Beverly Hills or Apartment 3-G?

“Where do you live?”  It’s a pretty common, and perhaps innocent question when we meet someone.  We must believe it helps us identify WHO they are by where they reside.  Don’t you sometimes form opinions of others based on where they live?  We might think, “Oh, that’s not a very nice part of town.”  Or the old stand-by, “They live on the wrong side of the tracks”, whatever that’s supposed to mean.

Well if you had a choice, would you prefer your address to be “Beverly Hills” or “Apartment 3-G”?  Most of us would opt for the mansion.  It seems in our culture we prefer huge over efficient; walls more than fences; and hiding out in our luxuriously-equipped homes rather than engaging with our neighbors.  Doesn’t that sound like Beverly Hills to you? 

But what if we’re people of faith?  I know many who cling to the hope that the old King James Version of the Bible has the correct translation for John 14:2-3:

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.  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.

Doesn’t that all fit?  If we’re headed for heaven to walk on streets of gold, doesn’t it make sense that we’ll all live in mansions?  After all, we’ve been the humble, the downtrodden, and even the persecuted while we’ve lived on this earth.  We deserve a mansion for all we’ve had to put up with!  But it’s always bugged me that the passage says “In my Father’s house are many mansions.”  I’m a practical guy, so how can there be mansions in God’s house?  How does that work?

Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I believe other translations are more accurate when they say, “My Father’s house has many rooms…”  It can be understood as “places to dwell, or apartments, but you get the idea.  “What!  You mean I don’t even get my own place in heaven?!”  And my answer would be, “Why would you want your own place when you can dwell with others who have been redeemed by Christ?  Why wouldn’t you want to stay as close to Jesus as you could?”

When Jesus told his disciples in the passage that He was going to prepare a place for them, He was speaking like a groom making ready a place for his new bride.  Jewish young men lived at home and when they were ready to take a bride, they simply built a room on to the family home.  They “prepared a place” to bring their beloved bride so that she could be where he was – to live where he did.  Because life in those days wasn’t about Facebook time, or video games, or cell phones, or pizza and a movie at home.  It was about relationships.  It was about sharing your heart with one another and hearing everyone’s stories about life, both past and present.  Life was lived TOGETHER.

Does it make sense to you that we who are followers of Jesus spend most of our time apart from other people?  Can it be a good thing that we almost never interact with those who DON’T know Christ – those who have no hope but will certainly never hear the Good News from us?  Building walls now that separate us makes even less sense now than it will in heaven.  Get to know your neighbors and make sure they know about Jesus.  Who knows?  They might be living in Apartment 4-G in heaven – right next to you.

Jacob