Funeral Sermon

In John 14, we catch a glimpse of what the disciples were experiencing as they began to realize that Jesus would not be with them much longer.

Jesus spoke about heaven and gave His followers four truths to trust in…

• His peace

• His place

• His promise

• His plan

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

1. Peace (1)

The first thing Jesus asks us to trust in His peace. These last days have been very difficult for each of you as you knew Ed’s departure was imminent.

The disciples felt all those things as well. Their week had begun gloriously with Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem with people waving palm branches and now they’ve begun to realize that Jesus won’t be with them much longer.

The disciples were upset and so Jesus looked at them with tenderness and said in verse 1: “Let not your hearts be troubled.” The tense here means to “stop letting your hearts be troubled,” indicating that they were falling apart. The word “your” is plural as Jesus moves from talking to Peter to the entire team. “Troubled” literally means, “to be stirred up.”

In the second half of verse 1, Jesus makes another claim to deity: “Believe in God; believe also in me.” He’s saying something like this: “You trust in God who is invisible and that’s great; now it’s time to trust in me, even though I will be leaving you for a while.” The only way to have peace in the midst of troubled times is to trust in Christ.

Later in this same chapter, in verse 27, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.”

If you feel like crying today, let it out. When a friend of Jesus died, John 11:35 says that Jesus broke down and wept. If Jesus cried, then so can you. Invite him into your pain. He never promises to keep us from tough times, but He does promise to give us His peace in the midst of difficulty and trouble.

The first thing Jesus tells us is to trust in Him. When we do, He will give us His peace. Next, He tells us to focus on another place.

2. Place (2, 3a). “In my father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”

For those who know Jesus, death is not an eerie journey to an unknown destination. Believers are assured that there is a place where all wrongs will be made right, where all imbalances will be straightened out.

The Greek word for “rooms” means to “abide” or “remain,” and refers to something that is not temporary, but permanent. Friends, our place here won’t last but we’re headed to a place that is everlasting.

When Jesus said there are many rooms in His Father’s house, and He’s going there to prepare a place for them, He’s drawing on a very familiar image. In those days it was customary for travelers to send someone ahead to find lodging and make arrangements in a distant city. You couldn’t use Siri or Google maps.

Friends, Jesus has gone before us to prepare a place for us in heaven. All the arrangements have been made for those who have put their full faith and trust in Him.

It’s interesting isn’t it, that Jesus has prepared a room for us even though there was no room for Him when He was born? Despite the fact that we kicked Jesus out of our world, Jesus invites us into His. Jesus said that there is a place for those who believe in Him. In fact, he left the disciples in order to get some rooms ready for them.

We’re all searching for home. Part of our problem is that most of us are too tied to this place. We often think that this is the land of the living, and that when we die, we go to the land of the dead.