John 14:1-5: a reflection

As Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure, he speaks words meant to steady their troubled hearts with a promise about where he is going and what he will do. Don't let your heart be troubled, he says. In my Father's house are many homes. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to myself, that where I am, you may be there also. Jesus is not leaving them to be lost or forgotten; he is going ahead to prepare a place for them, and he will come again to bring them to himself, so that they will be where he is. This is a threefold comfort: he goes to prepare a place for us, he will come again for us, and he will bring us to be with him. Christ has gone to prepare a place for his people, and will come to receive them to himself. Our future is not uncertain or forgotten; Christ has prepared a place and will come to bring us there. He goes ahead for us, and returns to receive us.

Notice the comfort Jesus gives against troubled hearts: he is preparing a place and will come to bring them to it. He does not merely tell his disciples not to be troubled; he gives them reasons. In his Father's house are many rooms; he goes to prepare a place for them; and he will come again to receive them to himself, so that they will be where he is. This is a rich and definite hope: not a vague reassurance, but the promise that Christ himself has gone ahead to prepare a place for his people, and will return to bring them to it, to be with him. Our future with Christ is not left uncertain; he has prepared a place, and will come to receive us. The heart need not be troubled about what lies ahead, for Christ has gone to prepare a place, and will come again for his own. This is the ground of a settled hope: not that we have prepared our own way, but that Christ has prepared a place for us and will bring us there himself. Christ prepares the place and comes to bring us; our hope rests on him. The troubled heart is steadied by what Christ has gone to do.

That is worth resting in, for Christ has gone to prepare a place for his people and will come to receive them to himself. We can let our hearts be troubled about what lies ahead, uncertain of our future; but Jesus tells his disciples not to be troubled, because he goes to prepare a place for them and will come again to bring them to himself, to be where he is. Our future with Christ is not uncertain or forgotten; he has prepared a place and will come for us. When your heart is troubled about what lies ahead, remember that Christ has gone to prepare a place for you and will come to receive you to himself. Let your troubled heart rest in the promise that Christ has gone to prepare a place for his people and will come again to receive them to himself, so that where he is, they may be also, as he told his disciples not to let their hearts be troubled because he goes to prepare a place for them; for our future with Christ is not left uncertain or forgotten, but he himself has gone ahead to prepare a place for his people and will return to bring them to it, to be with him, so that the troubled heart is steadied not by anything we have done but by what Christ has gone to prepare and will come to complete.