John 14:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Understanding this, Paul says in his Epistles: "This we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

"For the Lord Himself, with a command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

"Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thess 4:15-17).

What does it mean that You go away? What does it mean that You come again? If I understand You rightly, You do not go away from anywhere, nor do You return from where You go.

You go away by becoming invisible. You come by revealing Yourself to our sight.

But if You do not remain here, governing us so that we may advance in the good life, how will the place be prepared where we can abide in delight?

Let this suffice concerning the Gospel words that were read up to the place where the Lord said: "I will come again and take you to Myself."

As for what follows, "that where I am, you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know," it will be better for us to hear this and more fitting to discuss it after the following question asked by the disciple.

It is as though we ourselves asked that question through him.

Now, beloved, we have time, as far as we are able, to understand the Lord's earlier words from those spoken afterward. We may understand the preceding words from what followed, when, as you heard, an answer was given to the question of the Apostle Thomas.

For the Lord was speaking about the mansions. Concerning them He said both that they already exist in His Father's house, and that He would go to prepare them.

We have understood this in this way: these mansions already exist in predestination, and they are prepared through the cleansing by faith of the hearts of those who will dwell in them.

For they themselves are properly the house of God. What else does it mean to live in the house of God, except to be among the people of God, while that people abides in God, and God in them?

To prepare this house, the Lord departed, so that through faith in Him as invisible, the mansion might now be prepared through faith.

It has always existed according to its form, but has still to be prepared. Therefore He said: "And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know."

It is true that the apostles ascended to the Lord immediately after death, but for the present without the body. Although they are with Him, they do not yet reign with Him.

Seeing the secret thoughts of the disciples, Jesus Christ knew that they wished to learn where He was going and what way led there. Therefore He says: "Where I go you know, and the way you know."

The whole time from the Lord's ascension is thought of as one moment and is not divided into periods. In general, after the Lord's ascension, the taking of the disciples into heaven will follow.

It will be preceded by the coming of Jesus Christ to them. From the Lord's subsequent discourses (cf. verse 18 and following), it is clear that He speaks here of His spiritual coming to the disciples.

He speaks of His coming and dwelling in them together with the sending down upon them of the Holy Spirit.

When He has prepared them, He will come again and take them with Him. He came to them after His resurrection, but He did not take them with Him. Instead, He sent them to preach.

He will come a second time only for the final judgment of the whole human race.

This reading of the Lord's saying gave occasion for various interpretations about some mystical coming of Jesus Christ and His taking the Apostles with Him.

It seems to me, however, that this saying becomes entirely clear if we move the quotation mark to its end. Without changing a single letter in it, we should read it thus:

"In My Father's house are many mansions. And if it were not so, I would have told you: 'I go to prepare a place for you.

And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, that you also may be where I am.'"

With this reading of the saying, it becomes clear that Christ is going to the Father not in order to prepare places for the Apostles.

For there are already many places fully prepared for them in the Father's house.

It also becomes clear that He will not come to them in order to take them with Him, since they themselves will follow Him.

Jesus Christ would have had to prepare places for the Apostles and come again for them only if there had been no places ready for them in the Father's house.

Only in that case would He have told them that He was going to prepare places for them. When He had prepared them, He would come again for them.

But since there are many mansions in the Father's house, this was fully sufficient to assure the Apostles. In due time they too would follow Christ and be where He would be.

Consequently, their impending separation would, in essence, be brief.

Nor can one understand by His new coming to the disciples His coming after His resurrection in another form. For before His ascension to the Heavenly Father, He had not yet fully entered His glory according to His humanity.

Nor had He yet wholly departed from them in order to prepare a place for them.

It seems that the Lord's coming to the disciples and His taking them to Himself must be separated in time. They should not be regarded as simultaneous, as though He would come to them and immediately take them to Himself.

The Lord's coming is understood spiritually and mystically. It means a spiritual communion and union with Him, or His with them, closer than before, when the Lord was bodily present with them (cf. verses 21-23).

This mystical coming and union began, after the Lord's ascension from them, through the outpouring upon them of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (verses 17-18).

By Christ's taking them to Himself is meant the departure of each of them from earth, after the completion of the work appointed for them. In other words, it means their death.

The immediate consequence of this will be the fulfillment of His words: "that you also may be where I am."

Thus the whole saying of the Lord means this. When I go from you in My ascension into heaven and prepare a place for you by My glorification also according to My humanity,

with the same glory which I have always had according to the Godhead, I shall come again to you mystically, by a closer union of My Spirit with your spirit in the Holy Spirit.

