United In Christ’s Love (5/8/16)
With my mother, Kay Olson, on the night of my graduation
from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, June 6, 2014
It seems that I've fallen behind in posting my sermons. This is the sermon that I preached on Mother's Day. In this sermon I discussed our spiritual mother, the Church, and how we must work to share Christ's love and peace within the Church and outside of our churches, too.
Sermon
Good morning!
Happy Mother’s Day! This is the very first time I’ve preached on Mother’s Day,
so I think I need to offer a few words of thanks for my own mother—and also, I
know she’ll be reading this sooner or later, so I probably shouldn’t let this
opportunity pass. My mother is a woman of great faith. She has always been
active in church and she has blessed many choirs with her talents. Without a
doubt, were it not for my mother and her enduring faith, I would not be
standing here today.
When
I was a kid my mother dragged me to church every Sunday. I didn’t want to go,
but I wasn’t given a choice. Seeds were planted in those years that wouldn’t
flower and bloom for many seasons, but they did flower and bloom, all the same.
And when I returned to church after many years of drifting, I went to church
with my mother at my side. Though she’s not here for me to thank her in person,
I want you all to know how grateful I am to her.
Now I
have to admit, I wasn’t sure if I could coax a Mother’s Day sermon out of
today’s Scriptures—neither of them speaks specifically about mothers or
motherhood. Sometimes when I’m writing and I get stuck, I go back to the hymns.
In a few minutes, we’re going to sing “The Church’s One Foundation.” The first
line is: “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord, She is His new
creation by water and the Word.” Her
Lord. The Church is represented in the feminine. In fact, the Church, with a
capital-C, is often seen as the bride of Christ. This idea, that the Church is
the bride of Christ, comes from the Apostle Paul. It’s most clearly stated in
the letter to the Ephesians, but Paul hints at this idea in other letters, too.
I would guess that most of us grew up in the church and were nurtured by the
church. So perhaps on this Mother’s Day, as we celebrate our earthly mothers,
we should also celebrate our spiritual mother, the church.
In
this morning’s reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus is making his final
remarks to the disciples. It seems odd to hear this story today, doesn’t it? It
was only six weeks ago that we celebrated Christ’s resurrection, and now, we’re
back in the Upper Room with the disciples. On the liturgical calendar—the
church calendar, that is—Easter isn’t just one day; it’s a whole season. In
this season of Easter, the Lectionary offers us a series of readings from the
Book of Acts and the Gospel of John. Remember, the Gospel of John is different
from the other three gospels. It offers a deeper, more theological account of
Jesus’ life and ministry, and his death and resurrection.
One
of the central themes in the Gospel of John is God’s all-encompassing love for
humanity. That love is expressed in Christ’s sacrifice: “For God so loved the
world that he gave his only son.” Through Christ, we are empowered to become
the heirs of God’s fullness; “a gift reflecting God’s enduring love that
outdoes the loving gift of the Law through Moses.”[1] We’re
looking at this section of the Gospel of John this Sunday because it really
shows us how Jesus taught God’s love to the disciples.
So
here we are in the room with the disciples. They’ve all shared the Passover
meal, and now, Jesus offers a prayer to God. Jesus prays for the disciples: He
prays that they will continue His ministry and He prays for those who might
hear the disciples and come to faith through their work. In other words, Jesus
prays for the church. Listen to Jesus’ words:
- · I ask not only on behalf of these: Jesus means these disciples.
- · but also on behalf those who will believe in me through their word: Those who will believe are those people who hear the gospel message as proclaimed by the disciples, through their word.
Jesus offers this prayer to God the Father so that
all believers—the disciples and the newly converted members of the church—can
be united in God through Christ’s love. Jesus is praying for us and he’s
praying for the unity of the church.
In
some ways, it seems like Jesus is praying for the disciples in the same way
that a mother might pray for her children: “They belonged to God, but God gave
them to Jesus to care for, to teach, to nurture. Soon Jesus will go away and he
prays for these children with the love of a motherly heart.”[2]
Jesus wants the disciples to understand God’s love so that they can continue
Christ’s work in the world. That work was and still is dangerous.
Even
within the church, God’s children fight with one another. Now I’m an only
child, so I never had any siblings to fight with. But I have it on good
authority that mothers who have raised more than one child sometimes have to
stop their kids from fighting. Is this true? I know I’ve heard this before.
Thelma, is this true? Your sons never fought with each other, did they?
This
is part of our human nature—when we are in conflict with each other we fight.
Sometimes the conflict is real and sometimes it is imagined. Think about some
of the things that cause kids to fight: “Mom, he’s looking at me again!” Inside
the church we might argue over the mission budget. Outside the church we fight
about, well, everything.
I
don’t need to remind you that this is an election year. The presidential
campaigns have been ugly and they’re only going to get worse. It won’t be long
before the campaign commercials take over our televisions and radios. Let me
assure you, I will not advocate for any candidate or party from the pulpit. I
know that there are people of all political persuasions in this congregation. I
believe it’s important that we strive for peace within this congregation and we
need to work for peace outside of these walls, too.
To
have peace in our church and in our society, we must have love. This is the
constant message of the Gospel of John:
Just when we think
we’ve figured out what’s going on in John’s gospel, we are surprised at every
turn. Jesus proclaims God’s love for the world, yet prays that these beloved
children will be protected from the world. Jesus speaks of himself as the Good
Shepherd whose sheep hear his voice—yet, just when we’re ready to shut the
gate, Jesus says, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold—I must bring
them also.” Just when we point to John’s gospel to confirm that God is our
Father, we hear Jesus praying from a mother’s heart. Even in John’s fatherly
gospel, we see a picture of Jesus who seems very much like a mother.[3]
In the Easter season, the Scriptures from John are
paired with Acts because Acts shows us how the apostles lived out Christ’s
teachings to love one another as he loved them. And we know that the early
church grew by great leaps as the new Christian congregations lived the lessons
that the apostles taught them.
Jesus
concludes this prayer by saying: “Righteous Father, the world does not know
you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name
known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have
loved me may be in them, and I in them.” We cannot do this by ourselves. We
cannot love as Christ loves; we cannot love as God loves. Our own love is
fallible and corrupt. Jesus knows this, so he prays for the disciples and for
us. Only God and Christ can love perfectly. Jesus knows this, too, so he prays
for us. It is only with the Holy Spirit that we can love one another more
fully.
We have
to remember Christ’s love for us. Yes, we will
fight with one another, even here in the church. We are those unruly children. Yet
if we are to live into Christ’s love for us, if we are to live into the
fullness of God’s love, then we must work to make peace. We must work to do
that inside and outside of the church. We have to make peace with one another
and work to maintain that peace. And we have to share that love and peace with
everyone we meet outside the church. We must always show God’s love to everyone
we meet and we have to foster the peace of Christ everywhere we go. Thanks be
to God. Amen.
Benediction
Now,
beloved, as you depart from this place, remember that we are an Easter people. We
are called to be Christ’s church in the world, the world today. We are called
to love one another as Jesus loved us. So go forth and be instruments of God’s
peace and reconciliation. Do not return evil for evil to any person, but know
that we are all loved by God, and that we are called to reflect that love to
everyone we meet. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, let all God’s children
say, Amen!
[1] Raymond
E. Brown. An Introduction to the New Testament.
New York: Doubleday (1997).
[2] Barbara
Lundblad. “Commentary on John 17:20-26,” retrieved from: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2851
[3] Barbara
Lundblad. “Commentary on John 17:20-26,” retrieved from: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2851
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