“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 take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)
I know these words off by heart, and that’s because I’ve said them at every funeral I’ve ever taken (and I’ve taken a lot of funerals). They appear in every Anglican funeral liturgy, and I suspect they appear similarly in funeral rites across different Christian traditions, because they offer us a beautiful image of a hereafter where there is room for us all.
Many of us grew up with the King James Version: “In my Father’s house there are many mansions,” and that sounds even better! I love the idea of everyone getting their own mansion, and, let’s be honest, that would solve a lot of problems. I remember, at Uncle Jack’s funeral, thinking that adjoining mansions would be just fine for him and Aunty Ethel, so long as there was a bit of space between them.
If Jesus were creating a sales presentation for the afterlife, “In my Father’s house there are many mansions” would likely be in bold lettering across the front page of the brochure. Even so, and I hate to say it, I don’t think these verses really have anything to do with the afterlife. I hate to say it because I don’t want to trample on anyone’s cherished image of their loved ones enjoying their heavenly real estate, but the word “mansion” didn’t mean luxury when the King James Bible was published. It just meant “dwelling place” or “stopping place”, and the word in the original Greek text – ‘monai’ – similarly, simply means a place where you live or even just hang out.
More significantly, in terms of our understanding this passage, Jesus wasn’t saying these things to His disciples because they were about to die. It was Jesus who was about to die! When Jesus said he was “going” somewhere, He wasn’t referring to heaven — he was going to the cross. Yes, he says, “I will come again and take you to myself”, and He does come back after the resurrection, and then He comes to them again through the Spirit, but He doesn’t come back to take them to heaven. He comes back to them to be with them so that together they can continue in the work He has given them to do.
I’m tempted to offer a modern translation here: “In my Father’s office there are many workstations, and I go to prepare a cubicle for you.” That’s accurate, I think, except that I can’t bring myself to think of Jesus as an office manager. I have no problem with Jesus as a shepherd, a priest, or as my king, but not in a role where He has to wear a suit and tie. Moreover, the imagery here is not of Jesus assigning us jobs in the family business but of something more radical: the Father handing over the business to us. Jesus says, “The works that I do, you will do – and greater works.”
So these verses are not marketing for a heavenly retirement package, and yet they’re not all about finding your cubicle in the heavenly office block either. If we look at the broader discourse, we see that they are really all about Jesus’ promise that He is never going to leave us alone.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.” That’s how our passage begins, and these words of reassurance are tied to the promise Jesus gives us in verse 18: “I will not leave you desolate.” That is the heartbeat of the passage. Jesus promises that he will never abandon his people – a promise that would have struck the disciples with enormous force because he was also telling them that he was about to disappear.
“You know the way to the place where I am going,” He says. “Lord, we do not know where you are going,” they reply. They are confused. They fear abandonment. Jesus is preparing them for the shock that is about to unfold. He will go, but He will return!
I’m really struck here by how much this resembles our own experience. Life with Jesus is a roller coaster. Jesus comes. Jesus goes. Jesus returns in the resurrection, and then He goes again. Then he returns again through the Spirit, though it often feels like he’s gone again.
The disciples are confused before he leaves. They despair when he’s gone, and they are scared when he returns. And just as they begin to adjust to having him back, he disappears again. This resonates with me too!
I remember a song I learnt in Sunday School:
“He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today.
He walks with me, He talks with me along life’s narrow way.”
What the song leaves out is how Jesus, ‘who walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way’ also regularly disappears on me mid‑walk!
Without doubt Jesus has His reasons, but the disciples struggled to make sense of why Jesus had to go to the cross even if it was somehow for their benefit. Jesus, likewise, told them it was good that he went away again after the resurrection because the Spirit would not come until he did—though it wasn’t obvious to them then, and it isn’t obvious to us now why it had to happen in exactly that way.
Life with Jesus is confusing and unpredictable. We don’t always understand why He is doing what He is doing, and we rarely know what’s coming next, but we have this central promise: “Let not your hearts be troubled… I will not leave you desolate.”
