John 26 In My Fathers House
John 26
IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE
John 13:33-38
33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. 36 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. 37 Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. 38 Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.
John 14:1-7
“1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 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. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.”
Bad News for the Disciples
Jesus just gave His disciples some troubling news: He is going away, they cannot follow, and they are not quite as faithful as they think they were (John 13:36-38).
Peter argues. He believes he's willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice for Jesus. He believes he would lay down his life for his Lord. And you know what? We believe him. We believe Peter would willingly die for Jesus, provided it happened on his own terms.
It's not too long before Peter whips out a sword to take on an entire band of Roman soldiers (possibly a cohort [600 soldiers] or a maniple [200 soldiers]) and Jewish police (John 18:3-11).
Peter was willing to gloriously die fighting in a battle he could never win, unless the Messiah intervened, which I'm sure he was hoping would happen. There is a major difference between losing a fight and willingly, lovingly, giving up your life for somebody else.
When the fight doesn't happen, Peter's faithfulness plummets. Rather than faithfully following Jesus to death, Peter denies Him three times. And Jesus knew it would happen.
We imagine those words were hard to hear. We imagine the mood in the room was tense and uncomfortable. Jesus had just washed their feet but ended that demonstration by saying one of them would betray Him.
He had commanded them to love one another but then predicted they would abandon and deny Him. Chapter 14 begins with Jesus changing the whole tone of the discussion. He knows just the thing that should cure their troubled hearts.
Faith and a Troubled Heart
"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me" (John 14:1). The word "believe" (pisteuete) is repeated twice in this verse, but it presents an interesting dilemma for the translator. It can either be a 2nd person imperative or 2nd person indicative.
It's written the exact same either way and usually, context is what tells you how to translate it. However, the context here isn't quite so clear.
For the latter usage, it's clearly a command to believe in Jesus, but the first usage could go either way. This could be an indicative statement: "You believe in God," or it could be an imperative command: "Believe in God!" Most translations seem to go with a double command: "Believe in God, believe also in Me," and then they add a footnote at the bottom of the page for clarification.
We think we will actually prefer to translate it, "You believe in God; believe also in Me." As one statement and one command. In the way they already believe in God, now it's time to fully believe in and trust Jesus. Trust Him as you trust God.
In just a few verses, He's going to boldly state, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). If you're going to trust the Father, you better trust Jesus also.
Regardless of which way you translate that phrase, you're also left with the dilemma of the "troubled heart."
Jesus Himself has already been battling a troubled heart in this story. It actually becomes a major theme in this farewell discourse.
At the death of Lazarus, Jesus was "deeply moved in spirit and troubled" (John 11:33). Upon the realization His hour had come, He lamented, "Now My soul has become troubled" (John 12:27). When facing the reality one of those closest to Him would actually betray Him, "He became troubled in spirit" (John 13:21).
In spite of this (or possibly because of this) He implores His disciples twice, "Do not let your heart be troubled" (John 14:1, 27). The reality is a troubled heart is the natural response to the events that are brewing. The Lord is going to be rejected, betrayed, denied, mocked, beaten, tortured, and crucified. The disciples will lose faith. Jesus will suffer. Darkness will take over. Your heart should be troubled a little bit.
These words of Jesus don't have the desired impact, as He soon admits, "sorrow has filled your hearts" (John 16:6). This sorrow He promises will be short-lived: "You too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you" (John 16:22).
My Father's House
Jesus is going away. He will not be with the disciples much longer. They need to believe. They need to have faith. They need to trust. He is not abandoning them. He's actually going to prepare a place for them. They will be together again.
"In the house of My Father there are many rooms; and if not, 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 receive you to Myself, in order that where I Myself Am, there you may be also" (John 14:2-3). This is a beautiful passage that combines several images into a vivid collage of God's plans for us.
Image #1: God's Mansion. The King James Version has done modern readers no favors with the translation, "In my Father's house are many mansions." Things are further complicated by songs like "Mansion Over the Hilltop" and "Mansion, Robe and Crown." Here's the bad news. This passage doesn't promise you a mansion. Really, it doesn't even make sense to have mansions inside of a house anyway. What this passage is promising, and it is way better, is we get a place inside God's mansion. Rather than my own mansion down the road from God, I actually get a room in God's mansion. And it's prepared by Jesus. Let not your heart be troubled.
Image #2: Temple. The word we translated above as "room" is only used twice in the New Testament. One time is right here when we get a room in God's house. The other time is just a little later in this same lesson where Jesus says, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him" (John 14:23). God makes His abode with us (John 14:27) and gives us an abode with Him (John 14:2-3).
This abode/room is in "God's house." Read the Old Testament. Read the Gospels. What place is almost singularly referred to as God's house? It's the temple. The temple on earth will not last. Jesus already demonstrated its destruction in John 2. However, God still has a house, and rather than being barred and distanced from the holiness inside the temple, we are invited and welcomed into it. There is a place prepared just for us. Just as God abides with us, we get to abide with Him in His Holy temple. Let not your heart be troubled.
Image #3: Marriage and Family. In Jewish families, the house and the property were usually passed on from generation to generation. Rather than a child turning eighteen and moving off to college and then out on their own somewhere far away, Jewish families usually stayed together, multiple generations under one roof together.
When the families arranged for their son to marry another family's daughter, she would leave her generational family home and join the family of her husband.
She would leave her father's house and be added to her husband's house. In order for this to happen, the son would need to prepare a place at his father's house for him and his new bride to live. So, during the betrothal, he would prepare this place for her to then move in and become part of the family.
Jesus is borrowing this beautiful image and applying it to His followers. He is preparing our room in His Father's house. We will become part of His family, now and forever. He has chosen us. Prepared a place for us. And lovingly accepted us as His own. Let not your heart be troubled.