Probably almost everyone who has ever attended a funeral or memorial service is familiar with these words from John 14: “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. 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” (vs. 1,2).

These words are also vital for everyday living. When we recognize the presence of Christ in our lives, we find him coming to us with the very same message: “Let not your hearts be troubled.”

Someone once examined the place of fear in our prayers and came to the conclusion that “fear” accounts for at least 50 percent of our prayers, spoken and unspoken. J.A. Hadfield says that in his experience, “If fear were abolished from modern life, the work of the psychotherapist would be nearly gone.”

Jesus’ fear remedy is not the assurance that “It’s all in your mind” or “I’ll have you out of here in a jiffy.” Jesus himself was facing a fearful end to his ministry and this ominous threat neither went away nor ended in obvious victory.

Jesus said: “Believe in God, believe also in me” (14:1). Other solutions may fail or offer help too late, but God’s presence is the one thing that will not fail us. If He does not save us from what we fear, He saves us in the midst of that fear.

In the memorial service, Jesus’ assurance: “In my father’s house are many mansions” comforts us with the expectation that “dying” is really going home to God. But in everyday life, this passage also indicates that there is room in God’s providence for diversity, for peoples, believers and disciples of various kinds.

The Greek word translated into English as “many rooms” or “many mansions” suggests that in the Father’s House there is room for all. “All what?” we ask, suspiciously.

And the answer: That is for the Father to decide.

Once again, when we wonder how and why God will provide for a life after death, we need to remember that God is not limited to the imagination of our finite minds. And as always, when we are puzzled by the will and intention of God, we turn to Jesus because all that God desires for us and from us is revealed in his life, death and resurrection.

Thomas, however, wants something definite: “Lord, we do not know where you are going: how can we know the way?” And the reply is for both Thomas and us: “I am the way. And the truth, and the life” 14:6).

Remember, some Christians hold that believing and confessing various doctrinal teachings is the key to salvation because John’s Gospel so often focuses on “believing in Jesus as God’s Son.” But the very first name applied to Christianity was “The Way,” not “The Belief.”

In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus’ invitation is most often “follow me” or words to that effect. Only in John do we see a continued emphasis on “believing” in Jesus as God’s son. Actually, “believing” and “following” are just two sides to the same coin. We follow Jesus because we believe in him and we believe in him because of the way that he lived, died and lived again.

Arthur John Gossip says: “For the way to know God is not merely to assemble correct thoughts and notions of him in one’s mind, which remain mere intellectual concepts: it is to live with him; to have firsthand experience of him; to put this whole matter to the proof, testing it for oneself: to let what we have been told about him have its chance to do for us and in us what it can.”

What Would Jesus Do?

Someone once commented to me that unfortunately, the New Testament tells us only how Jesus lived in his world, but that is a long way from knowing how to live in our world of today.

It is true that some of the great moral issues that trouble us today were not addressed during Jesus’ ministry because life was different then. So how can we know what is in accordance with God’s will today?

Jesus answers: “No one comes to the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him” (14:6,7). Even though Jesus did not address most of the issues we face today, we can often discern the spirit with which he addressed all issues.

So, if we get close enough to Jesus in our lives, we can get to know the inner inclination with which he met the concerns and problems of his time. The closer we get to Jesus, the more we are likely to discern and know, “What would Jesus do?”

How ironic that Jesus’ words were followed by Philip’s request: “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.”

Jesus’ reply to this incredible question was indicative of the Master’s patience: “Have I been with you so long, and yet you did not know me, Philip. He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me?”

For many of us, the problem is not that we don’t know what Jesus and the Father want of us, but that we do know and resist admitting that we do know.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.