“I go to prepare a place for you.”

Peter had given much to the three year ministry of Jesus.  He had left a fishing business, and put his wife and family on hold to be a disciple of Jesus.  On his last night with the Lord, Peter was consumed with a question.  Where Jesus could be going? 

It had been a most unsettling evening for Peter.  Jesus had washed his feet, which at first repulsed him, then he wanted his entire body washed, and listened as Christ told of the betrayal by one of those closest to him.  This prompted Peter to motion to his friend John to ask Jesus who it could be.   Afterward,  there was the disturbing news that Jesus was going away. 

After Jesus had given them a new commandment to love one another, Peter took Jesus aside and asked, “Lord, where are you going?” 

Jesus answered, “Where I am going you can’t follow now, but you will follow later.” 

Peter couldn’t take that as the final answer and he pressed the issue, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now?  I will lay down my life for you!”

Then Jesus gave Peter the toughest news of the evening. He revealed to Peter that he would deny even knowing his Lord by the morning not once, but on three separate occasions.  In a word, Peter must have been devastated.  Then Jesus assures him of an incredible promise and gives them all a glimpse of where he is going.  I love the old King James translation of this hope filled verse:  John 14:2

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.

Most likely you have heard this verse used as part of the eulogy of a loved one.  Perhaps no other verse is more popular at funerals.  The hope communicated from this single verse transcends every fear of death and draws us away from the land of the here and now into the realm beyond commonly called heaven.  All sorts of images flood the mind from the words given.  Jesus speaks of the Father’s house.  The Greek word for house is Olkia, which means an inhabited edifice or dwelling.  Within this one word heaven is revealed as a home owned by God.  It is our real home.  In 2^nd  Corinthians 5:1, Paul wrote:

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. (NIV)

Beyond our temporal houses here on earth there is a different building not built by ordinary means, but by the supernatural extraordinary hands of the Father and his heavenly servants. This is where Jesus was going.  He was going home.  His mission was almost complete and John 14:2 was one of his last messages to the followers. 

As if the picture of the Father’s house wasn’t enough, Jesus speaks of mansions within the house.  The Greek word for mansions is Monai; meaning a staying, abiding, dwelling or abode, a place within the place.  No doubt as kids we imagined mansions and castles of grandeur, but the truth will be even more grand, for as explicit as Jesus is with this allegory there is much untold.  Many translations interpret monai as dwelling places which could mean significantly more than rooms or even mansions.  What if your dwelling place is a beautiful valley encircled by majestic mountains?  What if your monai is a tropical lagoon surrounded by crystal clear water and lush greenery?  Why bother imaging anything?  The truth is, we can’t help it.  We know we belong to an incorruptible home somewhere beyond this fallen one.  A home where  the Spirit whispers of the deep things of God as noted by Paul, quoting the great prophet Isaiah  in 1 Corinthians 2:9b-10…

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived  what God has prepared for those who love him"— but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.*