“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” John 14:1-3
As a greedy American, I have for so long gotten hung up on the Father’s house have many room, being big, and me having my mansion next to my friends mansion or Moses’ mansion. First of all can you imagine the different pictures of mansions the disciples got of Moses would’ve gotten if he were told such things about heaven> We would all have pretty different pictures of mansions, wouldn’t we?! On a golden street of Heaven there would be some very different mansions, maybe an Ancient Egyptian style castle for Moses, a Roman style mansion for the disciples or a elaborate lake-house for the former fishermen, and something off MTV, HGTC, or Extreme Makeover Home Edition for me. It all sounds pretty ridiculous if you think about it and actually make it past that verse.
The next part says the purpose for all this preparation of a place for you and coming back to get you is so that “WHERE I AM YOU MAY BE ALSO!” The point of all this is we will be with Jesus!
Greed and wealth for material things is NOT the point! Jesus has just washed the disciples feet, eaten the Passover meal with them, and has been talking weird all night about not being with them much long. He’s been talking about dying and what they should do when he’s gone. And they are like- “Wait a minute, where are you going?!” Not only that but he has just told one of his own betrayal (though none of the other eleven pick up on it at that point.) He told Peter not only that he was NOT going to follow him but that he was going to deny him three times before morning! Which seemed to Peter quite unbelievable. They are all probably feeling a little shaky about the future, about all these strange things Jesus is saying, and about Him leaving. So Jesus shifts gears and tones at this point and tells them not to be trouble because I’m gonna build you a mansion when I die? No! Those were not the words of comfort at that point! The man whom they have lived life with, day & night, the one they trust, the one they trust as Teacher, Lord, Savior, and the Son of God (though they did not understand it all at that time) was going to leave them, die and they were Not going to stand by him through it! What would have comforted and “let their hearts not be troubled”? Not that they had a big mansion with their name on the mailbox, but that they would be with their Jesus again!
What if that was the greatest desire and comfort in our lives? Just to be with Jesus? What if that’s the part of Heaven and eternal life we longed for? What if what we longed for was NOT the end of pain, suffering, tears, deal and all the other wonderful promises in Revelation 21:4 but rather what we longed for was just to BE WITH JESUS? How radically would that change even our daily pursuits? If that is what we are longing for, for eternity, then don’t you think we are going to try to soak up as much time to be with Jesus in the here and now as possible? Won’t our thoughts, motivations, and even actions change if the greatest comfort and joy is to be with Jesus both now (in part) and for eternity?
