John 14:1-14

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

Jesus the Way to the Father

14 ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe^[a] in God, believe also in me. ² 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?^{[b] 3} And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to the place where I am going.’^{[c] 5} Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ ⁶ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you know me, you will know^[d] my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

⁸ Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ ⁹ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If in my name you ask me^[e] for anything, I will do it.

God’s house

Some time back I looked in detail at the theme of “God’s house (Greek oikos) in scripture. Readers can find this material at emmock.com/oikos.

In this passage the concept of God’s house is twofold:

1. God’s House is simply the readiness of God to allow human beings share the divine life. God’s life does not confine people as if they will be crammed into the one room; rather God’s love offers ample space for all: there are many rooms in this house.

2. God’s house is also God’s willingness to share the life of his son Jesus, and through him the lives of all who will open their doors to Him. Jesus is quite emphatic: there is no presence of the father other than in him and those who trust him. This is how God appears in the world.

This mutual indwelling of God and humanity is a vivid way of exploring the reality which theologians later expressed as, “God became human in Jesus in order that human beings should become divine.”

How does this passage affect me? Of course as a pastor I’ve known many people for whom the promise of the house with many rooms has been consoling. The way to God’s presence may be narrow, requiring discipline and sacrifice, but there is room for all at the end of it. Some, aware of the quirkiness of loved ones who’ve died see in the image of many rooms a reassurance that God relishes the individuality of his children.

For myself,  the promise is not solely for life beyond physical death, but also for the life of God’s community on earth which welcomes all-comers in a generous spirit and tries to make sure that the poorest have an extra bedroom. God’s community is marked by the abundance which comes from sharing God’s good gifts, rather than the austerity which comes from the strong grabbing as much as they can for themselves. Yes for me, this image of God’s house with its many rooms, stands in blessed contrast to the miserable injustices of the coalition government in the UK, which are nevertheless, I think, supported by a majority of the population. 

Although God the landlord has an open door policy, he is a respectful visitor to the houses of others. God dwells in Jesus because Jesus welcomes his presence. God dwells in me if and when I welcome him. In Jesus he stands at the door and knocks. I don’t always let him in. Sometimes shame requires that he doesn’t see what a mess the place is in, or what lies behind some of the closed doors. At other times, meanness tells me that if I let him in, he’ll want to bring with him people I dislike or whose needs I’m unready to meet. Sometimes I wonder if I’ve ever really let him in. Still, he keeps knocking. In Sydney Carter’s Christmas song, people hear this knocking and shout back, “No we haven’t got a manger, / no we haven’t got a stable/ we are Christian men and women/ always willing never able.” That’s a bit hard on most Christian men and women, but accurate enough about me. In theory I want to welcome God and those he brings with him, but somehow the knock always comes when it’s inconvenient, when it’s my time off, when I really should concentrate on my own family. Maybe a bible blog’s a way of saying to God, “Can I just have you on your own? I can cope with that, but I don’t want anyone else.”

ARTOS=BREAD (In the original Greek of the Prayer of Jesus, Luke 11). Here it stands for the community of readers who are saying the prayer daily at the start of their day.

Father

may your name be kept holy

may your kingdom come.

Give us today the bread we need

and forgive us the wrongs we have done

as we forgive those who have wronged us.

And do not bring is into hard testing.

The first three lines of the prayer speak to the Father; the next four speak to the Spirit; while the whole is the prayer of God’s Son offered as a prayer of God’s children. It is a small map of the Christian Way