Revelation 10, 22-22:5; John 14:23-29 Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one in whom, through whom and for whom we are destined for salvation and who provides the perfect example of loving. Please join me in prayer: O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the mediations of each and every one of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. -0- Happy Mother’s Day to you all, for you all – women AND men – serve the flock as mother. Now I don’t intend by saying that to in any way diminish the traditional view of mothers, but “mothering,” for those of us who follow Christ, covers so much more and is everyone’s responsibility. More about that later. The last book of the Bible, The Revelation to John, which we know by the shorthand of Revelation – note there is no “s” in the name – has been problematic for Christians since its beginning. It was written in the latter part of the First Century, probably between 69 and 96 CE, to seven churches in Asia. But the argument over whether to accept it into the New Testament raged for almost three centuries. A key disputed point was the author’s identity, with some in the West attributing it to the writer of the Gospel of John and others of Eastern Christian tradition saying it was another John. Today, the latter view prevails, but a sizable number of scholars hold to the former view. But even if we treat the author’s identity as relatively inconsequential to the message, and it is really, we’re still arguing about the book and its meaning 1,700 years later. For example, in 1970, Hal Lindsey wrote a book entitled The Late Great Planet Earth which purported to line up the “predictions” in Revelation and elsewhere with then-current events and predict the near end of time. Other popular preachers have done the same, picking up phrases in the book and relating them to events or even organizations of the day, seeing in John’s visions a prophesy of the end being foretold. A popular series of books called the Left Behind series, including a movie, followed suit. All of it built on a misguided attempt to use Revelation as some sort of guidebook to the end of time, even though Jesus warns against such efforts, saying, “(a)bout that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son , but only the Father.” The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has also declared that this dispensationalist view is inconsistent with our confessions. More importantly than what GA has said, perhaps, is that all this misuse has clouded our vision of what it seems to me is the true gift Revelation gives to us, and that is a foretaste of what life can be like in the Kingdom of God. First, let’s understand that the Kingdom of God is not some pie-in-the-sky, far-off place we’ll get to in the sweet by-and-by. No, the Kingdom of God is here, today, for you and me to enjoy if we will. And what does that look like? From his exile on Patmos, where he had been sent because he espoused Christianity, the John of Revelation describes a place that has no temple because the place itself is a temple. In other words, no temple is needed because the peace of Christ and love He represents envelopes the place, it is in the air. It’s part of society’s DNA, if you will. This was a near-heretical concept for Jews. For them, the temple represented the place where humans and God came together – God’s dwelling place. For there to be no temple would be akin to saying God is absent. But what if God were not confined to the temple, but permeated everything? That is the vision of John: I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day – and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Now we can waste time trying to argue that this fanciful passage attempts to describe a real, brick-and-mortar place that floats down out of heaven, or we can begin to act as if the society it describes exists. What would it be like if we, in all our doings, followed the Golden Rule, that simple little thing from Luke 6:31: “Do to others as you would have them do to you?” What would it be like if we always “turned the other cheek,” or “went the second mile?” What would it be like if we followed Jesus’ instructions from today’s Gospel reading? Jesus answered [the other Judas], “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” What if we did that in our workplaces? What if we did that in our homes? What if we did that in our communities? What if we did that in our country? Would we then be living in a place that would be so safe, for example, that we would need no locks on the doors – or from John’s vision, no gates shut at night? I suspect so. Would we then live in a place where we recognized everyone, everyone, as God’s chosen? Probably. Would we then live in a world where the entire community comes to the aid of those in it who are hurting? Without a doubt. Does such a place even come close to existing? Well, surprisingly, yes, I’d say so. The community of faith here today is such a place. The genuine love and care and concern with which you surround each other, and with which you have surrounded me and my family in the past two months, is evidence of just such a place. There are others like this place spotted around the world, of course, just not enough. And that’s where we come in – and that’s where we need to serve as mother to the world. Mothers, perhaps more than fathers, teach us about relationships. It’s often mothers who we turn to when as children we are hurt emotionally as well as physically. It’s mothers who seem more likely to say to us, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It’s not that fathers don’t, or can’t teach us these things – many do and do it well. But we associate these relational traits more with mothering than fathering, more