I don’t know if you remember the moment at the end of the first wedding in Four Weddings and a Funeral when the jolly nice Tom invites everyone back to his house: The motley crew of well to dos whom we assume know each other from university days, all bundle into the land rover, unsure of how they will all fit into Tom’s parents house. Until, that is, they pull into the drive and realise that Tom’s father is landed gentry.
I am reminded of that brief moment from the film as I read through this Sunday’s passage from the Gospel of John in which Jesus speaks of his death, but tells his disciples not to trouble their hearts because he has gone to prepare a room for them in his Father’s house. Read the gospel passage here.
The disciples are troubled: Thomas doesn’t know the way, and Philip doesn’t know the Father. Jesus tells them that he is the way, and that he and his Father are one – so that answers that then, except these answers seem to have posed more questions and quandaries than resolutions over the years to follow.
These questions are core to our Christian faith – Jesus is the only way to heaven. It seems such an arrogant thing to say – what of the many other people of faith who have lovingly served other Gods, do they not deserve a place in the afterlife? surely all roads lead to Rome? Maybe there is a place in an afterlife for everyone, but Jesus is the only deity who has claimed to prepare the route ahead of us, the only one to have laid down his life in order to beat that path through death and out the other side. Jesus, is the only one qualified to be our guide on that journey when our time comes.
However, Jesus’ own death is not the only qualification, it is his identity as the Son of God which enables him to offer this invitation to come and stay at his place; but this provokes more questions – how can one house or even mansion, expand to be big enough for a population that keeps growing to fit. Of course the simple answer is that God is omnipotent, God can do anything he wants, for a deity who has created the entire universe, creating a home big enough to keep adding one more isn’t a problem. And it may not have been a problem for those early disciples either.
It is our modern, western culture which sees ‘home’ as being a single building with a limited number of rooms, just enough to house 2.4 children, a cat and a dog. In other cultures ‘home’ expands to fit the generations, and marriage means moving into the home of your husband’s parents. I remember in Jordan seeing houses which looked ‘unfinished’ – structural metal spikes pointed to the heavens, high over the flat roof of the dwelling. Our guide told us that a house was never finished, if an adult child married, another layer would be built to provide room for the next generation.
Homes were intended to expand, to grow to fit a growing family – culturally this made sense. Perhaps too, it made sense that God the Father was known by knowing his Son, after all, throughout the Bible, disciples and others are described as being ‘the son of …’ Family reputations were a key part of the individual’s identity. Jesus could not be recognised as a teacher or prophet in his home town because he was too well known as the carpenter’s son.
In my final year at Theological College, a new Archbishop was selected. It was an exciting time, all the more so because one of the bishops being considered was married to one of our tutors. We found ourselves in a privileged position because we knew her. She and I and all the other faculty and students were part of a college ‘family’, we had connections with each other and a shared identity. When she left college ahead of his consecration, he joined his wife, and we were able to sit at his feet, to ask questions, to pray for him and his family. In her parting words, we were told that should we ever be in London, we were to knock on the door, name the college and we would be warmly welcomed in for afternoon tea. A friend of mine did indeed find himself in Lambeth, and warmly welcomed.
Peter sheds a different light on the housing issue: in his letter to the exiles he reminds them that they are to be ‘living stones’ to be built into a spiritual house. (Read it here). Perhaps the ‘way’ that Jesus was trying to show his disciples and us too, is a way of life here and now, and not only a house in ‘heaven’. God’s promise has always been that he will re-create heaven and earth, and those who are faithful will find themselves at home in this new, perfect recreation of the world, a world with an absence of sin and sorrow and suffering, because Jesus has dealt with all those on the cross; but perhaps we are to be the bricks and mortar of God’s perfect kingdom? Perhaps the building work is not something the happen in the future in a different realm, but in the here and now? Perhaps we are the welcome home for those who feel unloved and unwelcome, perhaps we are the safe haven for the broken and downtrodden, perhaps we are the place of celebration and hope and looking to the future? But this requires us to be active now, to be at work, and not to sit back and wait until Jesus escorts us to the pearly gates. This is harder, much harder. This will take time and energy and sacrifices in our lifestyles.
Today, we also remember Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who literally sacrificed everything to be true to his calling as a disciple of Jesus. As Stephen was condemned he had a vision of heaven, but those religious leaders covered their ears and drowned him out; instead of becoming living stones for Jesus, they picked up stones to throw at his disciple. Read Stephen’s story here.
We have a choice: as Christians who truly believe that Jesus is the way and the truth, we can build from our lives places of welcome to invite others into God’s presence, or we can arrogantly drive them out as heathens and philistines.
Something to watch:
Something to think about:
- What is the biggest house you have ever stayed in?
- Where have you been made to feel most welcome?
- How do you envision Jesus’ Father’s House?
- How do you feel about being a ‘living stone’ used to build the Father’s house?
- How can we make our churches and fellowship groups more like the Father’s?
Something to pray:
Lord Jesus Christ,
we believe you to be he way, the truth and the life, but our faith is flawed and our commitment weak, so that, all too easily and often, we go our own way, losing sight of truth and denying ourselves the fullness of life you offer:
Guide us now, as we worship, so that we might walk with you more closely, believe more truly, and live more faithfully, to the glory of God the Father. Amen
Nick Fawcett
nothinglikeadane 
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