The twelve disciples, together with a wider group of men and women who travelled around with Jesus in that small area of Israel between Galilee to the north and Jerusalem to the south really knew Jesus personally. They shared his life and he shared theirs. What was true for those disciples, is still true in the lives of many millions of people around the world today. God the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Jesus – coming into human lives, is the experience of all who truly turn to Jesus in faith and ask him to guide their lives as Lord and Saviour. However, this does not bring the promise of a life of health, wealth and happiness: as some erroneously claim.
Jesus promised his followers that they would experience life in all its fullness, that they would know that he was with them at all times, that they would know the power of God’s forgiveness healing their guilt, that they would have access to the everlasting spring of the water of life and that they would know God’s love within them enabling them to love one another and to love God’s creation in a way that goes far beyond the power of human love.
However, he also promised them that they would be opposed, misunderstood, even hated and killed as Jesus himself had been. In some parts of the world, this is the daily experience of Christians – yet their faith gives them the same courage and ability to love their enemies as was seen in the first disciples. We remain living in the world with all the sorrows and pains, joys and pleasures that the world offers to us – yet we also begin living the reality of eternal life – with occasional miraculous events and encouragements which show the personal presence of Jesus with us as he was with his first disciples.