I go to prepare a place for you. Prepare thus, Lord, what You are preparing; for You are preparing us for Yourself, and Yourself for us, inasmuch as You are preparing a place both for Yourself in us, and for us in You. “In my Father’s house are many mansions: …I go to prepare a place for you.” Very plainly, Jesus Christ is talking about heaven, and that in the ascension forty days after His resurrection from the dead He would go there in His glorified body. “His house” is where he lives. (It apparently has not troubled many Christians that “In my Father’s house are many mansions” is nonsensical as “mansion” is popularly understood.) There is room for many to be there. For then is the place preparing, if it is by faith we are living. 14:2] is not a referenceto the salvation of our separated brothers and sisters. 4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. (John 14:2) In today’s gospel we read these words from the gospel of John. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you (verse 2). I am going away to prepare a place for you (HCSB). This question will be undertaken in the next article in this series!). Life can be very troublesome; and if not troublesome, then tedious. In this article, Nunnally examines what Jesus was saying to his disciples about accommodations in heaven during the Last Supper. Thankfully, there are many mansions for many people, and the Lord Jesus has prepared a way for us to be a part of that eternal dwelling place. One thing is for certain, that when Christians literally walk where Jesus walked and experience God’s Word with historical context in place, the message of Scripture becomes instantly clearer to them — “faith becomes sight” — with a profound and often life-changing impact. (Postscript: If Jesus used the insula-style home as a visual aid/word-picture in one of His most important teachings on heaven, is it possible that it provides the key to better understanding many of His other words and deeds? John 14: "In My Father's House Are Many Mansions. In this respect, it served as the ideal picture of heaven that Jesus sought to convey — an ongoing (eternal) “Walton’s Mountain” or your-favorite-family-reunion-ever kind of feel. One community would say to the other: “Our way of living the faith is better than yours. For the temple of God is holy, which you are (1 Corinthians 3:17). 3. It represented the close-knit, supportive, loving, extended families that ate, worked, played, and worshiped together. /en/features/what-did-jesus-mean-by-many-mansions, Dr. It was second-nature for Him to hearken back to the carpenter’s shop and contrast a “fleck of sawdust” with a “roof-rafter” (Matt. We “see” that Jesus was an incredible communicator Who clarified for us that heaven is an intact, nurturing, loving, joyous, supportive family living together in the presence of its head, our loving Father. I go to prepare a place for you." Wave Nunnally, professor of Early Judaism and Christian Origins at Evangel University. Many abiding places or homes. And we also are called find our home in God. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If it were not so, I would have told you. “In my Father’s House, there are many rooms” [Jn. The word for dwelling is also translated as abode. I am going to prepare a place for you. heaven, St. Augustine of Hippo, Stephen Beale is a freelance writer based in Providence, Rhode Island. Catholic Exchange is a project of Sophia Institute Press. John 14:2. In the NASB it says, "In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year A In my Father's house are many homes. Paul conveys the same fundamental point using different language: “Your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). John 14:2 (KJV)-“In my Father’s house are many mansions [monē]: if it were not so, I would have told you. God comes to make His home in our hearts. In Jesus’ hometown of Capernaum, there were “[s]mall house-rooms (in insula fashion) surrounded large courtyards…” (p. 198). 2. Usually this verse is taken — correctly — as a reference to our destiny in heaven. It is normal for us to look for what lends meaning to our lives, and gives satisfaction. But there is a more mystical reading that sees the mansions as symbolizing the souls of the saints. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. "Mansions" translates from a word that means dwelling places. And, what’s more: through prayer and the sacraments, we begin to experience that heavenly dwelling in this life. Instead, the imperfection lies with those who remain on earth. But this explanation then raises another question, according to Augustine. The Greek word monai only appears here in John 14:2 and 23 in the New Testament (NT). Authorities have estimated that the home of Peter in Capernaum consisted of at least 15 rooms and could accommodate at least 100 people (Jerome Murphy-O’Connor. 1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. This column offers deep and sometimes surprising insight into the Word of God through close examination of the culture of the day, biblical sites, and archaeological records. The father lives in heaven, the Son, the Sun, knows the father, as he has a better view of things from up there. Dr. 4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. b. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 254). John 14:2 says in the King James Version, "In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. Usually this verse is taken — correctly — as a reference to our destiny in heaven. © 1995-2020 by The General Council of the Assemblies of God Even so, how would His hearers have understood a metaphor for heaven that suggested that within God’s house were situated thousands and thousands of individual “mansions”? English Revised Version (ERV) In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. The implications of this interpretation are exciting: the preparation of our heavenly dwelling is happening right now in front of our eyes. A native of Topsfield, Massachusetts, he graduated from Brown University in 2004 with a degree in classics and history. Then again, this is heaven we’re talking about. This column offers deep and sometimes surprising insight into the Word of God through close examination of the culture of the day, biblical sites, and archaeological records. “In my Father’s House, there are many mansions” [Jn. The kind of dwelling we are talking about here then is mutual. Jesus is saying there are many … In my Father's house are many mansions This he says to draw off their minds from an earthly kingdom to an heavenly one; to point out the place to them whither he was going, and to support them with the views and hopes of glory under all their troubles. “In my Father’s House, there are many mansions” [Jn. Prepare thus, Lord, what You are preparing; for You are preparing us for Yourself, and Yourself for us, inasmuch as You are preparing a place both for Yourself in us, and for us in You (Tractates on John). In My Fathers's House Are Many Mansions (John 14:2) – came out from Saint Julian Press in November 2018.The book is a collection of thoughts and sermons written by Robert P. Starbuck, M.Div., PhD, in his fifty plus years as a Christian clergy, and over forty years as a practicing psychotherapist. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. In this article, Nunnally examines what Jesus was saying to his disciples about accommodations in heaven during the Last Supper. