If you were to take time and read John 14:1-14 you would see the beautiful words, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”
I have heard these words before. They seem so familiar. Where have I…? Oh that’s right, they are the words spoken at nearly every funeral in existence. They are the words that spawn great sermons, all of which go something like this: In God’s big retirement resort in heaven, Christ the house servant has prepared a room with beautiful, dark blue walls, walnut trim, a large picture window, and direct access to the golf course, just that way poor old Jira would have wanted. Now he can be happy. And next door, Jesus the house servant, has prepared a room with pink walls, delicate lace, and a garden out the sliding glass door, just the way Clint Eastwood would have wanted it. I am just kidding. Clint does not want a garden outside his door.
That is how these Florida golf resorts in heaven sermons go do they not? They are not terrible sermons for funerals. Do not get me wrong; Christ has prepared a space for us. We will never be parted from God’s eternal love in Christ Jesus. But, if we focus on our resort in heaven too much, we just may miss the whole point of Jesus’ teaching.
Look closely at this John text and you will notice something. You have words popping out at you like, “prepare,” “go,” “going,” “the way,” “going” again, “the way” again, “the way” a third time, “through me,” “believe,” and “do.” These words are in motion. These words are on the go. They are not words for the dead. They are words for the alive and moving. The rooms that Christ has prepared are anything but rooms in an eternal, stationary mansion in the clouds. The Father’s house is more likely an RV!
Jesus Christ has prepared a room for us alright; our room is on God’s ministry RV. I’m not sure how cramped the rooms are, but I do know that each room is filled with tools for work in the kingdom of God. Maybe your room has golf clubs, but they are not intended for eternal personal enjoyment. They are intended to be shared with another person here in this life who needs to hear a word of belonging, friendship, and hope from your mouth in the beautiful and non-threatening setting of the green. They are a tool of God’s grace.
Perhaps, Clint has a view of a garden out his window, but it is not intended for eternal personal visual stimulation. It is more likely intended to feed a child next door whose parents leave her neglected and eating cake mix for lunch. The garden is more likely intended for spending time, playing in the dirt with that child who has no one else who cares. It is a tool of God’s grace. And when that work is done, God’s RV moves on to another place and new tools appear in our rooms.
Do not misunderstand me, the words “in my Father’s house there are many dwelling places” are about eternal life. But, I’m not certain that everyone in the Christian Church quite understands what Jesus meant by “eternal life.” Do not forget that it means, “life with the eternal.” It means nothing less than life with God. Eternal life is not a destination. It is not a retirement plan. Eternal life is a way of life, both in this life and beyond.
When Thomas wonders out loud where Jesus is going, notice that Jesus does not say, “heaven.” Jesus answers, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Eternal life is a way of life. Eternal life is finding yourself in Jesus Christ and participating in his life of forgiveness, equality, feeding the needy, and welcoming the sinner.
To put my point crassly and irreverently (you have never known me to be a very revenant reverend anyway), Jesus is the RV. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
One thing that is clear to people who study such matters, churches that focus exclusively on a promise of eternal life in heaven in the presence of a God who is currently distant and far away are churches that are shrinking. They are churches whose walls echo a deadening, empty tone. Of course, they echo a dead tone, they are dead. Have they not heard about Jesus who is the way the truth and the life? Do they not know that Jesus is truly present, working the kingdom of God through its members?
One thing that you always hear from the mouths of people who visit churches that are alive is, “When I was at that church, I knew Jesus was there.” I will promise you right now that these people were not wrong. They were not misled. Jesus was there, and in some way those people experienced a taste of God’s acceptance and forgiving love. Somehow, through someone at that church, those people felt invited into the way, the truth, and the life. Somehow, through someone, these people heard the message, “You have a place in Christ; you fit. No matter how messed up you may be, you fit here and you have a purpose in life.”
All of us fit. All of us have a purpose in life. All of us are given a room in Christ, equipped with a tool, measured and fitted just for us for use in the kingdom of God. It may be a golf club, it may be a garden, it may be a gift for poetry, or it may be a gift of working hands; no matter what the gift is, it has been fitted just for you so that you too can participate in the way, the truth, and the life.
There is no doubt that the apostle Stephen had the incredible tool of forgiveness. Though people had thrown him into a deep hole in the ground and were crushing his arms and ribs with huge boulders as if they were dead twigs, he still prayed these last words, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” He gave the gift of forgiveness even while he was being stoned to death. Can you imagine? This kid was definitely on Christ’s RV. He truly had a room in the way, the truth, and the life.
You are no different from him. You may think so, but you are not. You, along with everyone else in the faith, have an important room in the body of Christ. And this room, this way of life, truly is an incredible gift from God.
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