time on Earth, particularly the years around his birth and ministry. But we know next to nothing about Jesus after his resurrection and before his ascension. He was still here on Earth during those 40 days and nights, so what was he doing? Where did he go when he wasn’t manifesting to his disciples in his new, not-yet-glorified body?

This, to me, is a fascinating period in Jesus’ time on Earth, but very little is spoken or written about it, perhaps because it truly is Jesus’ “hidden” time. Theologians love to wax hypothetical over what they call Jesus’ hidden years between age 12 and 30 (“oh, he was in India”, “oh, he was in Egypt”), but there’s little to no speculation about Jesus in the days leading up to his ascension. What do we know from scripture about that time, and what can we know from inference or otherwise?

First of all, we know that Jesus’ post-resurrection pre-ascension body didn’t look like Jesus. In fact, Jesus looked so different, even his closest disciples didn’t recognize him. His changed physiognomy would have given Jesus the advantage of appearing anywhere to anyone at any time without them knowing it was him, much like God’s holy angels. Scripture also tells us that Jesus could appear and disappear seemingly at will, leading his disciples to believe initially that he was a ghost. And yet he was also physically solid and able to eat and drink, again much like God’s holy angels.

Not looking like a dead man and being able to appear and disappear at will would have allowed Jesus to go wherever he wanted during those 40 days and nights. He could have moved among the disciples in his invisible (to the human eye) form or he could have (and I hesitate to use the term) lurked even among his enemies, either visibly or invisibly.

We know that he knew where the disciples would be at any given time, since he met with some of them on the road to Emmaus and then later appeared at their meals and their fishing trip. Did Jesus know where they were because he was there with them in “hidden” form the whole time? He knew Thomas’s exact words of doubt and quoted them back to him during one of his physical manifestations. In scripture, Jesus tells us that wherever two or more are gathered in his name, there he is among us. We know this is God’s Truth, and being God’s Truth, does it explain where Jesus was during those final 40 days and nights?

I believe it does. I believe Jesus was exactly where he said he would be – wherever two or more were gathered in his name. Sometimes they saw him and sometimes they didn’t, but he was there.

Just as he’s here now, wherever we gather in his name.

So we shouldn’t wonder when Jesus is coming back, because he never really left. He’s been with his church since his resurrection. And while he no longer appears in physical form and won’t again until he comes in glory, we can be assured that he’s still here among us.

Why?

Because he said he would be.