John 14: 1-12

Jesus said to his disciples. Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”

Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?”

Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”

Philip said, “Master, show us the Father; then we’ll be content.”

“You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.

“Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see – these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing.

Gospel Reflection

Look closely at this John text and you will notice something. You have words popping out at you like, “prepare,” “go,” “going,” “the way,” “going” again, “the way” again, “the way” a third time, “through me,” “believe,” and “do.” These words are in motion. These words are on the go. They are not words for the dead. They are words for the alive and moving. The rooms that Christ has prepared are anything but rooms in an eternal, stationary mansion in the clouds.

Jesus Christ has prepared a room for us alright; I’m not sure how cramped the rooms are, but I do know that each room is filled with tools for work in the kingdom of God. They are intended to be shared with another person here in this life who needs to hear a word of belonging, friendship, and hope from your mouth in the beautiful and non-threatening setting of the green. They are a tool of God’s grace.

All of us fit in somewhere. All of us have a purpose in life. All of us are given a room in Christ, equipped with a tool, measured and fitted just for us for use in the kingdom of God. It may be a golf club, it may be a garden, it may be a gift for poetry, or it may be a gift of working hands; no matter what the gift is, it has been fitted just for you so that you too can participate in the way, the truth, and the life.