Preparing permanent accommodations

Morsels of food are delicious because of the little things, the subtle seasonings, the dash of salt, the sprinkle of garlic, the garnish of parsley, the touch of glaze, or the hint of lemon.  Ahhhh - so delicious!

Jesus seems to have grasped the attitude that so many of the Jews had that he was not the Son of God despite overtly telling them and dropping hints everywhere.  But many remained unconvinced.  So, when it came time to depart the world, Jesus told his twelve something that he followed with "If it weren't so, I wouldn't have told you."  He had told many people including the Twelve, "Believe in me."  But on this occasion of departure (John 14.1-2) what he told them began with urgency and emphasis, πισευετε εις τον θεον και εις εμε πιστευετε (You trust God, trust me as well) and ended with ει μη ειπον αν υμιν (I wouldn't have told you this if it weren't so).

These words of Jesus mark a very important passage to me for two reasons.  First, with the passing of my son at age 19, what I had believed before that time was severely tested and the last shred of hope was to take Jesus's words for their absolute truth.  Second, the particular idea about which Jesus was speaking became the most important truth of the entire New Testament because it is the only place where Jesus said, "I wouldn't have told you this if it weren't so."

Jesus was about to face death, so he felt an urgency.  And he wanted them to be where he would be going after his death, so he spoke emphatically about this place where the Twelve would catch up to him a little later. So, after saying, "Trust me too," he told them in very plain terms - no parable - εν τη οικια του πατρος μου μοναι πολλαι εισιν (In my father's house are many rooms) and πορευομαι ετοιμσαι τοπον... οπου ειμι εγω και υμεις ητε (I am leaving to prepare that place for you... so that where I am you can join me).

Those words seemed to have guided the Twelve after Jesus left them since they all steadfastly taught his teachings, especially the part about a life after this one.  Thomas in particular left a legacy in India in which he highlighted the next life.  And here's the tasty morsel. The words for house and rooms let us know a little more what Jesus impressed upon the Twelve.  The first three minutes of the video below tells the story of the "palace in heaven."

οικος is the usual word translated house. But in the dialect of Greek John was using, a second word had come into use, οικια. This second word took over the meaning for the structure of the house. οικος was aggrandized in meaning to mean the entire household, family and servants, and in Homer's Odyssey and other places, an estate including property with the house.  The structures of the houses then showed that they were built in the manner of the modern idea of compound, much like apartments or condominiums.  Communities were generally small by our standards, but the compound housed 50 to 100 people with each house or apartment having four rooms. That is a stereotype for οικια, and there were some variations, but archaeology has uncovered many four-room-house compounds.

μοναι is a word that is translated rooms.  Truly they are.  They're small compartments designated for different activities like cooking and sleeping.  A compound of οικια with συν, συνοικια is the word for people who would travel and need a room to spend the night or spend a few days refreshing themselves before resuming travel.  So, οικια is distinguished from that word by being a permanent place for the residents.

I think the essence of the passage is that Jesus is going to prepare permanent accommodations for us to live a second life.  We don't have to worry about running out of room in this place because the Father's compound has many rooms, enough for everyone who trusts him to be his father's son.