The Gospel According to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

JOHN 14:2.

In My Father's house are many mansions.

 

God is sneaky, mischievous, in a fun, I’m-looking-out-for-you sort of way.  His Truths are found in many unexpected places.  One such odd place, i submit, is the hit TV show Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition.

 

For those not familiar with the show, each episode focuses on a needy and/or deserving family, whose home could use a serious upgrade.  A team of designers and builders pretty much take down the existing home, and reconstruct a totally new one in one-week’s time, upgrading beyond anything the owner had dared to dream.

 

The hook is the chosen families.  They are almost invariably a family that has endured hardship, such as from the death of the mother; made significant sacrifices, say for a sick or handicapped child; or selflessly given back to the community, in far more abundance than they have taken in return.  The common theme is that selflessness, of putting others first.

 

I see the influence of Jesus Christ in almost all of these families.

 

Matthew 25: 34

 

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’

 

So here comes the Extreme Makeover team, with their earthly metaphor of that “mansion just over the hilltop”, beckoning the sheep to inherit their reward.

 

You might think i make too much of the metaphor.  And i’m aware of the varying interpretations of the word translated as “mansion” in John 14:2.  But consider this:

 

§         God will reward his children

§         We can lay up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:20)

§         Heaven will be awesome, beyond our best dreams