May 3, 2026
Easter 5
In my Father’s house are many dwellings. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
Please be seated.
The other morning, I was listening to the CBC At Issue podcast on my phone. Podcasts are something I listen to as I drink my coffee and eat my toast –the breakfast of champions—to begin my day. The At Issue Panel appears on the CBC national news on Thursday evenings, and includes panellists Chantal Hébèrt, Althia Raj, and Andrew Coyne, moderated by Rosie Barton. The three pundits pore over the entrails of the week’s news and offer smart and largely non-partisan political commentary.
Now Chantal Hébèrt is probably the foremost political journalist in Canada today. Born in northern Ontario she lives in Montréal where she switch-hits, broadcasting in English and French with intelligence and a formidable ability for apt metaphors and literary examples. It is no accident, that on Wednesday, when Canada’s political literati were gathered for the annual Politics and Pen gala, when there was a lull after dinner and the prime minister got tired of people wanting to interrupt his conversation to shake his hand, he gave up on his table and made his way across the room to sit down with Chantal Hébèrt. In a room full of politicians, writers and reporters, Carney made his way to Hébèrt, the doyenne of Canadian journalism.
So, on Thursday evening, the At Issue panel made its way through its usual two topics for the night, but I listened to the Friday podcast which always features a third segment, not televised. In that segment, the panel was chewing over the government’s new Canada Strong Fund. Essentially, Rosie Barton was asking the question are any of you any the wiser as to what it is or how it works or what it’s all about, now that you’ve all had some time to think about it.
For her part, first at bat, Chantal Hébèrt offered this gem, quoted from memory: “You know the book Le Petit Prince because you read it in English. (The Little Prince.) Now among the characters in the book are the Prince and the Aviator.”
[The author, Antoine de St. Exupéry, was himself an aviator. He was a writer; a co-inventor of radar; and a pilot in the Second World War. He was shot down in his P38 Lightning, off the coast of Marseille, in 1944.]
Now at this point, you are doubtless wondering whether I am preaching at St. John’s or pontificating as in the Old Geezers’s Corner at Tim Horton’s. (I don’t think they have an Old Geezer’s Corner at Starbucks, so if that’s your poison you’ll just have to know that it’s a thing at Timmy’s. Mostly, we cry in our coffee about the Leafs. But bear with me. This is a sermon.
When Rosie asked what about Carney’s new Fund, Chantal Hébèrt said “Well, at this point, it was like when the Little Prince asked the Aviator to draw him a lamb. The Aviator did not know how to draw a lamb. So, instead he drew a box. And he showed the box to the Little Prince and said here, the lamb is in the box.” Carney’s Fund is like that, said Hébèrt. “When you ask what it is, he shows you a box and tells you “Here … It’s in the box.”
In today’s Gospel —we have arrived—Jesus, at the Last Supper, is offering words of reassurance to the disciples who are troubled at his departure. “In my Father’s house are many dwellings.” I have recited those words at hundreds of funerals. Through millennia of Christian tradition, the words continue to comfort and reassure.
The word dwellings was once-upon-a-time translated as “mansions”. Monai in Greek. The word originally conveys a sense of home, these are homes … but they are ample homes and they are established homes. Picture mansions. Most people in Jesus’ day did not have ample, established homes whether mansions or dwellings. But like the Aviator’s box, we are none the wiser as to what is inside the box, inside God’s House, after the explanation than before. Jesus does not elaborate on what’s inside the box. But it’s not like he doesn’t say anything. What he says is this:
“In my Father’s house are many dwellings. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” There is a note of wry humour amidst the gloom of this moment. The disciples have shown themselves to be a pretty sorry lot. There’s betrayal. And there’s so little love among the disciples that they need reminding to love one-another. Then there’ll be more betrayal. And abandonment. They all flee. Almost all. When last seen, Jesus is making living arrangements for his mother and the beloved disciple. Mom, take care of my friend. Friend, take care of my mom. He doesn’t quite trust his followers even to get that right.
The humour is this. Jesus is saying that it’s going to take an incredibly expansive sort of God’s House with individual mansions to accommodate this bunch of disciples. “It will take a house of many dwellings to house the likes of you.” That’s the subtext. That’s part of what’s inside the box. Heaven is big enough for everyone … even you.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus is sharpening the point on grace. Grace even extends to our long-term home with God. God’s house is fashioned in such a way that it will accommodate everyone – everyone you can’t imagine would have a home there … people Peter would be rejecting at the pearly gates of our imagination. Sorry, Donald, you aren’t on the guest list. And there he is.
Jesus says not so in my Father’s House. In my Father’s house, there are many dwellings. Would I not have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. What we discern is that while we are none the wiser as to what’s inside the box, it’s a box full of grace. Infinite grace “for you”.
In my life as a pastor, I have never felt the need for, or been impressed with, ideas of what heaven will look like. Streets paved with gold? Why? Infinite bliss? There is no infinite bliss without the finitude of pain and sometime finality of death. It’s a box of grace. That’s all we know. Well, almost all. It’s a box of grace for you.
When Martin Luther contemplated his Catechism, he said that the most important words in the transactions at the Eucharist were the words “for you.” The Body of Christ given for you. The blood of Christ shed for you. Those expressions are quintessentially of grace. Lutherans tend to keep to the words for you in any serving of bread or cup. For you. “For you” is Gospel. “For you” is pure grace.
So, it’s about grace and it’s about for you. That is, I think, the uniqueness of the Chrisian witness. God’s house is a box of full of grace … for you. That’s what we know. That’s all we know. We know not where God’s house sits, whether here, there or elsewhere. My hunch is that we are already living into God’s house, of sorts, here, and now, because we are pledged to learn to lean into grace and all that that implies. And we already have glimpses, if you will, inside the box.
In my Father’s house are many dwellings. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (Silence for reflection.)
May the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to the Holy One, blessèd be. And may the church say “Amen”. Amen.
André Lavergne CWA (Pastor)
Honourary Assistant,
Church of St. John the Evangelist, Kitchener.
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.
As our parish musician, he provides both support and leadership so that a variety of parish programs can find musical expression and attract participation. When our handbell choir is in season, he is one of our ringers. At parish dinners, he provides popular piano music for the guests to dine by. For both worship services and concerts, he will rehearse and accompany vocal and instrumental soloists from our congregation on piano, organ, or even accordion.
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.