A Vision Of Radical Belonging

Our reading this week is from the gospel of John.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

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This is Part 1 of the series Justice Lessons from the Gospel of John

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:1-14)

Let’s start this week with a little context. In our reading, Jesus speaks to a community about to face uncertainty, fear, and loss through Jesus’ crucifixion. And in advance, Jesus says to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” These are not abstract spiritual words; they are spoken on the edge of a crisis. That context matters. Often, justice movements are born in moments like these, in hearts that see suffering and feel the weight of disappointed hopes deeply. Jesus does not deny what is about to happen; instead, he invites them to keep believing in the midst of it. What he says next, in this context, is profound.

“My Father’s house has many rooms” offers a vision of radical belonging. In a world structured by exclusion, where systems determine who is in and who is out, this imagery disrupts scarcity and hierarchy. There is room, not just for some but for many. Jesus says, “Many rooms.” For Jesus followers committed to justice, this becomes a theological grounding for belonging and inclusion: immigrants, LGBTQ people, the poor, the marginalized, and those historically pushed to the edges are not afterthoughts in the Divine household. They are already accounted for. The work of justice, then, is not creating belonging from scratch, but aligning our communities with a reality of belonging that already exists in the heart and “house” of the Divine.

Jesus continues with a promise to “prepare a place.” This promise is not about a distant future. We’ll begin here in Part 2.

Begin each day being inspired toward love, compassion, justice and action. Free.