A Prepared Place
Scripture Reading: John 14:1-6
Jesus cares about our hearts as well as our minds. We are commanded to love God with our whole heart and not just our minds. Knowing therefore the troubled state of His beloved disciples' hearts at the news of His imminent departure, Jesus spoke words of comfort to them. What was the nature of His comfort?
Jesus assured His disciples that His going away was meaningful. He was going to prepare a place for them. Here He calls heaven His “Father’s house.” Heaven is sometimes described as a country, a city, a kingdom, and paradise. But here Jesus calls it a “house.” I don’t think we are meant to take this in some rigid literalistic fashion. It is meant as a metaphorical way of giving us a glimpse into the intimacy of our future state.
This has been mistakenly interpreted as “mansions.” The old song that says, “I’ve got a mansion, just over the hilltop…” sees it that way. But the context and language don’t support that idea. It is actually better than that. In Jesus’ day, when sons married, they didn’t normally leave their father’s house. Instead, their father made an addition to the house. The family would live in a complex with a shared patio. That is closer to the idea Jesus is getting at. Again, it shouldn’t be thought of as a literal description, but rather as a metaphor that gives us an idea of the depth of the intimacy of heaven.
For most of us, the discomfort of leaving here (this life) isn’t about leaving whatever city or town we live in. Most of us aren’t bothered about leaving our stuff. What bothers us is leaving our friends and family. It is the idea of leaving behind the loving relationships we enjoy here that disturbs us the most.
Jesus is promising us that which the redeemed heart longs for most of all: Intimacy with God and others. The metaphor of the Father’s house includes both. It is the Father’s house (we will have an intimate, close relationship with God as our heavenly Father), and with our brothers and sisters in Christ. After all, there are many rooms in the Father’s house.
