Community Church Sermons
Seventh Sunday of Easter – May 12, 2002
"The Kingdom of Heaven is Like…A Mother”
John 17:1-11
If Jesus was out on the speaking and preaching circuit today, I’m pretty sure he’d probably have some new material. After all, what is a preacher without a new joke or two, or a new way of looking at something old? In fact, I think Jesus would definitely have some fresh parables to preach. The parables of the New Testament, of course, used images from daily life in the world of the time so everyone would understand.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed…” This famous parable is about how the kingdom of God has very humble beginnings, so much so that you and I might not think it will ever take hold. And then, one day, we’ll look out and the whole world will be covered with it, just like an ancient field would be covered with the yellow flowers of the mustard plant. Farmers of that time knew that the mustard plant was like a weed – almost overnight growing so thick and large that birds could make their nests in it. No matter how hard they tried to stop it, they couldn’t because the seeds were so small and were carried everywhere by the wind. So is the kingdom of heaven.
Today, Jesus probably wouldn’t use the mustard seed as an example of the kingdom since that’s not so much a problem we face here in East Tennessee. I’m pretty sure that if he were to preach a parable here where we live, it would probably go something like this…
We ALL know about kudzu!
Parables are a wonderful way of using familiar images from daily life to teach about God’s kingdom. So I’ve been wondering about the parables Jesus would preach in our day, and that got me to thinking more specifically about this particular day – Mother’s Day. I wonder what parables Jesus would come up with if he were the guest preacher in our pulpit today – on Mother’s Day, 2002?
The kingdom of heaven is like a mother who spends weeks getting the house clean, and cooking and baking and preparing wonderful things because her children will soon be home for the holidays.
That sounds like a parable Jesus might preach. After all, the Bible tells us that “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor mind even imagined the wonderful things God has in store for those who love Him.” You see, the kingdom of heaven is a lot like your mother!
Or how about this one?
The kingdom of heaven is like a mother with three children – two who are doing well in school, and the other with developmental disabilities. And she becomes a crusader for programs that will help her disabled child.
Jesus often reminded us of how God is actively on the side of those who are weak and unable to fend for themselves. God’s kingdom is like such a mother.
Let’s try another Mother’s Day parable.
The kingdom of heaven is like two mothers – one Israeli, the other Palestinian – cradling their dead children in their arms. They see each other’s tears, and vow to find a better way.
Jesus often spoke about the broad and easy ways that lead to destruction, and the narrow and more difficult way that leads to life. These two mothers are a living parable of the kingdom of God.
And one more Mother’s Day parable.
The kingdom of heaven is like a mother who tells her children every morning to put on clean underwear just in case they’re in an accident and have to go to the hospital.
Mothers everywhere do this, and it’s one of those things that’s actually kind of self-serving. It was not until Sandy and I became parents ourselves that we came to understand that this almost universal mother’s rule has nothing to do with protecting either the children or the hospital staff. I mean, who really cares about whether the underwear is clean or dirty?
Well, OUR MOTHERS CARE! Because what will people think? This is a parable intended to protect the good reputation of our mothers.
Don’t you remember how Jesus once said, “So let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your FATHER who is in heaven.”? Our lives reflect upon the reputation of our God…in the same way our underwear reflects upon the reputation of our mothers!
Now what does all this have to do with our Scripture reading from the 17th chapter of John? The passage describes the prayer Jesus prayed on Maundy Thursday, just before leaving the upper room to go to the garden of Gethsemane. You know, the Gospels are full of references to the fact that Jesus prayed a lot. And yet, in only two instances are the actual words of his prayers recorded for us. The prayer in Gethsemane is recorded in Luke 22 where he pleads with God to find another way than his having to die on the cross, and then relinquishes with the words, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done.”
And then there is this prayer in John 17. It is often referred to as “the high priestly prayer,” for it is a highly passionate prayer in behalf of the disciples who will soon be scattered, and for those future believers – like us - in every corner of the world.
