John 14: 1-14
Offered to the Community Presbyterian Church of Chester NJ, May 3, 2026
Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder, PCUSA
In these center chapters of John’s Gospel, John is recounting the discourses in which Jesus had spent much time trying to prepare his disciples for what was coming. And what was coming was going to take them on the roller coaster ride of a lifetime. There would be some highs [his triumphant entry into Jerusalem], some abysmal lows [his arrest and crucifixion], and then another high – [his resurrection and his conquering of sin’s death grip on humanity]. The lows of their hiding in fear in that lock room. Then finally, after all of this, the ultimate high – his ascension to the Father. This was the roller-coaster ride they would be experiencing during the next several weeks.
But what all of these long discourses are leading up to– in a nutshell – what Jesus was telling them was that he would be leaving them.
Of his crucifixion, he told them, “Where I am going, they could not go with him.”
This of course throws them into a tizzy. They are frightened and afraid. What do you mean we can’t go with you? What he was telling them meant that the world they thought they were living in was about to collapse into chaos. Can you imagine their shock and then the utter fear that befell them? The authorities were already searching for Jesus. They wanted to kill him. If Jesus leaves, then what about us. Won’t the authorities come hunting for us, next?
Then in the face of their fear and their angsts, Jesus tells them, “Don’t let your hearts be distressed.” He tells them, “I am going to the Father and when I go to the Father – I will prepare a place for you and then later I will return to take you to myself.”
Now we have probably heard these verses preached on in sermons hundreds of times. You know the message. Buck up guys. Take courage. “Believe in God and believe in me.” …and all will be fine. It’s a message that is spoken to us so that we can take courage and buck up when we are challenged in our own lives with the perils of the dark valleys that beset us. And that’s all well and good. We should believe in God and take courage in the faith that God will never abandon us.
But I tell you what. That is not the phrase that jumped out at me when I was preparing for today’s message. What jumped out at me was the second half of verse two. Let me read it for you again,
“If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” The Contemporary English Version translates it as, “I wouldn’t tell you this if it were not true.”
In other words, I wouldn’t tell you that there is room for you in my Father’s house and that I am going to prepare a way for you, IF IT WERE NOT TRUE!
“What I tell you is the Truth.” These words jump out at me because they speak I think to the very essence of who Jesus was and who he is.
He said as much when he answered Thomas’ plea to know the way. Jesus told him, “I am the Way, I am the Truth, and I am the Life. Jesus is Truth. And that is what jumped out at me when I read, “I wouldn’t tell you this if it were not true.” Jesus speaks Truth. Jesus is Truth.
This is where the honesty of Jesus becomes the rock upon which we stand as Christians. Let’s examine both sides of that rock.
No one could ever claim that by following Jesus they received promises under false pretenses.
Bible scholar William Barclay points out that Jesus bluntly told his followers that following him would mean leaving friends and family behind and denying all comforts for the sake of loving him. Luke 9: 58, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to call his own.”
In other words, these simple creatures have a home where they can find safety ad rest. But he and his followers will not often be able to find those comforts.
He told them of the persecution and hatred that they would have to bear. In Matthew 10: 16, Jesus tells his disciples, “I am sending you like lambs into a pack of wolves.”
Again, in Matthew 16: 24-25, Jesus says, “If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross and follow me. If you want to save your life, you must destroy it. But if you give up your life [that is your sin filled life] for me, you will find life.” We will find life because our spirits will be joined with his Spirit.
All of this attests to Jesus’ brutal honesty. He never told any of his disciples it would be easy. He told Peter, he would deny him – three times – that in a time of peril, he would deny him for his own safety’s sake. Peter then would suffer the agony and shame of his failure.
No nothing about being a follower of Christ was going to be easy. We have Jesus’ word on that. And we can believe that it is true because we have the history of the church that bears out what happens to each of the disciples.
Philip is the first to be killed by being stoned by Saul outside the city of Jerusalem. Matthew was killed by sword in Ethiopia. Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria by horses. Luke [though he was not an original disciple] was hanged in Greece due to his fervent preaching of the Gospel. Peter was hung on a cross-upside-down in Rome. James, the son of Zebedee, was beheaded in Jerusalem. Andrew was crucified on a cross. And Thomas whose mission took him to India was stabbed with a spear. Paul [who was the man Saul who stoned Philip] was beheaded by Nero in Rome for his constant preaching. There are countless other martyrs in our church history whose sacrifices were no less severe. And I am not going to minimize any of our own struggles and blowback in the work place, or with family and neighbors when we try to live out our faith.
