When someone we love dies, or when we think about our own death, the questions come. Where do we go? Will we see them again? It is one of the biggest fears we carry.
Jesus talked about this with his closest friends on one of the saddest nights of their lives.
The last supper
It was the night before Jesus was arrested. He was eating dinner with his twelve closest followers. He had just washed their feet. And he told them he was going away, and that they could not come with him yet.
They were scared. They did not understand. Peter, a fisherman who was one of his closest friends, asked where he was going. Thomas, another of the twelve, said they did not even know the way.
What he told them
The Gospel of John, one of the four accounts of Jesus's life, records what Jesus said to calm them. He started with, "Let not your heart be troubled."
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
John 14:2 · King James VersionThe original Greek
ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ πατρός μου μοναὶ πολλαί εἰσιν· εἰ δὲ μή, εἶπον ἂν ὑμῖν ὅτι πορεύομαι ἑτοιμάσαι τόπον ὑμῖν·
Found in Papyrus 66 (about AD 200), Papyrus 75 (about AD 200), Codex Vaticanus (about AD 325), Codex Sinaiticus (about AD 350).
The Greek word the King James Version translates "mansions" means rooms, or places to stay. In 1611, "mansion" meant a place to live, not a big house.
The old word "mansions" does not mean big houses. In the Greek it means rooms, or places to stay. Jesus was saying his Father's house is big enough for everyone. There is room.
And he added something very personal. He said if it were not true, he would have told them. He was not giving them a nice story to feel better. He was promising.
Then he said he would come back and take them to be with him.
What it means for you
Jesus did not describe gold streets or harps. He described a home, with a room ready, and a friend waiting.
If you are grieving someone, or afraid of dying, you are allowed to hold on to these words. They were said to scared people at a dinner table, the night before the hardest day of their lives. They were meant for people like you. There is a place, and there is room.