And the theme of this prayer is so very important because – of all the things Jesus could have prayed for in the final moments of his life – this is what he chose. And the thread that weaves its way all the way through this high priestly prayer is summed up in verse 11:
“I will remain no longer in the world, but they are still
in the world…Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name…so that they
may be one even as we are one.”
During the tumultuous years at the end of the first
century and the beginning of the second, the early church to which John was
writing was faced with the historical reality that Christianity and Judaism
were going separate ways. Moreover, Christian churches were dividing into
separate and unique communities whose differences often drove a wedge between
them. John could only imagine what the future would hold as the Christian
family spread itself out across the whole world and divergent cultures. Would
it split apart and become so fragmented and disjointed that it would lose its
power to bear witness to Christ whose mission was to bring the world together in God? I mean, if Christians can’t be united, how can we expect the world to find unity? And so John made sure Christians in
every age would remember Jesus’ most important prayer.
“I will remain no longer in the world, but they are still
in the world…Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name…so that they
may be one even as we are one.”
I remember a mother named Charlene. She had a husband
named Ellis, and two daughters – one named Elizabeth, the other named Dorothy.
Both daughters lived far away, not only in geographic terms, but also
relationally. Elizabeth, the older daughter, was accomplished, refined, and
responsible. She was married to an officer in the Air Force and was an almost
ideal wife, mother and daughter.
Not so Dorothy. She was the rebellious one. When she
went off to college, she left home for good. I’m not sure of all the reasons
behind the broken relationship with home, but I suspect it probably had
something to do with always living in Betty’s shadow, and being expected to
live up to her example of perfection. So Dorothy ran away from it all. She met
a guy and dropped out of college. They took off for parts unknown, and got
heavily involved in drugs. Elizabeth pretty much disowned her sister, and
Dorothy returned the favor. Ellis, their father, didn’t quite know what to do.
But Charlene loved both her daughters – as different as they were - and prayed
for them every day.
It was Charlene’s diagnosis of cancer that changed
things. It was a very rare form. Inoperable. Untreatable. Even chemotherapy
wouldn’t touch it. The doctors said six months, but by the time three months
had passed, Charlene was in the hospital and in the final days of her life.
Ellis was there with her, doing his best to support
his wife. And Elizabeth came as soon as she could, toting her two children with
her, organizing her husband’s life, and using her nursing background to sort of
take over her mother’s care. What a wonderful daughter she was.
And then one day the door to the hospital room swung
open. And there stood Dorothy.
Her mother began to weep. Her father ran to embrace
her. But Betty stayed on the other side of the bed, pretending to adjust an IV.
And so the days went on – one daughter on one side of
the bed, the other daughter on the other side of the bed. And in the middle,
between them both, was their dying mother.
And as Charlene’s life slowly slipped away on that
last day, she mustered up all the strength she could to move her wasted hands.
One she placed on the hand of Elizabeth. The other she placed on the hand of
Dorothy. And ever so slowly, Charlene lifted those two hands, and brought them
together over her dying body until the two hands touched.
“Take care of
each other,” Charlene weakly whispered.
And then she died - hands falling away - leaving the
hands of her daughters joined above her body.
Sometimes when Mother’s Day dawned at our little
church in Massachusetts, Charlene’s whole family would come to worship. Ellis
was there, sitting in a front pew. And so was Dorothy, who now lived at home,
and was getting ready to be married. And right next to her was Elizabeth, and
her husband and children who flew in from wherever they happened to be
stationed.
And from the pulpit of the church where I stood, I
was so often blessed on those days to see Elizabeth and Dorothy still holding
hands. They had become not only close sisters, but good friends, too. And when
I saw them together, I could see their
mother in them.
The kingdom of
heaven is like a mother whose children are scattered and separated and
different. She places herself in the middle of them, tells each one of her love,
and then brings their hands together saying, “Take care of each other.”
And when they do, their mother is glorified and made
known, and the world is made a better place.
And in a world like ours – filled with so much
enmity, strife and division – both religious and otherwise - this is a parable
that needs to be told.
“I will remain no longer in the world, but they are still
in the world…Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name…so that they
may be one even as we are one.”
Those who have ears to hear…let them hear!