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. If it weren't so, I would have told you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (MSG). The Holy Land: An Oxford Archeolological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700. Thankfully, we live in a time when archeology is more than 100 years old as a science, and thankfully, the land of Israel is the most intensely excavated country in the world. John 14: 2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. parables, I am going now to prepare a place for you, and after I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to take you with me; so that where I am you may be too. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if not, I would have told 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. Barnes' Notes on the Bible. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I'm on my way to get a room ready for you? 22:10] versus an oikos [normal private dwelling]), these words of Jesus should appear to us highly unusual. Let the believing in that place be desired, that the place desired may itself be possessed; the longing of love is the preparation of the mansion. One possible solution is that Jesus goes to ‘prepare’ in the same sense that someone might prepare a room for a guest — he or she puts new sheets on the bed, cleans the bathroom, and otherwise neatens and tidies up the place. For then is the place preparing, if it is by faith we are living. He welcomes tips, suggestions, and any other feedback at bealenews at gmail dot com. John 14:2 Context. (Incidentally, this resolves another puzzle of the verse: how there can be ‘mansions’ in a ‘house.’). A quick review of the way Jesus typically uses visual aids suggests very strongly that He does—but after 2000 years, discovering them is the challenge! As Acts declares, “In Him, we live, move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Apart from Jesus’ immediate context (celebrating the Last/Passover Supper with his disciples in an oikia [a palatial estate, Lk. I Go To Prepare A Place For You!" American King James Version ×. I go to prepare a place for you. "The word for "mansion" is μονή, monay. If there was no room for them in His Father’s house, He would have been honest and told them. They have been discovered in places like Samaria, Capernaum, Meiron, Arbel, in the Negev (David A. Fiensy’s “The Galilean House in the Late Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods” in David A. Fiensy; and James Riley Strange, Galilee in the Late Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods, Volume 1: Life, Culture, and Society. Also a master of subtlety, since family and home had become for Jesus a figure of heaven, could it be that He’s calling on us (or simply assuming of us) as His followers that our homes and families should just as easily be used as a picture of heaven as well? Does He perhaps have in mind the multi-leveled, many-roomed mansion where they were currently celebrating? A number of verses come to mind in which we are described as being the temple: Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? Jesus’ central meaning is this: There is plenty of room with God. Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5; here we revert back to the term, Let the Lord then go and prepare us a place; let Him go, that He may not be seen; and let Him remain concealed, that faith may be exercised. They were not to be homeless always. All rights reserved. And you know the way to the place where I … Heaven is not mentioned once in the whole chapter. John 14 contains one of Jesus’ great promises to us: In my Father’s house there are many mansions. All rights reserved. I go to prepare a place for you--to obtain for you a right to be there, and to possess your "place." if not, I would have told you--that is, I would tell you so at once; I would not deceive you. In some instances such as the insula at Chorazin, more than 150 people inhabited the same home. Used in this context, it simply means “[small] rooms,” and this is precisely the way the KJV translates the only other use of the term in v. 23. 2 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. As St. Augustine puts it, “But He is in a certain sense preparing the dwellings by preparing for them the dwellers.”. Is it really in such a state of imperfection? John 14:1-6. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (1 Corinthians 6:19). 2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. The answer, Augustine says, is that Jesus’ departure is a necessary precondition for our faith: Let the Lord then go and prepare us a place; let Him go, that He may not be seen; and let Him remain concealed, that faith may be exercised. We have updated our Privacy Policy to provide you a better online experience. One thing is for certain, that when Christians literally walk where Jesus walked and experience God’s Word with historical context in place, the message of Scripture becomes instantly clearer to them — “faith becomes sight” — with a profound and often life-changing impact. You haven’t even come close to addressing the question! In my Father's house are many mansions. It wasn’t fancy: it provided shelter for the common people of the day. Wave Nunnally, professor of Early Judaism and Christian Origins at Evangel University and instructor for the Assemblies of God Center for Holy Lands Studies (CHLS), assists in providing a regular CHLS column to PE News. First, we must recognize Jesus as a master teacher who was very skilled in the use of visual aids and word-pictures. But it was home! He continues, “Each nuclear family would have lived in a single room and shared the courtyard with other…families or perhaps with other kin. I am going now to prepare a place for you, I am going now to prepare a place for you, 3 and after I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to take you to myself, so that you may be with me where I am. Yet, there are MANY MANSIONS in His Father’s house. David Fiensy describes the floor-plan of such homes, “[They] consisted of central courtyards with rooms on all sides…..living rooms and other rooms…” (p. 221). Years ago, archeologists began to discover a very unique style of private dwelling that has come to be referred to simply as the “insula.” This style of home appears to have had its start in places like Rome, Pompeii, and Ostia, and it was soon adopted in Palestine in the Roman Period. He is a former news editor at GoLocalProv.com and was a correspondent for the New Hampshire Union Leader, where he covered the 2008 presidential primary. b. Best of Week, The meaning “abodes/dwelling places/rooms,” however, is abundantly attested from early Classical Greek literature on through the writings of the early Church Fathers after the NT. 7:3-4). If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 2 In my Father's house there are many places to live in; otherwise I would have told you. Jesus tells His disciples, “In my Father’s house are many ‘dwelling-places’” (14:2; “mansions” comes from the Latin translation--it is not in the original Greek text). “In my Father’s House, there are many rooms” [Jn. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. In my Father's house are many mansions--and so room for all, and a place for each. Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5; here we revert back to the term house for temple). , this is the word for `` mansion '' is μονή, monay hearts! 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