One of the things which dogs my life sometimes is anxiety.  If I let my mind wander, it’s amazing how fast sometimes it can go into worry mode.  I’ll be going along all right and then, boom, all of the sudden my mind will fixate on something.  Take for example the other day when the kids from the Playschool were here singing.  While all of y’all were enjoying their spirited performance, I was fixated on one little boy coming dangerously close to one of the candles.  When something like that happens, the next thing you know, whatever it is I’m locked in on becomes overwhelming.  Presently, my great and recurring worry is having our kids learn to drive.  For obvious reasons, that one worries me as it does any parent, I’m sure.

That stuff happens to me and I don’t think you could make the case that I have an anxiety disorder, rather my mind is just prone to worry, I think.  But, as a society, we’re becoming more anxious with each and every passing year.  In 2021, for example, we saw a 25% rise in the rates of depression and anxiety.  That, in a way is understandable in that 2020 saw the rise of COVID in the world, causing a lot of completely understandable worry and fear.  But that large spike might make us look past the steady increases that we’ve seen through the last several decades.  For reasons which are debatable, one thing remains clear, anxiety is rising across the US.

Some might argue that the rise in worry has a secular cause, that the internet or some other facet of modern life is just upsetting the applecart in ways we don’t yet understand.  I think the culprit is much easier to find.  Isn’t it interesting that in the same years that we’ve seen increases in anxiety rates, we’ve seen decreases in the number of people reporting faith as a steady component of their lives?  That is to say that as we’ve seen the largest rise in anxiety rates while we’ve also seen a decrease in the number of Christian adherents.  Those two are too conspicuous not to link.  Faith is often a wonderful antidote to anxiety problems.

Which is exactly what Jesus Christ draws our attention to at the beginning of this passage from the Gospel of John.  It’s a passage most often read at funerals, what with its’ talk of many mansions in the Father’s house.  But, in reality, John 14 is actually good advice for the living.  Jesus speaks these words to what’s likely to have been a rattled group of disciples and apostles.  They’re worried because of what Jesus Christ has just announced – that soon, He’ll be gone.  On top of that, they’re sure to be distressed about their behavior at dinner.  Do you recollect what the apostles do during the Last Supper?  They bicker and argue with each other about who will be greatest in the Kingdom to come.  They’re foolish words, really and ones that are sure to be ringing in their minds as they continue to listen to Jesus.  Not only that, these men and women were likely aware of what happened to followers of failed Messiahs.  Seven times before Jesus, men came and claimed to be the One.  Seven times previously both those men and their followers ended up on Roman crosses, dead.  To be with Jesus had thus far been a wonderful thing, miracles seen and performed and all that.  But now, things were getting serious and Jesus himself was talking about being gone.

It was sure to have been an anxious time for everyone involved.  That’s why Jesus’ words here are so important for us to hear.  “Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in Me.”  Jesus speaks a word of comfort into the anxious hearts of all His gathered apostles and disciples.  He also issues them a command but the rendering of this command into English misses a certain nuance.  You see, the grammar of the passage in the Greek has this set up as a fulfilled conditional.  It really ought to read, “Because you believe in God, believe also in Me.”  That is to say that the first part of the sentence makes the second part assumed.  It means that because the apostles and disciples believe in God, they will also believe in Him.

Which is one of the reasons why our anxieties about eternity ought to come way down.  As I’ve said before, what the Bible teaches us is that Jesus chooses us, not the other way around.  While it may feel like we’re the ones doing the deciding, what the Bible puts forward is that we choose God because God first chose us.  “Before the foundations of the earth” that’s what we read in Ephesians.  And I don’t know about you, but I sure wasn’t here at that point so I think it’s fair to say that Jesus picked me long before I had the capacity to pick Him.  That is to say that we don’t fear for our enteral hereafters because of what God in Christ has done for us.

And Jesus Christ even goes on to assure us that there will be many mansions in his Father’s house.  I say mansions because that’s the King James language.  Although it sure can be hard to read at points with its older version of the English language, it sure sings at points.  Nowhere is that more evident than in this passage where it reads that there are many mansions in the Father’s house.

What Jesus Christ tells His apostles is that they have nothing to fear, in this life or the life yet to come.  Jesus words of comfort only match what the Bible habitually says.  Well over 365 times in the Word are we told not to fear.  Isaiah 41:10:  “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  Psalm 23:4:  “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”  Psalm 27:1:  “The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid.”  Deuteronomy 31:6:  “Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”  Luke 12:7:  “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”