Home — Whittier United Methodist Church

Below is a written version of Pastor Jo Schonewolf’s reflection on this fifth Sunday of Easter, published on Sunday, May 10, 2020. You can view the original video below.

Would you pray with me?

God who is our home, thank you for gathering us together. Make your presence known among us and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Jesus’ words this morning have me thinking about homes. See, this passage comes from what we call Jesus’ farewell discourse, after they’ve shared the Last Supper together but before they head out to the garden, where Jesus will be arrested. And Jesus kicks off his farewell discourse, his last message to the disciples, by talking about houses; specifically, he talks about his Father’s house. It hit me as I read this passage again this week that Jesus thinks of his Father’s house as his home. And where Jesus is home, everyone is home. There are many dwelling places. There’s room enough for all, a place prepared for us, a place that is ready to welcome us in.

That’s what transforms this passage from talking about houses to homes to me. We all know that a house or trailer or apartment, wherever you live, isn’t necessarily a home. A place to live can be just that: a place to live. It takes something more to make a house a home. It takes preparation. It takes attention. It takes welcome. It takes love. A home is a place where you’re wanted. Anything else is just a house.

But wherever Jesus is, we are wanted. Wherever Jesus is, we are loved.

It’s taken me all this time to hear that in the context of this passage, because the rest of it seems so transactional. You have Phillip, whose longing is in the right place, but who misses the point. Phillip longs to see who he thinks is God: he wants to see God the Father. He doesn’t realize that God is standing right in front of him.

And the way I’ve heard this passage talked about before, Jesus is almost taken out of it. You want to see the Father? Believe in Jesus. All you have to do is believe. All you have to do is say the right words and you’ll see the Father.

But calling someplace home doesn’t make it a home, just by wanting it to be, and you cannot simply say that you believe in Jesus and see God. What does Jesus himself say? “I am the way, the truth, the life.” Jesus. Jesus himself. Embodied, fully God, fully human Jesus. The way to the Father is not through saying the right words or following the right rituals, it’s through Jesus. It’s with Jesus. It’s following Jesus, doing as he does, speaking as he speaks, loving as he loves. If we’re following Jesus, the Spirit is at work in us at this very moment, making us fit for the homes that Jesus tells us are being prepared for us.

What does it take to prepare a home? I know many of us who have been at home during this time can name off plenty that they’ve done to prepare their home: finishing floors, cooking and cleaning, washing windows. On this Mother’s Day, I’m sure some of us can think of how our mothers worked to prepare our homes, as mothers are often expected to do, filling, arranging, and maintaining the inside space that makes up a home. I know others of us can think of women who filled that mothering roll in our lives, pouring in love and support and nurturing when our birth mothers couldn’t, letting us into their own homes from time to time so we would know what a home feels like. I’m sure there are others of us who have been that mothering presence to others, building a safe, loving space, helping to make a living place more homey, for people in their lives. Goodness knows some among us have mothered ourselves, using our home-building instincts to create homes within and for ourselves. All of this mothering can be honored this day, mixed in with the sadness of mothering that didn’t happen or hasn’t happened yet. As any mother, or any hopeful mother, can tell you, the work of preparing not only a house, but a space called a home, is difficult, complicated, grace-filled work.

And yet, Jesus tells us we will do greater things than he has done. Jesus has gone to prepare homes for us, to be a mother to us in a place where we are wanted and loved, and has given us the Spirit so that we might do even greater things than that. What might those great things look like?

Today, friends, I invite you to think about how you make a home. Look around the space you’re in and dream about the many mansions that God has prepared for us. What does that home look like? What does it smell like? What does it feel like? Who all is there? Imagine the perfect love in that place, the place that Jesus is bringing us to, the place that the Spirit is preparing us for. And then, imagine that home here on this Earth, a place prepared for all the people this planet holds. What might that great thing look like? How can we make that home? How can each of us be mothers for others?

Go forward into this week with these dreams in your heart. Go forward into this week and build greater dreams than these. Go forward in the love of God, the father and mother of us all. Amen.