Jesus shares with the disciples in John 14:2 “In my Father’s House there are many rooms, if it were not so I would have told you.” I can only imagine what they were feeling at this time as he shared he was leaving them. I read “many” when he is speaking about rooms and receive it as an invitation to each of us. A dwelling place for you and me. I have always been comforted by his next statement “If it were not so I would have told you.” Doesn’t that give you a sense of ultimate trust? He has just asked the disciples to trust him and then shares how he is going to prepare a place for them. A place of eternal living for all believers.
This passage assures us that Jesus is “fashioning” a place specifically for us. It will fit us perfectly. Our homes here on earth, while they may fit; are not perfect. Even on the most wonderful of days, there is a longing for something that is missing. There is a deep desire to make life feel right. We are searching for a place where life feels complete, striving to change just one more thing, and “then we will arrive” as the saying goes. On the surface, we talk about marriage, children, career, grief, and death, but underneath it all is a longing for a home.
During this Christmas season many of us, young and old, think of home. Christmas simply magnifies this desire. Rather than contentment, we look to what “isn’t” in our lives. Perhaps missing someone who has passed away, reminiscing about the great memories of the past like the smells of mom’s kitchen when you were a child, and remembering the wonder and the excitement of Christmas’ long ago.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.” This is the vision of the ultimate home we are seeking.
Last year I heard a Christmas song while at the annual Christmas tree lighting in Franklin, TN. Matthew West was live on the stage singing “Come Home for Christmas.” It’s about coming home, feeling a sense of wonder, and searching for the joy, peace, love, and hope of coming home. While the listener might reflect on all the feelings of coming to an actual home, the song ends with him singing about coming home to a Savior, to a place where we belong. May we look to him for our hope this Christmas season and be filled with true joy, peace, and love, and know that we belong!
Tammy DeArmas