Jesus’s words in John 14 (today’s lectionary reading from the gospel) are one of the most commonly used texts in funerals for Christians.
“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? 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,” John 14:2-3.
We use this text at funerals because we understand the place that Jesus was going to prepare for us was a place in heaven. We read the text as though Jesus was talking about heaven.
But what if Jesus was not talking about heaven in this text?
The word “heaven” is not used either in these specific verses or in the larger context in which they are found (John 14 – 16). The images generally associated with heaven (based on Revelation 21 – 22) are not used in the passage.
In the larger passage, Jesus taught his disciples that he was going away — a reference to his death, resurrection, and ascension back into heaven. He was seeking to prepare them for life in his physical absence. As he taught them about his “going away,” Jesus spoke of the coming of the Spirit. (The Spirit is the dominant theme of John 14 – 16.)
Although he was leaving them, Jesus was not abandoning them (John 14:18). The Father would send the Spirit to live in them and among them (John 14:17; 16:7). Just as Jesus had walked with them, so the Spirit would walk with them by dwelling in them. The term Jesus used to speak of the Spirit captures the idea of one walking with them to help them. Jesus spoke of the Spirit as “one called alongside” (John 14:16). This term has been variously translated as Advocate, Helper (NRSV alternate reading), Counselor, and Comforter. Unlike Jesus who was leaving them, the Spirit would be with them forever (John 14:16). The Spirit would continue to do what Jesus had done. Just as Jesus had revealed the Father to them (John 14:7, 9) and taught them the ways of God, so the Spirit — whom Jesus called the Spirit of truth (John 14:17) — would teach them, building on what Jesus had taught (John 14:26). The Spirit would lead them into even greater truth (John 16:12-15). In addition, the Spirit would empower them to do the things Jesus had done and to do even greater things (John 14:12). The Spirit would be like Jesus, doing what he had done and more. The Spirit would be the Spirit of Jesus, the Risen Christ, in their lives and in their midst. Thus, his going away was to their advantage (John 16:7b).
But what about the place Jesus was going to prepare for us? Where is it? What is it?
The text gives us hints. The place Jesus prepared for us is the place where Jesus is. “So that where I am, there you may be also,” (John 14:3. Where did Jesus go? Jesus went back to the Father (a recurring theme in the gospel of John). Thus, the place Jesus prepared for us is a place with the Father, i.e., a personal relationship with the Father. In Jesus, we are a part of God’s family, i.e., the children of God.
The imagery of many dwelling places in my Father’s house (literally, “many rooms,” John 14:2) reinforces this understanding. The world in which Jesus lived was a patriarchal society. The father was the head of the family, including the larger, extended family. When a son married, a new room was added to the father’s house for the new couple. A room was added for every child and grandchild who married and lived under the father’s protection and care. All of the resources of the father were available to those who were a part of his family. Thus, the meaning of Jesus’s imagery was that he was preparing a place for us in Father's family. The place he prepared was a place in relationship with God as Father.
The Spirit is the means by which we experience this relationship, including all that the Father has for us. Through the indwelling Spirit, Jesus and the Father live in us, John 14:23b. We live out this relationship by abiding in Christ, John 15. We abide in Christ and Christ abides in us – mutual abiding. “Abide in me as I abide in you,” John 15:4.
Jesus used the metaphor of a vine and its branches to speak of this abiding, John 15:1, 5. As long as the branch is connected to the vine, the life of the vine flows in and through the branch to produce fruit. In the same way, the life of Jesus flows in us and through us as we stay connected to him. We stay connected to Jesus and the Father through the Spirit who lives in us. This Spirit-based abiding empowers us to bear much fruit. The biblical writer described this fruit as asking and receiving in prayer, living the ways of God Jesus taught (my commandments), experiencing joy that flows from the depths of one’s being, and loving as Jesus loved (John 15:7 – 12).
Jesus spoke of going away. He also spoke of coming again. “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,” John 14:3. His words are commonly understood as a reference to his second coming. The larger context guides us to a different understanding. Jesus came again in the person of the Spirit. In the Spirit, we experience the presence of the Risen Christ. The relationship we have with the Father, the life we have in Christ are ours through the Indwelling Spirit. Through the Spirit, we experience God’s quality of life as our own – here, now. God’s life, as revealed in Jesus, is a life of self-giving, servant love. This life of self-giving love is what the gospel refers to as eternal life. We don’t have to wait until we die to experience it.
Relationship with God, here and now, in which we experience God’s life in us and flowing through us through the Indwelling Spirit – that’s the place Jesus went to prepare for us.
But what about heaven?! Heaven – heaven is the word we use to refer to the place where Jesus and the Father live . . . which just happens to be in us through the Indwelling Spirit. “We will come to them and make our home with them,” John 14:23b.
Looks like we might need
to rethink our understanding of heaven.
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