#46 - The Gospel of John

John 14:1-14 (NIV)
Read by: Craig Bowler

Imagine we were Christians living in the first century. For most of us, our first encounter with the Gospel of John would have been hearing it read at a gathering of our house church. Once the story had made its way through Jesus washing the disciples' feet, we begin to hear it as if we were there in the room with the disciples and the LORD.

Throughout the next few chapters in John we want to make a little more space at the end of each episode to reflect on the words of Jesus. There is so much in each passage so we are asking the Holy Spirit to guide each of you as you respond. But as we usually do, we’ll give you a little historical context up front.

In today’s passage, there are some famous verses that could stand to be read with a bit more context. Jesus tells the disciples that His Father’s house has many rooms, and that he’s going to prepare a place for them. Often these verses are read and preached as Jesus talking about mansions in heaven, some cloudy utopia in the sky. But did you know that the last time Jesus talked about his Father’s House, he was talking about the Temple, the place where God’s presence dwelt, where heaven and earth met?

What if Jesus is talking about New Creation, the place where heaven and earth are overlapping and interlocking? What if he’s talking about his death and resurrection when he talks about going to prepare a place, knowing that it’s through this that New Creation is about to burst into the world? What if he’s talking about the Holy Spirit that will fill each Jesus follower, making them a new temple?

----------REFLECT----------

1. What word or image stood out to you in the passage?

2. What about this passage encouraged you? What about it challenged you?

3. How is the LORD inviting you to respond to this passage today? What might need to change? What might need to stay the same?

----------CONNECT----------

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