John 14 — In My Father's House

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 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. This is the Gospel of John, chapter fourteen. Jesus is in the upper room. The Last Supper has been eaten. He has just told the disciples that He is leaving. They are devastated. He is going to His death, though they do not yet fully understand it. And these are the first words He speaks to comfort them. Let not your hearts be troubled. Lord, my heart is troubled tonight. Not necessarily by anything specific. Just the cumulative weight of being human. The unease. The uncertainty. The future that is opaque. The past that contains regrets. The present that has more than I can hold. You speak to me what You spoke to the disciples that night. Let not your hearts be troubled. Permission to set down the troubling. Not because the situation is not real. But because You are bigger than the situation. Believe in God; believe also in Me. The act of trust. To believe is to lean. To put my weight on something. I lean on You. In My Father's house are many rooms. The picture of heaven. Not a small room I have to share. A house with many rooms. Plenty of space. Plenty of welcome. There is room for me. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? You would not lie to me, Lord. If You said it, it is real. The house is real. The rooms are real. The place is being prepared. I go to prepare a place for you. Right now, You are preparing my place. The room with my name on the door. Made to fit me perfectly. Designed by the One who designed me. I will come again and will take you to Myself. The promise of the second coming. You are coming back for me. Either at the end of all things, or at the moment of my death, You are coming. I will not have to make my way alone. You will come and take me. That where I am you may be also. The whole point. Not just to live forever. Not just to be safe. To be where You are. With You. Forever. Thomas asks the practical question. Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way? You answer with one of the most famous lines in all of Scripture. I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. You are the way. Not just one of many ways. The way. The road. The path. Following You is following the only road that leads home. You are the truth. Not just true things. The Truth. The reality behind every reality. To know You is to know what is. You are the life. Not just having life. Life itself. To be in You is to be fully alive. Tonight I rest in this. The way is clear. I follow You. The truth is sure. I trust You. The life is real. I receive You. I sleep in Your Father's house, in the room You are preparing. Tomorrow I will keep walking the way. Until the day You come for me. Let not my heart be troubled. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.