7 Easter 2016
Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 97
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17
John 17:20-26
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem… How often have I desired to
gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood
under her wings…”
On the final day of my trip to Charleston, South
Carolina last week, I took an early morning walk on the
beach. It was a perfect beach walking day—soft breeze,
fluffy clouds drifting across a deep blue sky that had been
washed clean by a light rain the night before. The sand was
smooth and the waves gently touched my feet as I walked.
A little ahead of me I noticed a woman peacefully standing
on the edge of the water gazing into the distance. She had
the loveliest smile on her face. She saw me out of the
corner of her eye as I passed and turned to greet me. I
commented on her smile and her sense of peace, at which
point she her eyes filled with tears and she said, “My
daughter is getting married in a few hours and I’m
remembering how wonderful it is to be her mother.”
Today is Mother’s Day—a time we recognize the deep
relationships of family—especially the unique gifts of
mothering.
God understands the wonder and joy of being a parent.
Listen to how scripture describes God’s mothering love.
“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you
shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” Or “Like the eagle that
stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, God spreads
wings to catch you and carries you on pinions.” And God
also said, “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I who took
them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed
them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands
of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their
cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.”
And yet, like a loving parent, God releases us to step
out into the world, knowing that we must learn to be fully
what were created to be. But even with this release, there is
always a loving and supportive hand, ready to catch us
when we fall.
I am reminded of the section on Children from Kahlil
Gibran’s The Prophet.
Your children are not your children. They are the sons and
daughters of Life’s longing for itself. You may give them
your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own
thoughts. You may house their bodies, but not their souls,
for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you
cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them
like you, for life goes not backward nor tarries with
yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living
arrows are sent forth. The Archer sees the mark upon the
path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that
his arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the Archer’s hand be for gladness: for
even as he loves the arrow that flies, so he loves also the
bow that is stable.
Our readings this morning all tell us of God’s loving
care and protectiveness. Except for the Psalm, they are all
from the New Testament, because during the Easter season,
it is our custom to not look back to the events in the past,
but forward to the coming of Jesus. Our first reading is
from the Acts of the Apostles, a book that tells about the
happenings in the lives of the disciples and this infant
movement after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension. In
this reading we see Paul and Silas, imprisoned on rather
specious charges, miraculously released from prison by the
power of a God who cared that the safety of his devoted
followers who were in jeopardy.
The second reading is from that mysterious and often
misunderstood writing called the Revelation or Apocalypse
to John. (The Greek word “apocalypse” means
“revelation”.)
Revelation is the last book of the Bible, and it has a
reputation for strangeness and mystery. Strategic parts are
quoted with relish when describing the end of the world.
But Martin Luther in setting the theology of the
Reformation, felt that it shouldn’t even have been included
in the canon of scripture. He said, “There are many far
better books available for us to keep…my spirit cannot
accommodate itself to this book.”
Most of us have shied away from really engaging this
book in meaningful study—drawing back from its fiery and
horrifying images. But if we take time to read it, look at its
background and step inside of its mystical images, we will
find that it is one of the most beautiful books of the Bible.
As a text, it was never intended to have been read in
bits and pieces, but as a sweeping set of visual and poetic
images that appeal to the readers’ imagination. It is fitting
that it is the last book of the entire Christian scripture,
because in its final chapters—and the one we have read
today is the last chapter—it tells of the end toward which
the whole Biblical message has been focused. “Come Lord
Jesus”
This particular reading says that God is the beginning
and the end, the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega.
The one who like a mother cares, and cleanses, and
instructs and gives. “Come and let everyone who is thirsty
drink the water of life as a gift. Drink and be nourished.”
Then in the Gospel of John we hear Jesus as he prays
on behalf of his disciples, a prayer that shows his deep
concern and love for them. He says, “I desire that those
also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I
am…I made your name know 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.” Jesus is asking that the deep
nourishing, life-giving love that has been poured into him
will be also given to those whom he loves.
These scriptures are not about the saints who have
lived and taught and healed and converted two thousand
years ago—they are about us today!! Us, you and me!
They are about what is promised to those who accept God’s
love and do God’s will. We are those who have received
extravagant love from the outpouring heart of God. And
we are compelled to share this love. We are compelled to
act—because if we say that we are Christians, then we must
be Christians through and through—in our thoughts, words
and deeds. And when we act like Christians we will be
filled with love and reach out to each other, as a mother
who protects her young.
Christian author David Lose writes in his book, The High
Priestly Prayer and the Challenge of a Lifetime, “Did you
hear that? Two thousand years ago, understandably
focused on his impending suffering and death, Jesus
nevertheless turns his attention to us, actually prays for us.
Jesus prays, in fact for all those of every time and place
who will come to believe through the testimony of his
disciples, and that includes us…
And right there, in a heartbeat, the distance between the
stories the Bible tells and our own stories collapses.
Suddenly, what’s going on in the biblical story isn’t way
back then, it’s right here and now, as Jesus prays for us--for our ups and down, our hopes and disappointments, our
aspirations and commitments, our yearning for meaning
and need for purpose. Right there. Right then. Right now.”
As this Easter Season draws to a close we are asked to
take the love and joy and wonder and mystery we have
experienced out into the world; to take the tender love that
God gives to each of and to share it with others. To share
the good news that God loves each of us, just as he loved
Jesus, before the foundations of the world were laid. AND
we are asked to love with the love with which Jesus loved
us, which is the same love with which God loves Jesus. Let
that be in each of us.
Look, see, He who has ascended into heaven, who has
died and is no more on this fragile earth with the rest of us,
it is he who loves us—and asks us to love each other- to
open our arms and be the mother who comforts and loves.
Happy Mothers’ Day.
Come Lord Jesus! Amen