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John 15:9-17 “As the Father loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete. 12 This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I don’t call you servants any longer, because servants don’t know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because everything I heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you could go and produce fruit and so that your fruit could last. As a result, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. 17 I give you these commandments so that you can love each other. Today we celebrate Mothers everywhere, and the impact they have on our lives.
Becoming a parent is a wonderful and scary time in life. There is a sense of excitement and wonder. But there is also uncertainty and fear. Motherhood is not automatic or easy. Babies don’t come with an instruction manual. We worry that we will not be up to the task of raising healthy and well-adjusted children. We worry about the dangers they will face and the hard lessons that are out there. Motherhood is a choice to love and trust. We choose to love our children the best we can, and trust that God will make up for anything we lack. Motherhood is an exercise in faith. Parenting is all predicated on love. Love is what takes our very human efforts and makes them enough. It is the kind of love that allows for mistakes, makes allowances for learning, growing, and shortcomings in our family. It is a love that is “A Welcome Place.” To put it another way, love is a velvet bond that always holds secure. The greatest gift we can give our children, and the children we come in contact with every day, is that they know we will always love them. A basic human need is our need to be loved, and our desire to love someone else. I ran across a song several years ago that was written by Paul Overstreet. It is called, “I Won’t Take Less Than Your Love” Tanya Tucker also sang the song. The verses talk about a conversation between a man and his wife, a son and his mother, and a person and God. “How much do I owe you said the husband to the wife, For standing beside me through the hard years of my life, Shall I bring you diamonds, shall I bring you furs, Say the word and it's yours, (and the wife said) Chorus: I won't take less than your love, sweet love, I won't take less than your love, All the riches of the world could never be enough, And I won't take less than your love (verse 2) How much do I owe you to the mother said the son For all that you have taught me in the days that I was young Shall I bring expensive blankets to cast upon your bed And a pillow for to rest your weary head (and the mother said) Chorus: I won't take less than your love, sweet love, I won't take less than your love, All the comforts of the world could never be enough, And I won't take less than your love (verse 3) How much do I owe you said the man to his Lord, For giving me this day and every day that's gone before, Shall I build a temple, shall I make a sacrifice, Tell me Lord and I will pay the price (and the Lord said) Chorus: I won't take less than your love, sweet love, I won't take less than your love, All the riches of the world could never be enough, And I won't take less than your love” If we zoom in on the second verse, as a child we receive so much form our mothers and the significant women in our growing up. Love is the bond that blesses both the mother and the child. There is a caveat, however. Our love can be hindered by experiences where love was not good or was absent. Sometimes a parent may not be equipped to love the way a child needs it. It can leave a child struggling with what love means. That is a time when God’s love can heal and increase our capacity to love others. Praise God that most parents have and grow in their capacity to love their families. In our passage this morning, Verse 12 is a command to love as we have been loved. “This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you.” That command is reinforced in Verse 17, “17 I give you these commandments so that you can love each other.” When God is the source of our love, we will always be enough. Our service began this morning with a video entitled, “Moms: A Portrait of God” Here is the transcript of that video. OUR WORLD NEEDS TO SEE GOD … DESPERATELY … WHETHER THEY KNOW IT OR NOT … OUR WORLD NEEDS TO SEE GOD. THEY NEED TO SEE HIS PROTECTION … AND HIS LOVE … AND HIS COMFORTING HAND. OUR WORLD NEEDS TO SEE GOD. “I will protect them like a bear robbed of her cubs.” (Hosea 13:8) “Jerusalem, Jerusalem … how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” (Luke 13:34) “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.” (Isaiah 6:33) OUR WORLD NEEDS TO SEE GOD. AND WHAT IF MOMS ARE GIVING THE WORLD A GLIMPSE? WHAT IF THE WORLD CAN SEE GOD UNIQUELY THROUGH MOMS? WHAT IF THERE’S NOTHING ORDINARY ABOUT BEING A MOM? IT’S EASY FOR MOMS TO MISS THE REAL EFFECT THEY HAVE IN THE WORLD. WHEN THEY PROTECT, THEY ARE DISPLAYING A GOD WHO PROTECTS. WHEN THEY COMFORT, MOMS DISPLAY A GOD WHO COMFORTS. AS THEY LOVE, AND LISTEN, AND SUPPORT, AND CARRY, AND HOLD, AND COUNSEL, AND PLAY, AND WORK AND FEED, AND DANCE, AND TEACH … AS THEY DO THESE THINGS, MOMS DO SO MUCH MORE THAN THEY REALIZE. THEY’RE SHOWING THE WORLD A PORTRAIT OF GOD. Our love can mirror God’s love for