Welcome back.
Multiple times.
Good to see you over and over again.
And grateful to be back with you.
In the Gospel of John, we'll jump right in, because we kind of
have a rough start here, but we are in the 14th chapter.
Maybe a little preface before we start reading here.
This is,
among the best known sections, probably in John.
There are things that people would know from the Gospel of John, but
I think the passage that we're looking at today would be one of those
that people would claim as a beloved
passage, a favorite passage.
Part of that may be that it is relatively common in funeral services,
and we can talk about that more on the other side of reading it.
But that makes it probably
a passage that a lot of people have heard.
Let me jump in and read a couple of verses and then we'll talk a way through it.
So this is Jesus chapter 14.
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 there to prepare a place for you?
Let's just go ahead and stop there, Michael,
because I think there's enough for us to talk about this, opening line here.
Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Believe in God and believe also in me.
Again, I think this is a well known verse.
I think this is a beloved verse.
It's a verse of comfort.
Very few of us get through
our experience in life without our hearts been troubled at some point.
And so the idea of Jesus speaking to that discomfort,
speaking to our pain and our struggle and speaking past it,
in words that are meant to
heal and to, salve wounds.
I think this is just one of those phrases, Michael.
I think most people,
if they have much experience at all with Bible, they know this is there.
They may not know where it is.
I mean, they may not be able to say, oh, that's John 14 one,
but I often and I know you have the same experience, meet with families.
And this is one of the verses that kind of comes up.
And so I, I think
we don't want to just rush past this because I think this is a,
a very important moment, not only in the story,
as Jesus is literally saying these words to the disciples,
but for the way that disciples
after that have always heard and treasured these words.
I think this is a really wonderful verse.
There's a few parts of this.
I think they're really remarkable, and I think it is wise to slow down.
The first is remember that in John Jesus has had some
really sharp language.
Especially for the Jewish leaders.
And there's a way in which you could read this book.
I mean, Jesus starts off his ministry, going in and throwing over tables
and using a whip in a place where the temple is being misused.
And Jesus has a really strong presence in this book.
And I think one of the amazing parts of this story
is the way that John also portrays
Jesus as being a compassionate, empathetic,
a deeply affected human eye.
And, you know, goes back to that idea of Jesus even weeping at the presence
and in the midst of the loss of a friend and the grieving of loved ones.
And so here I think, that there is this beautiful
connective peace happening that that still resonates with us today.
Yes, it's universal that humanity continues to to this day
to have troubled hearts.
The water is restless and and yet
also this thing that Jesus promises then
and now that there there's something beyond the pale that we can see.
And I also want to point out, I have verse 37 and 38 listed up here.
I just want to provide context, because I think it's really helpful here
that Jesus says, don't let your heart be troubled.
Immediately after making an unbelievably troubling phrase
to Peter, his disciple, to say that you are going to deny me
three times before the morning rolls around.
And yet it's following that that Jesus is moving into this.
Do not let your hearts be troubled.
I think, Clint, that that's meaningful.
I think that there's a, an acceptance, a naming of the fact
that Jesus is both aware of our weaknesses.
In this case, he was speaking directly to the Rock, the that leader of the church.
But he's not just aware of them.
He's compassionate.
Jesus knows our fallenness, and Jesus has more than enough love to bridge the gap.
I think that's the beauty of the way that John is telling the story,
that it combines truth with grace.
And and I think that that is an intrinsic part of who Jesus, the Son of God, is.
He comes portraying something that is more real than what we could imagine.
And when he shines light on our falseness, there's still light there.
There's still hope there.
There's still the promise that there's a place that's being prepared.
There's there's still direction, even in broken hearts.
And I think that there's something deeply pastoral about the text, Clint,
which is intended, of course, but it still resonates with us today.
And I think that's why it's so well known.
Yeah.
And I think it's interesting here that the the text suggests that
the remedy for our hearts being troubled is belief.
And John very much likes to set these things apart from one another.
Faith and doubt,
trust and uncertainty.
And, and here we have that idea that when our hearts are troubled,
the way through that is to faith.
Put our faith, increase our faith
or lean on our faith in God and also in me.
And so I,
I'm not sure that this is,
a teaching text per
se, that, as you say, I think it probably leans more heavily
into the idea of pastoral care and compassion.
But there is a sense here that Jesus is laying out a pathway for us.
Do not let your hearts be troubled by
believing in God and believing also in me.
And it is our faith that serves to protect our heart at some level
from the troubles that it might encounter.
And then we move on to this next,
this next verse in
my father's house, there are many dwelling places.
If it were not so, would I have told you that I go and prepare a place for you
and just push on here?
And if I go prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself.
That where I am, there you will also be.
And this is one of those verses
where I think the simple reading is best.
People have been fascinated by this verse for what it might be saying.
There's another one coming up.
It's just this idea that Jesus is saying there are.
There might be many rooms and people have, you know, speculated, what if that means
this group is over here?
Or what if that means, I think a better approach is to say,
what's the what's the simple explanation here?
And the simple explanation is that the house of God has enough room
for everyone.
There's many rooms, and it's a big place.
There is room for you, for all believers.
There is room for everyone.
And if that weren't the case, I would have.
I wouldn't have told you that it is the case.
So I'm going to prepare a place for you,
and I'll come again so that you'll be there with me.
