The After Life and The Life After Death

In the last month, we have experienced the passing of Linda’s mom and our daughter-in-law, Danielle’s grandmother.  Linda’s mom passed away on St Patrick’s day and Danielle’s gramma this past Monday.  The funeral is today, Good Friday. Both ladies knew the Lord as their Savior.   Linda’s mom was 88 and had been in an Alzheimer’s care facility for the past six years, slowly passing in front of our eyes.  Her passing was a welcome blessing as she had prayed that she might die.  Danielle’s gramma was a vibrant 80, still very much enjoying life. We sat next to her every Sunday in our Milan church, most recently when we went back to Michigan for Linda’s mom’s funeral.  We, chatted at our granddaughter, Gracie’s ball game the previous Friday.  Her passing was a surprise and not welcomed, but received in God’s grace.  Life will be different with these two ladies gone. This all leads me to share some thoughts with you.

This week is known as the Passion Week, during which we commemorate the death burial and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  When we reflect on Jesus’s life and death, we usually think of His life, death, suffering and resurrection as preparation for our “after life” or eternity.  And certainly, He did; but He also prepared us the “life after death”, the life we must live after a loved one dies. Life goes on.  There is work to be done, kids going to school, meals to be prepared.  The hardest hit is usually the spouse.  Linda’s parents were married almost 71 years and Danielle’s grandparents over 60 years.  Now the husbands are alone, for the first time in their life, no parents back home. The house is empty.  We prepare ourselves poorly for “life after death”.

However, Jesus spent most of His ministry dealing with just that, preparing us for life after His death.  If you read the gospels, all of His sermons dealt with this life.  His prayers centered around this life.  In fact, His last message to His disciples addressed this expressly.  

Only the Gospel writer, John records this message and prayer.  Most Christians don’t even know that this message was spoken after the last supper, after Jesus predicting Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial.  If you ask the average Christian to quote any passages from Jesus’ sermons, most will quote from the sermon on the mount.  If you ask for the most quoted prayer, it would be the Lord’s prayer.  If you ask for His longest prayer, most won’t know it or even where it is.  If you ask what was His last sermon, most won’t be able to identify it.  Most don’t remember when Jesus prayed for Himself. If you ask for the prayer specifically for us and His disciples, most won’t know it.  Once I quote it, most will remember the first part; most will not recall the entire message and prayer.  Far fewer of us will have internalized this prayer and live in the entirety of it daily.  It starts in John 14 and goes through the 17^th chapter; where upon Jesus entered the garden of Gethsemane to pray alone.

His message begins:

"Let not your heart be troubled; you 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. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.  KJV

The Common English translation says:

My Father's house has room to spare.

The Holman Christian Standard says:

In My Father's house are many dwelling places; 

In the Latin Vulgate, the word means: a traveler's resting place. The Greek word is related to the verb “meno” , meaning remain or stay, which occurs 40 times in John. 

We often think of it as a mansion as in the southern gospel song, I’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop.  Do we really think Jesus was building houses for us?  We sing it. Talk like it. Read the entire sermon.  Jesus talks about “knowing the Father”, praying in the name of Jesus, of doing the works that he did and greater works, keeping His Word, receiving the Holy Spirit, abiding in Him and His words abiding in us.

Jesus prays that we may be one with the Father just as He is one with the FATHER.

Jesus was not talking about houses for our bodies.  He was talking about dwelling places, resting places for our hearts, our minds and our spirits.  It is the same place that the psalmist in Psalm 91 says:

The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.

I encourage you to re-read John 14-17 sometime during this weekend.  Read it in a couple different versions.  Read it, realizing that Jesus was speaking to you, about you and praying for you, the last night of His life on earth, His dying prayer was for you.  He has prepared a special place for us; but to occupy it, you must know Him and know His Word.  Without Him and without His Word, we are homeless and lost, physically and spiritually.  You may be saved but without abiding in Him and His Word, you will never experience the fullness of what Jesus suffered and died for.  He prepared us for “the after life” and “the life after”.  The life after we die, and the life we must live after our loved ones die and the life we now live in the light of His death, burial, resurrection and His imminent return.

I am including a link to John 14-17, in the “Message” paraphrase.  Hopefully if you click on it, it should come up on your computer.  The “Message” is not a translation; but one man’s paraphrase. Don’t read it as your only source but it will help you personalize the message and prayer of Jesus for you.

http://www.biblestudytools.com/msg/passage/?q=john+14;+john+15;+john+16;+john+17

He is risen!