I Go to Prepare a Place

  "Now we come to what our Lord said about heaven. It was the night of the Last Supper.  Jesus gathered about him all his apostles--poor, weak, frail men.  He washed their feet.  He was facing the agony in the garden, and that terrible betraying kiss of Judas, and even the denial of Peter himself.  One would think that all the talk would be about himself.  Certainly, when we have trials, that is what we think about. But our Lord thought about the apostles.  He saw the sadness in their faces, and he said, 'Be not troubled, do not be sad, I go to prepare a place for you.  In my father's house there are many mansions.'  How did he know about the Father's house? He came from there.  That was his home.  Now preparing to go back home, he tells them about the Father's house and he says, 'I go to prepare a place for you.' God never does anything for us without great preparation.  He made a garden for Adam, as only God knows how to make a garden beautiful.  Then, when the Jews came into the promised land, he prepared the land for them.  He said he would give them houses full of good things, houses which they never built.  He said that he would give him vineyards and olive trees which they never planted.  Just so,  he goes to prepare a place for us.  Why?  Simply because we were not made for heaven; we were made for earth.  Man, by sin, spoiled the earth, and God came down from heaven in order to help us remake it.  After having redeemed us, he said that he would now give us heaven, so we got all this; the earth, and heaven too."