Then, when you have completed your work and Mine on earth, I shall take you to Myself through your death. Thus you also, after death, will be where I shall be.

You will be in still more immediate and close union with Me, and will be partakers of My glory (Jn 17:24).

Thus one must conclude that, when He speaks of His return to them, He has in mind His appearing to them at the moments of their suffering death.

The Apostle also shows that the Lord appears to believers after their separation from the body. He says, "We are well pleased rather to depart from the body and to come to the Lord" (2 Cor 5:8; Phil 1:23; Acts 7:58; Lk 16:23; Lk 23:43).

"That where I am, you may be also." It is self-evident that here the disciples are promised a place in one and the same heaven, but not glory equal to the glory of the God-Man.

If even the saints differ among themselves according to the glory of which they are deemed worthy, the glory of the Son of God is inaccessible to anyone else.

For the consolation of His disciples, the Lord says that His love cannot be separated from them. It will take them even into heaven (Jn 17:24).

Poor laborer of Christ, if on earth you do not even have a quiet corner, if the world feeds you only with abuse and hostility and gives you tears to drink, be of good courage.

Christ Jesus has prepared a dwelling for you in heaven. There He awaits you with eternal consolations (2 Cor 5:1).

These await those counted worthy of blessedness, as the bright banquet in the parable (Mt 22) awaited those who were invited.

We must note that the punctuation in verse 2, between the words "you" and "I go," is not the same in all manuscripts and editions. In some Greek and Russian editions there is a high point, corresponding to our colon.

Our Russian text of the New Testament follows this. Such also, it seems, was the manuscript before Chrysostom. Such is also the punctuation in the Slavonic Synodal edition of Theophylact's Gospel commentary.

Therefore Chrysostom says, "There are very many mansions there, and it cannot be said that it is necessary to prepare them." He continues, "I am so concerned for this, says the Lord, that I would already have prepared this place."

"I would have done this if it had not long ago been prepared for you." By this the Lord shows that they must fully hope and trust in Him.

Therefore we must keep in mind that, with this punctuation, the whole second half of verse 2 and all of verse 3 form a conditional sentence. Its guiding thought is that the Lord does not need to prepare the mansions, for they are ready.

Otherwise He would have said, "I will go and prepare." But in some editions, beginning with our Slavonic, a full stop is placed after "you."

With this punctuation, which is accepted by almost all Western translations, an entirely different thought is joined to the words. The preparation of the mansions is accomplished by the Lord through His sufferings and glorious Resurrection.

This thought contains nothing that could be called incorrect. Yet we prefer to hold the opinion of Chrysostom for a very important reason, apart from the authority of that holy man.

The Lord's mansions, of which the Lord speaks, are glory, rest, and blessedness. They belong to the happiness of being acknowledged as children of God, as Gregory the Theologian says.

These mansions have existed from eternity, for God is love, peace, rest, happiness, and joy. Therefore by His sufferings, death, and glorious Resurrection, the Lord does not prepare the mansions themselves.

They existed from eternity: "In My Father's house there are many mansions." Rather, He prepares worthy inhabitants for these mansions. He cleanses, raises up, and enlightens man, making him worthy to be received into these mansions of God.

The heavenly mansions are the creation of God the Creator, worshiped in the Holy Trinity. The salvation of humanity, accomplished according to the wisdom and love of the Triune God, was accomplished in particular by the action of God revealed in the second Hypostasis.

He assumed human flesh, and in it and with it He suffered and rose. Therefore we remember that the Lord Jesus "made the whole man well" (Jn 7:23), and that "the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost" (Mt 18:11).

Thus we rest on the thought expressed by Chrysostom about Jn 14:2-3. The Lord's words have this meaning: if there were not many mansions with My Father, I would have told you, "I go to prepare a place for you."

But this is not needed. These mansions are now with My Father. And in these mansions, when you are there, "where I am, there you will be also."

In this way the Lord revealed to the disciples the eternal goodness of the Creator. From eternity He prepared an eternal place of rest for those who, by faith and love, are counted worthy to be received into communion with the Son of God.

The Son of God prepared man's salvation in the flesh and washed him with His blood. Through the merits of Him who is God, man might be counted worthy of adoption by God and become a sharer in eternal blessedness.

"Let not your heart be troubled," said the Merciful One. "Believe in God, believe also in Me." And there are many mansions with My Father.