A Place Prepared: An Easter Season Meditation on John 14

Let not your heart be troubled:

ye believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father's house are many mansions:

if it were not so, I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come again, and receive you unto myself;

that where I am, there ye may be also.

And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

Thomas saith unto him,

Lord, we know not whither thou goest;

and how can we know the way?

Jesus saith unto him,

I am the way, the truth, and the life:

no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Christians have demonstrated themselves to be a peculiar people over the centuries, not least in their seemingly conflicted approaches to celebrating life and fearlessness in death.  There are certainly examples of Christians behaving poorly in every generation, but in the main, those who hear Jesus’ Word and abide in it, have shown a strange ability to embrace the goodness of life without panic regarding their earthly demise.  Christians rejoice in all the good events of a well ordered life from birth through old age, and yet while they may weep during times of suffering and death, they do not mourn as if they have no hope.  In today’s Gospel reading from John 14, we have some insight as to why this is.

Jesus’ words open this chapter with a call not to be troubled, and a reminder that He is going ahead of them through death to prepare an eternal place for them with God the Father.  This place is described as a house with many mansions, an image which beholds a vast Kingdom within which there is plenteous room for all.  While physical imagery strains to fully communicate spiritual realities, the principle is absolutely clear:  in the glory of God the Father, God the Son fully abides, as do all who believe and abide in Jesus.  Time and space are tricky things to consider in the presence of God, who is Himself above and beyond all time and matter, but the ultimate reality of the universe rests in the eternal glory of God, as do all His people who abide in Him by grace through faith in His Eternal Word.

Consider the implications this unshakeable truth can have on a Christian life.  The Christian knows by the Word of God that all life is good, and a gift from God Himself; that life has an intended pattern and structure which flows from God as the Author and source of all life; that every person is loved by the God who gave them life; that even in a fallen universe in which change seems constant, every living thing which abides in the Word of the Living God, abides in Him forever.  Thus the Christian can embrace and celebrate all the good things in creation, most especially the gift of life and the loving fellowship of all those living.  He can also see death for what it really is, and know that his life is guarded by the Living God even through death.

Such a beatific vision might seem only a sophistic dream, except that Jesus, the one who offered it to His disciples, actually rose from the dead.  After telling His disciples not to be troubled, to believe in Him and abide in His Word, He went to the crucifixion He said He would endure, died, and three days later rose again from the dead, just as He said He would.  No one else in all of human history has done such a thing, and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus remains to this day the most well attested and witnessed miracle of all time.  And while this miracle of miracles actually occurred in a particular time and place, witnessed by countless actual people, many of which set their witness to writing and whose verbal testimony found place even in the annals of hostile contemporary historians, Jesus’ ongoing miraculous promise of the powerful abiding of the Holy Spirit has been testified in every generation since.  Everywhere the Word of Jesus is preached in every corner of the earth, the Holy Spirit continues to work the miracles of conversion and faith, to heal the sick hearts and raise the dead souls of those who are lost in their fear of sin and death.  In the fellowship of the saints, both those present today and those already fully abiding with God before us, the Holy Spirit continues to work miracles in guiding others toward Jesus, and Jesus continues to be our one great Intercessor for all our prayers to the Father.  This living community of faith, with all its variation in rite, ritual, and custom, continues to be a miraculous testimony to the promise of Jesus given nearly 2000 years ago in Judea, and first prophesied to our fallen human race at the dawn of time.

This is why Christians embrace the fullness of life without fear of death, because they know beyond any shadow of a doubt that their lives are secure in Jesus.  The faith which clings to Jesus and abides in His Word surges with the grace and power of the King of the Universe, unstoppable and unshakeable as the Lord God Almighty.  The Christian need not be troubled by war, politics, or plague, because he knows from whence he came and to where he is going, and he knows the Savior’s promise in which he and all the saints abide—he knows that Jesus alone has proved Himself to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that Jesus has promised that all who repent and believe in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.  This is the peculiar hope of a peculiar people, rooted in both the Word and Person of Jesus Christ.  Here we abide by the power of His Spirit, not just today, but for all time.  Here we find eternal fellowship in a blessed communion that never ends, is never separated, and can never die.  Here in Jesus and His Word, we glimpse the blessings of eternity even as we pass through the trails of a fallen creation, knowing that He has sealed the promise of our salvation in His own most precious blood. 

Does fear, despair, or anxiety grip your heart?  Turn your eyes to Jesus, and hear His promise made new to you today.  Hear Him, repent, believe, and live.  Amen.