And I think there's just a sense in Michael
in which this beautiful
sort of the way it's written
has led to moments where this beautiful and I and I think
rather simple point has gotten blurred by,
you know, speculating, which is fun to do,
but but I think rarely helps us get to the actual heart of the text.
Yeah, I may be over stretching the point here, Clint, but while it may be fun to
do, I think one should make an argument that it needs to be actively resisted.
Because I think when we give in to our inherent creaturely desire
to inquire as to the exact detail of what the afterlife is going to be a theme
which, by the way, I think we could argue the scriptures
in whole push against at pretty much every turn.
I think when we allow our imaginations to push us ahead towards, well, our
they mahogany rooms or are they what kind of cultural decoration?
When we allow ourselves to go down that road, I think we're actually
it's not just a harmless sort of meandering.
I actually think it does some damage
to our ability to understand what Jesus is saying here,
because and I want to look at this really closely together.
What he's talking about is leaving, right?
What he's saying is I'm going to be going away.
And any human who has had someone deeply meaningful,
someone who we love, leave us in any capacity, right?
Whether that just be that they're going on an extended trip or whether that be
that we have that horrible moment where relationships kiss, has a schism,
and then we lose that person or or death itself.
The loss of a person is such a huge moment in our life.
It's so painful. It drives deeply within us.
And here Jesus is saying, I am going to go.
And that's inherently a painful promise prediction for these disciples.
But yet we we should not miss.
It is for a purpose. What's the purpose?
Because God's grace and provision is expansive.
There are many rooms.
It is a large place.
It is not just for the 12.
It is for a multitude beyond
who Jesus is speaking to in that room that night.
Make no mistake, friends John is telling this gospel so that you two
might believe there's room for you, that this is it written into this text.
It it is just this beautiful combination
of both the recognition of loss, but the possibility of God's providence
and power of what Jesus is going
to make possible with this hard thing that that lies ahead.
And and I think when we get really tempted by
looking at
texts like this and trying to imagine the future, well, what we're missing
is that beautiful combination of what Jesus is
saying is true, combined with what is even more true.
And I think that we should not miss that.
Yeah, I agree 100%, Michael, and I think the danger of reading
something like this and trying to be, you know, semi literal with it,
as if Jesus is describing an actual house
and and teaching a lesson about who gets to be in each room.
You miss the point, right?
Because again, this is relatively straightforward.
If you stick with the text, Jesus is talking to the believers, the disciples.
He's saying you have hard times ahead.
Lean on your faith.
Put your faith in me, because when I'm not with you,
I'm going to prepare the place for you.
And that place has a place for you.
Now that's a beautiful message to them,
and it remains a beautiful message for everyone who comes after and reads it.
I'm coming to take you to myself
because the kingdom of God, the the,
the home of God, the house of God has room in it for each of you.
And I'm coming back
to take you to myself and bring you with myself to be in it.
And, that says enough.
We don't need we don't need to add layers and speculation that that is a beautiful
proclamation of the work of Jesus Christ and the grace of God
and the expansiveness of God's grace.
And I, I just
we do not need to add speculation on it.
There's no there's no reason for it.
Well, and this is
the it's not really a danger.
It's the wrong way to say it.
I think when we look at a text like this and we put it inside a worship context
that we're comfortable with, similar to like First Corinthians 13,
where we often hear that a wedding, a text can begin to mean something.
And if you've heard this text a lot at a funeral, you might begin to associate
with that context.
I just think it's really important to point out that this is flowing
out of Peter's question, why can I not follow you now?
And make no mistake about it, look at look to where we are now in verse four,
and you know the way to the place where I'm going,
and we'll have more conversation once we talk about Thomas and his response here.
But make no mistake about it, there's this story.
This teaching is about direction.
It's about following.
It's about the path. It's about the way forward.
And Jesus is saying, there's a house there right where I'm going.
The path that I'm taking.
You're going to know the way you're going to be on the path.
You're you're going to find it in the end.
And yet that's amidst the grief, that's amidst the valleys.
That's with the real struggles and the real doubts.
And the disciples are in it. They're human.
They have real struggles with their faith.
When Jesus says to them here
at the beginning of this text in verse one, believe in God and believe in me.
Have faith in God. Have faith in me.
When Jesus is saying that, he's not saying that, just
to say he's saying it because he knows that needs to be heard
and I think that's the amazing gift of a text like this, is
that Jesus is both empowering the disciples by saying, no, don't worry.
Don't let it keep you up at night.
That you will be one of those who will find the way to the house.
On the other hand, Jesus knows they can't do it by themselves, that he knows
that there is real limitations and and the truth that you and I know is that
Jesus is the answer for those limitations that Jesus is doing for these disciples,
what is necessary so that they will follow the way.
And that's the real amazing gift of a text like this, is that Jesus both shows
the weakness of the humanity of those that are following him,
while simultaneously being the
the one who makes the end for those people.
And that's who Jesus says.
That's who the Son of God is in the Gospel of John.
And I think it's a beautiful way portraying it. It's wonderful.
And it's great news for all of us that there is enough room in the kingdom.
There is a spot for each of us as we lean into our belief and follow Christ.
We're going to see where that takes Jesus and what it says to us tomorrow.
Kind of a short session today as we knock the dust off
after being gone for a week or so, but hope you can join us tomorrow.
This culminates in another, beautiful and I think, well known verse.
And, we'd love to share it with you if you can join us.
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