Now this is my point, and I think it is the point that John is trying to make in his Gospel. If Jesus was truthful about how difficult following him would be, then He must certainly be telling us the truth about going to his father’s house to prepare a room for us.
And that is the truth that jumps out at me from today’s lectionary. Jesus is telling us the truth when we hear him say, He is going to the Father’s house to prepare a room for each of us. That is a truth for us to latch onto no less valid than his warnings he gave us about how difficult it would be to be one of his followers.
Now, Jesus and John don’t go into great detail about what the Father’s house would look like, what size our rooms may be, or what the style of architecture the house would be. Or, what this multiplicity of rooms means.
And that lack of detail has opened the door to many differing theories of what it could mean. And I have to be honest with you, most of them, don’t land on solid ground for me. I mean, I think the explanations become too much of a stretch for me to buy into.
The Jews who believed in resurrection, thought that there were different grades of blessedness in heaven which would be given to people according to their goodness and fidelity on earth. In other words, if you led a pure and righteous life, your accommodation in heaven might be quite luxurious. But if you led just an OK life, failing most of the time and being good only part of the time, then your room might be much smaller with fewer perks. Perhaps we can expect something in between the two. I don’t know. This vision of the afterlife doesn’t resonate with me.
Clement of Alexandria said something similar. He said there were degrees of glory and rewards and stages that a person achieved in proportion to their holiness in this life. This says pretty much the same as the Jews did. Both ideas of the afterlife were based upon the notion that our good works would impact what our heavenly experience would be like. But all that flies in the face of God’s gracious mercies which are poured out on all of us indiscriminately by the Father.
Now one of the words used in translations of this passage is the Greek word “monai” which translates to stages along the way. And what it means here is that after death, our souls continue to progress through stages in heaven. Our souls continue learning and getting ever closer to God by progressing through higher and higher levels of holiness until we reach the final stage of being one with God in heaven.
Again, William Barclay characterizes it this way. “There is something attractive in the idea of a development which goes on even in heavenly places.” And that is a nice thought. That even as we have ascended to a nearness to the Father, our souls continue to learn, continue to grow, continue to have the Holy Spirit reveal more about God to us. Barclay continues, “it suggests that even in heaven we would need to be purified and helped onward to face even greater glory.”
I guess that is a nice way of thinking about heaven. But still I hesitate and point out that it wasn’t something Jesus ever said or suggested. All of these explanations of what we may want heaven to be like are borne out of our need to define God. And I don’t really think that we should be in the business of trying to define God. I think we should allow Jesus to reveal God for us.
Here, I think the simpler meaning is more lovely. It is this. That there are many abiding places in the Father’s house because in God’s heaven there is room for all. That is the notion that appeals more so to me. That God’s heart is wide enough, big enough, expansive enough to accommodate every soul that turns to God’s Truth for the Light on their path.
And Jesus tells us that “I will welcome you to myself so that where I am, you will be also.” Isn’t that enough?
My friends, these are the Truths that you can believe and cling to.
That the Father’s love for you is gracious beyond any measure. There is nothing that you can do to earn it. No good work that you can do can make you grow in esteem or righteousness before the Father.
Now this is NOT to say that good works are not an important part of Christian life. If we use Jesus’ life as an example [and that is what we are called to do]; if we live the life of the servant who washes the feet of his friends; if we live the life of the Good Samaritan who bends down to aide his neighbor in need; if we live the life of the loving Son who submits totally to the Father’s will because the love the Son has for the Father goes beyond a love of life itself – then good works would come naturally flowing out of the love Jesus calls us to share for one another.
For Jesus has given us the commandment that we “…Love one another. Just as he loves us, we should love each other.Our love for one another will prove to the world that we are his disciples.”
In other words, the love we share with one another will shine out to the world and would be evidenced by our works. But those works, no matter how numerous, will not buy us a more luxurious room in the Father’s house. And we shouldn’t be doing them to earn a greater reward. We should just let them happen.
Jesus tells us the truth when he tells us the Father pours out God’s mercy upon you simply because the Father loves you. As the Psalmist has suggested, “…This is how the gates to the Kingdom are opened so that the righteous may enter in.”
