St. John’s Lutheran Church
Albany, New York
3 May 2026 + The Fifth Sunday of Easter
John 14:1-14
The Rev. Josh Evans

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“Oh! The places you’ll go!
You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights…

“Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest…

“Except when you don’t.
Because, sometimes, you won’t.

“I’m sorry to say so
but, sadly, it’s true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.”

First published over 35 years ago,
it’s easily one of the most recognizable children’s books
with lessons that endure long beyond childhood:
Not every place is an exciting one,
filled with joy, promise, and hope.

“Bang-ups” and “Hang-ups” can and do happen
to each of us, at some point or another –
and then what?

There’s no doubt that those places
can be scary.

***

Consider the disciples:
Their hearts had every reason to be troubled.

Their teacher and their friend was about to be arrested and killed.
Two of their own – Judas and Peter – would soon turn on him
in egregious acts of betrayal and denial.
Their entire world as they knew it for the past three years was changing,
and they didn’t know what would happen
or where they would wind up.

It is to these troubled, anxious hearts,
spoken in a place of uncertainty and fear,
that Jesus offers his words of promise and reassurance.

Words which, I worry, we have a tendency to misconstrue,
hearing them as we so often do
in the place of funerals or memorial services:
“In my Father’s house there are many…
rooms?
mansions?
Dwelling places.”

From the root word menō – “abide” –
a favorite of John’s,
often used to describe being in relationship with Jesus.

“In my Father’s house there are many
abiding places” –
many ways of being together.

Wherever Jesus is,
there the disciples will be –
in every place where Jesus is going:

“After Jesus had spoken these words
[these very words and their succeeding chapters,
spanning the lengthy Farewell Discourse],
he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley
to a place where there was a garden,
which he and his disciples entered.
Now Judas, who betrayed him,
also knew the place…” (John 18:1-2)

“When Pilate heard [the crowds crying out],
he brought Jesus outside
and sat on the judge’s bench
at a place called The Stone Pavement…”
just before handing him over
to be crucified. (John 19:13)

“So they took Jesus,
and carrying the cross by himself
he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull…
There they crucified him.” (John 19:16b-18a)

“Now there was a garden
in the place where he was crucified,
and in the garden there was a new tomb…
[and] they laid Jesus there.” (John 19:41-42)

As John’s gospel unfolds
onward from those familiar words of promise –
“I go to prepare a place for you” –
words spoken into the disciples’ place of uncertainty and fear,
words often spoken into the place of funerals,
into places of grief and sorrow,
we find ourselves in many very real places with Jesus:
the place of betrayal,
the place of judgment,
the place of death.

Jesus goes on
ahead of his disciples,
ahead of us,
to go to the places where we will all be,
at some point or another.

Oh, the places you’ll go…

“All Alone!”
Dr. Seuss declares,
as it so often feels,
“Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you’ll be quite a lot.”

Oh, the places you’ll go…

Never alone,
Jesus promises,
in those moments,
in those places.

Which is to say:
In all such places
Jesus has been there too.

Which is to say:
There is no place we can go
where Jesus has not already been.

Which is to say:
There is no place we can go
where Jesus is not with us.

“Where I am,
there you may be also.”

***

“On you will go,”
Dr. Seuss goes on,
with an honest encouragement,
“though the weather be foul.
On you will go
though your enemies prowl.
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl.
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.”

Through each “Bang-up” and “Hang-up”
through the places of grief and sorrow,
through the places of betrayal and judgment,
through the places of uncertainty and fear,
through all places – even to the place of death –
there is Jesus.

Indeed, there is no place you can go
where Jesus has not already been
or is –
no thing and no one that can separate you
from the abiding presence and love of Jesus –
whatever places you go.