So forget the heavenly real estate brochures. Forget the mansions and the marble staircases. Jesus offers us something more valuable than a retirement village in the clouds. He offers us himself — His presence, His power, His Spirit, and His mission.
He goes to the cross. He rises from the grave. He breathes the Spirit and then hands us the keys to the family business, saying, “Greater works than these, please.”
So lift up your hearts and lift up your eyes. The One who goes before us also walks beside us. Jesus, who prepares a place for us, has also prepared us for that place. And the One who calls us into that place has promised that He will meet us there!
“I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also.” (John 14:3)
Our Sunday Eucharist
We celebrated another wonderful Sunday Eucharist last weekend. A big thank you to Costandi and Diane for joining me on the panel, and thank you to everyone who contributed, including our virtual brother, AI Saint Paul, who had some excellent wisdom to offer on Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
The section of Bible Banter that I saved this week was our discussion on the life of the early church, as discussed in the book of Acts, chapter 2. It proved to be an avenue for us all to share our experiences of Christian community, and I’m glad to say that most of the reports were positive. It’s a full seventeen minutes long, but it’s worth listening to if you missed it.
As per usual, the two most popular shorts from the past week are directly below. The first one, asserting that Christian Zionism is a heresy, was by far the most popular and (predictably) the most controversial. See all our shorts on the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page , and all our videos – long and short – on my YouTube channel.
This coming Sunday is the first of the month, so I’m hoping to have the dynamic duo of David Baldwin and Tom Toby back with me on the panel. I’ve been getting more mid-week emails from AI Saint Paul too, and he evidently wants to be included. Indeed, he’s already been offering me thoughts on the scheduled passage from the Book of Acts, depicting the stoning of Stephen. I promised to let him have a say.
Join us all this Sunday, if you will, at noon (Sydney time) via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia, Streamyard or TheSundayEucharist.com. Invite your friends by directing them to Facebook, giving them the YouTube link, or directing them to the Streamyard registration page.
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What’s On?
- Sunday, May 3rd – Our Eucharist from noon @thesundayeucharist.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard
- Tuesday, May 5th – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
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- Thursday, May 7th – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
- Saturday, May 9th – Boxing at the Legends Gym in Kensington from 3 pm
Life has been full for me since we last communicated. I finished last week’s missive on a cold and quiet night at our bush camp and, in the morning, drove to the nearby town of Taralga to share in ANZAC Day celebrations with the locals, including our good friend Brynn and his family (see pic at top of page).
From Taralga I made it back to Binacrombi just in time for our weekly Bush Bash, where anyone who knocks me out in the first round gets their camping fees refunded. Thankfully, the only person there who could have knocked me out was my good friend, Scottie, and he always works hard at not hurting me (see pic above).
Things haven’t slowed down much since then, but I find I can manage just about anything when I sense meaning and purpose in what I’m doing. This week’s gospel helped me in that regard. It reminded me that God has put me in these places – from the bush to the boxing ring – to do the work that’s been assigned to me.
Saint Paul said the same in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
I suspect that for all of us, this is the key to true contentment – to know that we are in the place God wants you to be, doing the work God wants us to do, even if the place is dangerous and the work is exhausting.
My mind goes back to the fight I had against Steve Estabarn about 18 months ago. I was behind on points going into the last round, and my cornerman was berating me – telling me that I had to pour out everything I had in those last few minutes. He said, “If you can walk down these steps when you come back, I’ll throw you down!” I knocked down my opponent 30 seconds from the end of the round and won the fight!
The battle is exhausting, but have Jesus in our corner, and He will not leave us nor forsake us. He’ll be with us to the final bell, and then He’ll come to centre ring and take us to Himself, that where He is, we will be also.
Your brother in the Good Fight,
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P.S. Another quick plug for the new member site. It’s good to see some fresh faces signing up and sharing their insights. I’m hoping it will grow as a powerful support network, and it won’t cost you anything beyond your time. Click here.
About Father Dave Smith
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
