John 14:1-12
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions..."
The 1980's and 90's saw the beginning and flourishing of one new artistic medium and the continual development of one traditional medium. Both art forms were in the artistic genre of Film. From its beginnings Film (or the Motion Picture) had utilized musical accompaniment. Before the early days of "Talkies", silent films employed actual musicians in the theater to play along with the action on the screen. Eventually the great movies of the silver screen would employ composers to write original scores and the cartoons of Disney and Warner Brothers would introduce children to the greatest pieces of Classical music. The marriage of Film and Music was one in which Cinema wore the pants in the relationship. Then in the last two decades of the twentieth century the Music Industry decided to reverse the roles. Popular music acts started creating short films that went along with their songs. This phenomenon became the standard practice in producing popular music with the advent of 24 hour cable music video channels like MTV. This new format not only served as a catalyst for young self identification but it also allowed for underrepresented voices to be heard... and for minority music to become dominant. Along with Rock and Electronic music, MTV gave voice to the newly developing genre of Hip Hop/Rap. This urban, mostly African American, east coast musical phenomenon caught on quickly through shows like Yo MTV Raps and by the close of the 80's the Grammy's handed out the first award for Rap. It went to DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince for "Parents Just Don't Understand" (You younger kids may know the Fresh Prince as the movie star Will Smith... you know, Jaden Smith's dad...you know, Willow Smith's brother). Suddenly a light bulb went off in the heads of Hollywood execs and the new medium of Music Videos (and Hip Hop) met the traditional medium of the Family Sitcom. The rapper Fresh Prince was cast in an urban remake of the Beverly Hillbillies (based on the youth adventures of producer Benny Medina and the writing of Andy Borowitz) called The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. His musical partner Jazzy Jeff (the Ryan Lewis to his Macklemore) would have a recurring cameo as the character "Jazz." The sitcom theme song had always been used as a tool to reintroduce the plot or general theme and main characters on every episode. The Beverly Hillbillies, The Munsters, The Brady Bunch, The Jeffersons and most other great family sitcoms had done this and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air introduced a new generation of viewers to it by using a music video. The theme song would even utilize a similar visual format of the music video for the song that had won Fresh Prince a Grammy. Genius. I like to think that Jesus had his own theme song. No it wasn't a music video but it still was a lot like the Fresh Prince's. I like to imagine that it went something like this:
In the west side of Bethlehem born not raised
In the Galilee was where I spent most of my days
Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool
And kickin it with my Disciples from my Rabbinical school
When Pharisees and Scribes who were up to no good
Started making the foundation for the Talmud
I got crucified and my mother Mary got scared
She said "You're movin' back to Heaven with your real Dad"
Well, not so much. But aside from my utter fail at early 90's rap, I still do feel that Jesus communicated the same points as a theme song in John 14. In this speech to the Disciples he reintroduce the plot... the general theme of his ministry and also reintroduces them to the main characters of God and Jesus. Theme songs usually are featured at the beginning of the television show and this scene in scripture appears toward the end of Jesus' preaching ministry. But, it does come at the beginning of his Passion. It is in his Passion, suffering on Calvary and subsequent resurrection that we finally understand the significance of everything Jesus preached about. John 14 is the theme song for the episode revealing the meaning behind the whole series. It is when we find out who shot JR. It is when we realize that St. Elsewhere was just a snow globe. It is when we realize that Lost was all about the Afterlife. In his series finally after the theme song Jesus was about to reveal the nature and love of God. '
The Mansion
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. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
Just like The Fresh Prince of Bel Air's theme song Jesus message to the Disciples in John 14 focuses on him leaving to live with a close relative in a mansion. The difference is that Jesus promises to return and gather his friends to join him. It's like if Jazzy Jeff stayed in the Mansion with Fresh Prince and never was thrown out by Uncle Phil. Aided by images in scripture, Art and the popular imagination people tend to imagine Heaven as hybrid castle/mansion/golf course/retirement community for Saints. But was this image the truth about the Kingdom of God that Jesus was communicating? Well Jesus never said the word "mansion." he never said "hello" or "My name is Jesus" either. He was a Jew who spoke Hebrew... possibly Aramaic but definitely not English. The Bible like all ancient documents has been translated many times into several languages and dialects by scholars. The job of the translator is to find the meaning of the words, idioms and phrases and connect them to contemporary words and figures of speech. The problem is that words alter in meaning over the years even within the same language. So the usage of "mansion" in the King James Version of the Bible (historically the most popular English language translation) refers to the King James era idea of what a mansion was and not necessarily our contemporary idea. The word used for mansion of the original Greek of the New Testament is μονή, which means an abode or a dwelling place. The English root word for mansion is also the same for manor. It is manse and is more aligned to our notion of a parsonage for a minister rather than a palatial estate. Yes, King James' time Mansions and manors were large but that was more because it housed several people. It was a site where a landowner could simultaneously house family, servants and a clergyman. That seems to be what Jesus is telling us about the Kingdom of God. It is where God's family, servants and ministers dwell. Most important it is where we can dwell with Jesus. I would argue that this not only means the Heaven of the afterlife but the Body of Christ of the living. The mansion that houses the Kingdom of God is Jesus Christ.
