A New Household
Prayers and Reflections from John 14:2-3
“In my Father’s house are many rooms. 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, that where I am you may be also.”
John 14:2-3
Breath Prayer: When you forget where you are
INHALE: Where I am
EXHALE: You are also
“…that where I am you may be also.”
If your a 90s Christian-radio-kid, upon reading this passage, there’s probably a chorus vibrating out of the forgotten caverns of your soul - “Come…and go with me…to my Father’s house…It’s a big, big house, with lots and lots of rooms…a big big table, with lots and lots of food…” Once I heard it, I have never unheard it.
But is this truly where Jesus is drawing his disciples’ attention? The big, big house? The big, big table? The big, big yard?
The good news of John 14:2-3 is not mainly what, where, or when, but who.
Being a distant audience of these words, we are quick to focus on the place Jesus is preparing. While the place is surely ancitipation-worthy, the place alone is not the main point of Jesus’ words.
This is not a promise for a new house as much as it is a promise for a new household.
What we’re seeing is not a realtor striking a deal for this strange family to live in, but rather, a groom making a promise to a bride to fulfill his betrothal. In ancient Jewish wedding tradition, dwelling preparations were an essential responsibility for the groom. Additions would be added to the father of the groom’s house, and the groom would design a space for himself, his bride, and future children. They would join in the dwelling of the groom’s family, expanding what has already been established.
Hence, …in my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
The bride would be welcomed into a new household, not just a new house. They would become a member of this household, not just a decorative piece for their living space.
Contextually, Jesus is not only promising an abode to live in, but he’s promising an abiding love - union with himself - oneness in marriage. Jesus is affectively saying, “What is mine will be yours; and even more so, I will be yours.”
…I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also.
These verses are ultimately about union, or how Dillard Willard calls it - the with-God life. Willard considers this withness the unifying factor of the entire canon of scripture, and here we see Jesus hone in on it. The true comfort of the household is not found in the gifts the household has to offer the new bride, though the amenities of a living space are surely worth anticipating, but the true comfort is in the name she will bear - who she is found to be with.
Every heart is designed for this withness.
This is a re-integration of what has been crumbling since the Fall’s disintegration. Millennia of wandering in and out of the Father’s house ends here; for if you are with him, there is no need. Jesus’ preparation is meant to fill the audience with anticipation of full union - there is no greater gift.
Jesus longs to be with us - to participate in this household of love together - to not decorate his house with us, but rather, join with us as his bride in growing and expanding his Father’s home.
May our hearts not be troubled; the household that guides our belief is eternally loving and self-giving - stronger than any earthly household - unshaken. May our lives be devoted to the law of love that defines the members therein.
A Prayer of Persons Prepared and Promised
Preparer of places promised, We admit We’ve had no place for you Or at least, We’ve often misplaced you In the margins of our attention Pushed Discarded Overshadowed By culturally accepted idols That ask for little Promise everything And eventually Take everything Give nothing Lord, have mercy on us. We are quick to be with Everyone And anyone Everything And anything Besides you. We confuse Love of gifts For love of you And discover ourselves Stressed Worried Anxious When the gifts seemingly Run out. Lord, have mercy on us. You Never Run out On Us. So Forgive us our sins And Quicken our hearts to relax into your goodness To let Your love bear The weight of My crumbling Plans To let Your presence air out The wounds of our Own making And Bind up those From others that Keep bleeding Out To let Your words soothe Deaf ears Blind eyes Mute tongues To let Your scars Brush past Our own Without a judgement But a welcome Lord, have mercy on us To be persons Prepared And Promised For households Of love Forever Amen.
Personal Prayer Prompts:
What troubles your heart in this moment?
Name it before God.
Let it sit in the stillness of his presence.
Look.
Listen.
Frank Laubach said that a mystic is someone who believes that when you talk to God, he talks back.
As you sit before him with all that is troubling, what do you sense him saying? Write it down and pray upon his words.
Meditate on these words: I will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Consider: Where are you now? What shame, anxiety, or insecurity has left you wandering in a far off country? Where are you digging your heels in the ground or grasping with white knuckles onto a life that may be apart from the Father’s will?
Pray: Relax your feet flat on the floor.
Open your hands, palms facing up.
Ronald Rolheiser says prayer is relaxing into God’s goodness.
Offer yourself to God; name and release what you’re holding onto or what you feel is holding onto you.
Relax your body into his goodness with a few deep breaths. If needed, use the breath prayer above.
Wait and listen.
Rest in knowing that silence is not absence, but often where intimacy is grown. Imagine Christ sitting with you; what is the look on his face?
If he speaks, what does he say?
How does he receive what you’ve named?
Allow these images to direct your prayer.