they asked Pilate to have him put to death,
and when they had accomplished all that was written about him,
they took him down from the tree and placed him in a tomb.
Jesus goes to prepare a place for us. He takes the way of the Cross. He passes through death to free us from sin and condemnation.
But God raised him from the dead,
and for many days he appeared to those
who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.
God raises Jesus. He gives him new life. It is the life we one day hope to share in fullness. It is life we can taste even here and now. This is the place he prepares for us. This is the mansion.
Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me."
Jesus is our path and our destination. We are meant to rest in the love of the Father, in the very embrace of the Father and the Son. The word mansion does not seem a sufficient term to convey the exultation of this destiny. Our destiny is to hear the Father say "You are my Son; this day I have begotten you" just as he begins to call us his sons and daughters and baptism. What is there for us to fear if this is what the Father and the Son desire for us? What could possibly stop us from reaching this mansion of mansions, if God desires it for us, other than we ourselves? For what other pleasure could turning aside be worth it? If we seek this one thing, this better part, the we receive everything else as well.
Ask of me and I will give you
the nations for an inheritance
and the ends of the earth for your possession.
Let's fix our gaze upon the dwelling places that are prepared for us in heaven. When they are hard to imagine, too abstract, or too distant, let us remember the love of Jesus for us and know that heaven is that love in its fullness. We have nothing to fear.
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me."
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