The Way
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
If you watched any episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air besides the pilot episode then you may understand Thomas' questioning of Jesus. Both the viewer and the disciple are left with essentially the same question: "How is he getting to that mansion?" In the version of the theme song that played on most episodes after the Fresh Prince's mom said that he was "movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel Air" he simply "whistled for a cab and when it came near" he ordered it to proceed onward with "'Yo, homes to Bel Air.'" With a cursory knowledge of United States' geography you know that Philadelphia, PA and the Los Angeles, CA neighborhood of Bel Air. Are not close. Google Maps reveals that it is 2,727 miles away. I doubt that Will Smith had the patience or cab fare to afford that taxi ride. But that's because I hadn't been watching the show from the beginning. The pilot episode featured a longer song (which I have posted above) with a second verse where the Fresh Prince catches a plane to Los Angeles before whistling for his cab at LAX airport. Following the story early enough was key to me understanding how Fresh Prince plausibly got to his Uncle Phil and Aunt Viv's mansion and it is also how Thomas would understand how Jesus would get to his Father's mansion. Jesus reveals that he is the way to his Father. Not only is he the only way to God but the truth and the life. To know Jesus is to know God. To see Jesus is to see God. To understand Jesus is to understand God. To befriend Jesus is to befriend God. To trust Jesus is to trust God. It seems that Thomas missing all of this wasn't a case of him not "tuning in" early enough, but rather him not understanding him. Hearing his words and seeing his actions but not capturing their full meaning. He knew Jesus but he really didn't know him. As funny as that sounds it is the truth. He didn't fully appreciate the fullness of Jesus' identity. Thomas knew Jesus as a teacher and friend but he didn't know him as Lord and Savior yet. I would argue that all four are important in understanding him as God. Lately I've been following my friend Daniel's new blog, where he publicly sets out to understand this thing we call Divinity and this man they call Jesus. It's a journey that we must all take, especially those who believe that Jesus is God. We may have a reverse-Thomas problem in that we know him as Lord and Savior but not as friend and teacher. To know Christ is to know all of him and in doing this he reveals all of God.
The Father
Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
The Fresh Prince theme song introduces us to his unusual family life. We see a caricature of his mother and we follow his journey to live with his aunt, uncle and cousins. What we never see mentioned is his father. Fresh Prince's character was originally sent to Bel Air because his mother was having a hard time as a working, single mother. It wasn't that his father had passed away but rather that he wasn't around. It was only in the later seasons that his father revealed... and strangely enough he's Ben Vereen. In one of the most touching episodes of 90's television Will Smith struggles to find meaning in in his father's absence. He tearfully asks "So why don't he love me" as Uncle Phil embraces him and serves as his surrogate father. The mysterious father motif figures big in the Gospel too. Sure, Joseph played the Uncle Phil role well as Jesus' surrogate, earthly father but you may have heard by now that we Christians believe that Jesus' real father was God. In the text of John 14 the Disciples had yet to learn this. They may have understood most of the time that Jesus was referring to God as Father because Jews had a tradition of understanding the nation of Israel as God's son. But when Jesus kept referring to going back to his father's mansion paired with a encouragement to believe in him just as they believed in God some of them may have gathered that Jesus was inferring a closer relationship between he and God than the rest of his countrymen. Realizing that Jesus was referring to God, Philip ventured to ask Jesus to reveal God to them (and earnestly hoped that he wouldn't see Ben Vereen). Jesus responded by doubling down on his earlier assertion: to see him was to see God, to know Jesus was to know God. In this blog we have discussed Jesus' prominent usage of imagery, metaphor and stories (parables) to get his point across. The idea behind using these devices in communication is usually to reveal a deeper truth represented by the symbolism. But that isn't the whole reason why Jesus used them. He even used the symbolism to hide the deeper truth from proud but reveal it to the humble who persistently pursued answers and followed him. The answers would be revealed when you were mature and humble enough to accept them. The Disciples had been following Jesus for some time now and there were still mysterious sayings of his that they did not understand yet. Maybe some of them wrote it off as Jesus liking to be mysterious and talk in image saturated language. So when Philip asks to see the Father, Jesus takes the opportunity to strip away any impediment to interpreting him clearly. The Disciples had the testimony of Jesus' words and works. Jesus was God according to his own words. God cosigned to Jesus' confession of being God by allowing him to perform miracles (known in the Bible as "signs"). Jesus and the Father are One. And this Father wants you as His adopted child.
The Theme Song
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
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