“You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”

John 14:28

Jesus is about to die, and he tells his disciples, “If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I’m going to the Father . . .”

Lately I’ve been writing about my friends who died in 2018, and one friend who’s currently in the very process of dying. This friend is in his forties and has three weeks to three months left. It can be easy for me to think about myself and my own feelings when I lose a friend or family member. But from the perspective of the person I’ve lost, if they’re a believer, dying is the best thing ever. Yes, it’s a hard painful bridge to trudge across, but Jesus is on the other side.

In our text, Jesus is saying, “If you loved me, you’d be happy for me, because I’m going to my Father.” And the believing friend or family member would say the same thing to me and to you. “If you loved me, you’d be happy for me, because of where I’m going, and who I’m going to be with.”

I said it at my (earthly) father’s memorial a little over a year ago:

The best day in a believer’s life in this world is the last day of a believer’s life in this world, because on that day he or she will be in the presence of Jesus.

Nothing in this life compares to that.