us, and God’s love living is us can bless generations. That points us to the source of our best love: we love as God loved us. Verse 16 reminds us that God’s love in Jesus chooses us, chooses to love us, and chooses us to love others. Mothers are good at that. But then there are those days with children that really try our patience. A young person’s reasoning powers are sometimes rather short sighted. There is an infamous story told by my parents about my “mouse door” in the back door to our garage. You see, the door, when it opened, hit the step going up into the kitchen of our house. I had been busy cleaning out the garage. I discovered that the back door tended to close itself. That’s just the way it was hung. Well, I decided to put a hook and eye on the door so it would stay open. But as I said, the door hit the step – just barely. A solution came to my mind and, before I had thought of the ramifications of that decision, I had cut a square notch out of the bottom corner of the door. Sure enough, it would open all the way, and the hook and eye worked famously. However … in the winter there would be a small snow drift that came through the hole! Hence, it was dubbed “The Mouse Door.” It ruined the door, and ultimately dad replaced the door. But the correction for my error was used as a learning time. After mom and dad had privately laughed themselves silly, dad approached me and talked me through the error of my logic. Since my father usually had a quick temper, I know it was a God moment that he was so reserved. “Remain in my love” (verses 9-10) is a recurring phrase in our passage. We are told twice in those verses, and, in addition, Jesus speaks once of himself remaining in the Father’s love in those same verses. It is that remaining that keeps us steady, focused on the power of love. To be sure, I got the lecture from my parents on the door, but it was clearly a lecture given in love. As we remain in God’s love, we find the capacity to love sacrificially. I have referred to verse 13 in the last couple of weeks. “No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus did it for us, and his love in us enables us to love more completely – more sacrificially. As I thought about sacrificial love, I was reminded of Solomon. In 1 Kings 3:16-27 there is a story of two mothers. They were living in same house. One of the women had baby, then 3 days later the other woman had baby. The second one’s baby died in the night. She was so distraught that she exchanged the babies, taking the other mother’s baby and placing her dead baby next to the first woman. When morning came, she shared her condolences, but, recognizing her own baby, the mother realized that switch had taken place. Obviously a dispute arose and was ultimately taken to King Solomon, known for his wisdom. Getting nowhere with ascertaining the truth, Solomon called for a sword. In verse 25 it says, The king said, “Cut the living child in two! Give half to one woman and half to the other woman.” The real mother responded very quickly in verse 26, The woman whose son was still alive said to the king, “Please, Your Majesty, give her the living child; please don’t kill him,” for she had great love for her son.” The real mother was willing to sacrifice her own happiness. She would rather give her son away than see him killed. A mother’s love is that great. It is that kind of love I have felt so often. It is that kind of love I hope I have been able to give. The chosen love of a mother is precious and powerful. So, question: How do I sacrifice so that the others around me can feel and experience love? How do we show that love to our grown children? To others around us? The realization is that love is sometimes neither convenient nor easy. Yet, the rewards of that love are beyond measure. I find myself drawn to verse 11. Jesus talks about the joy of that kind of love. “11 I have said these things to you so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete.” Remaining in Jesus’ love – the love of God – brings such joy - both to God and to us. This Mother’s Day let’s celebrate the love of mothers, and our continuing process of loving others. I want to close with a Mother’s Day Prayer. A Mother’s Day Prayer For our mothers, who have given us life and love, that we may show them reverence and love, we pray to the Lord … For mothers who have lost a child through death, that their faith may give them hope, and their family and friends support and console them, we pray to the Lord … For women, though without children of their own, who like mothers have nurtured and cared for us, we pray to the Lord … For mothers, who have been unable to be a source of strength, who have not responded to their children and have not sustained their families, we pray to the Lord … Loving God, as a mother gives life and nourishment to her children, so you watch over your Church. Bless these women, that they may be strengthened as Christian mothers. Let the example of their faith and love shine forth. Grant that we, their sons and daughters, may honor them always with a spirit of profound respect. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Blessings, Twentieth Century, alt) Today, may you find ways to celebrate mothers, and deepen our ability to love with all God’s love. Amen.
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