Some critics pit Matthew 28:20 ("Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.") against Matthew 26:11/Mark 14:7 ("For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.") and John 7:34 ("Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.").

It helps to read each of these in the context of their passages. First, John 7:34 is said to the temple guards who are interested in capturing Jesus. It is a statement based upon their supposed action in detaining and arresting the Son of God, who can easily escape their grasp with power.

The first verse in Matthew is said in the context of the story of the woman anointing Jesus with perfume. It should therefore be clear that "with you" is said strictly in terms of physical presence that would allow acts like the anointing. (Indeed, the word Jesus uses here for "have" is echo, which more accurately means "hold" or "possess".)

On the other hand, the Matthew 28 verse is said by the resurrected Jesus just prior to His Ascension in an eschatological context: regarding "the end of the age." This implies not merely physical presence but His ongoing divine, spiritual presence with His Church. Certainly the Gospel authors knew that Jesus was not going to be physically present with them in the same earthly manner at the time of the end of the age—He had already ascended.

Problem: According to Jesus’ statement here, He would not always be with the disciples, for He said: “but Me you do not have always” with you. On the other hand, in Matthew 28:20 Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Solution: In the first passage, Jesus was speaking of His physical presence (which would not be with them between His ascension and second coming), and, in the later text, He is referring to His spiritual presence with them as they preached the Gospel in all the world. There is no contradiction here whatsoever.