“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 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? 3 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. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
John 14:1-5
Jesus has implied and straight up told his disciples that he would be leaving them–men who had given their whole lives to follow him. Things will get hard. For every single person in that room, a dark night looms. None darker, though, than the one awaiting Jesus.
Believe in God; believe also in me. Jesus here is not implying he’s not God; he’s plainly stating that he is God.
He begins talking about his father, his father’s house, and a place for his disciples. If I go, then I will prepare a place for you. And when I come back, I will take you to myself–that where I am, you may be also.
Yes, Jesus will leave his disciples for now, so that he can be with them forever.
He is going to offer himself up as a sin-bearing sacrifice–to bring us into the family of God. Oh, he’s going to make a place for us.
Responding to a question about the rest of the world (you’re manifesting yourself to us, but what about everyone else?) Jesus says if anyone will keep my word, the Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
John 14:23
Don’t let your heart be troubled, friends, because you have a home.
There was a fantastic piece recently about John Denver’s Country Roads, that song we all love so much. Of course, it’s huge here. We sing it at funerals and weddings; we sing it at parties with friends, alone in our cars, and we sing it when the Mountaineers win (if that ever happens again).
But Country Roads is not just popular in West Virginia. It’s popular all over the world! Why is that? Something about that song taps into this universal longing for home. We all want home. We all want a place to belong–a people to whom we belong. Something deep inside us longs for a place to go when all our options fall apart. Something deep inside us longs for a people who will love us no matter what happens. We long for embrace and acceptance.
Saints and friends, let not your hearts be troubled. Jesus offers you a home right now. Home with the Father. If you love him (you demonstrate that love by obedience) and believe in him, then you have a home with God the Father.