with estrogen than testosterone. So on this Mother’s Day, we should think about how we can imitate God’s mothering. There are plenty of biblical references to God as mother, such as several images of God giving birth to the world or a people, but perhaps the strongest is in Isaiah, 66:13, which says, “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.” And, I can’t help but note that the last half of the verse says “You shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” Even though Isaiah may not have realized it, he was writing about the same Jerusalem that John of Patmos was describing. There is no question that part of our responsibility as Christians is to live as Jesus taught us, to “keep his words.” Indeed, it seems to me that the Gospel writings are just about equal parts advice on how to live – loving, caring, helping – and debate over whether Jesus is the Messiah, and therefore really worth listening too ABOUT loving, caring and helping. Now none of this is easy. You may be better than I am at it, but I know I’m quick to judge, quick to sneer, quick to find fault, and quick to consider revenge or payback. But we all can do better and, truly, change the world. You’ve probably seen this series of TV commercials – and I can’t remember what product or company they’re advertising – but they show a series of kind deeds. One person does something nice to a second person, help them avoid being hit by a car, or opening a door, or warning them about something, whatever. The first person then just keeps moving on, leaving the second person looking kind of stunned. Then the second person does something for a third person, and the scene is repeated. Then the third person, and so on and so on and so on. (Sometimes, not often but sometimes, commercials have better sermons that we get from pulpits or deep-thinking theologians.) I tried this the other day. With my impatience and sometimes short temper, I have been known to display a less-than-Christian attitude while driving, especially when it comes to seeing the questionable behavior of other drivers. Well, I was driving down MacCorkle earlier this week, thinking about this week’s sermon, and how I wanted to talk about how we all had responsibility to make the world a better place. It was a nice day, so I had the window down. It was also about 5 o’clock so traffic wasn’t moving all that smoothly. As I was going through the 35th-36th Street interchanges, I was in the inside lane. Traffic had backed up in both directions, so as I was headed West, I came to a stop along side a car headed east. The driver also had her window down. Now you know how sometimes traffic backs up coming off the 35th Street bridge onto MacCorkle, and this was one of those times, so my neighbor was obviously frustrated at the pace of traffic. All of a sudden, another driver whipped onto MacCorkle from the opposite direction on 35th Street, and slipped into the narrow space in front of my opposite-facing neighbor. You could see the frustration and irritation building – she was probably thinking as so many of us have in similar situations, “Now I’ll never get through this light.” So – well, I couldn’t resist – I said not too loudly (although I knew it was loud enough) and in as non-judgmental way as possible, “Oh, relax, give her a break.” My neighbor’s response didn’t necessarily indicate she appreciated the reminder to “turn the other cheek,” or to “go the extra mile,” but you could also tell from her face that she wasn’t quite sure what to make of my, shall we say, advice. It looked as if she wanted to be mad, but sort of knew deep down that I had a point. I smiled at her as my light changed, and drove away. I wonder, perhaps, if down the road, she may react a bit more kindly in a similar situation. You’ve seen how it goes at other times in the crunch of traffic or in a crowded store, how one act of kindness by one person is “passed along” to another. So, if we start acting day in and day out the way our mothers, and our Lord, have encouraged us to act, maybe the world will slowly become a better place. Naïve? Yes, perhaps, sure it is. Pollyannaish? Absolutely. Some may argue that you and I are individually too insignificant to make a big impact. After all, we are only a small group of believers in a small city in a small state. And, by many measures, even all of us Presbyterians are a pretty small lot, when compared with other faith groups. But we have strength, and Jesus said we would have help. (T)he Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” The world finds the kind of behavior I’m talking about to be odd, soft, weak. But Jesus said he will give us peace, and he will, he dies. An old Irish blessing puts it this way:
"Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.
And if we have any doubt about whether Jesus means it, again all we have to do is keep reading John 14 from today.
You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.
And we can believe John of Patmos knew what he was describing in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, his vision of what life would be like in the Kingdom, the here-and-now Kingdom:
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
So on this Mother’s Day 2007, whether we are female or male, whether we are married or single, whether we are biological mothers or surrogate mothers, whether we are young or old, we can remember that we need to “mother” this world into an attitude of grace and love.
To God alone be the glory, amen.
Please join me in prayer: Good and gracious God, help us to remember all that you taught us, and to remember that you have promised to strengthen us to follow what you taught us. Help us to “mother” each other, and to care for each other, in the name of Jesus the Christ, we pray. Amen.
