The Lutheran Hour
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"Lay Down Your Life"
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Text: 1 John 3:1-2
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Today, Mother’s Day, we rejoice in Jesus, the Savior of little children. The Son of God lived lonely so our sons and daughters might never be lonely. The Son of God laid down His life so our sons and daughters might live. The Son of God rose so the Christian family, you, your children and your grandchildren, might live in heaven, eternally.
It’s Mother’s Day. I could begin by talking about children and how they celebrate Mother’s Day. I could tell you about the eight-year-old girl who gave her mother a box of candy with a card that read: “Dear Mother, here is the box of candy I bought you. It is good candy. I know because I ate three pieces.” I could start by telling you of a seven-year-old who gave a card that said, “Dear Mother, Here are two aspirins. Have a Happy Mother’s Day.”
It’s Mother’s Day. I could begin with advice for men buying for the mother of their children. Now I can’t tell you what to get, only what to avoid. Please do not buy anything electrical. Electrical things are practical. They are not romantic. Don’t buy anything that involves a size. The odds of you getting the right one are smaller than winning the lottery. If you buy big, she’ll say, “Do I look like that to you?” If you buy small, she’ll comment, “I haven’t gotten into that in 10 years.” Don’t buy useful things. Don’t buy jewelry. What you can afford, she won’t wear. What she would wear, you can’t afford. Don’t spend too much–that’s wasteful. Don’t spend too little because, after all, is that all she’s worth?
It’s Mother’s Day. You’ve all watched professional sports. It doesn’t matter if it’s hockey, football, baseball, or championship chess. When the cameras zoom in on the winner, he or she will stop whatever he or she is doing, hold up an index finger and say, “Number 1.” If the camera stays on them for a second or two longer, they will mouth the words, “Hi, mom!” Why is it always “mom” that comes to these players’ minds at the moment of success? Why not “Hi, wife!,” or “Hi, kids!,” or “Hi, dad,” or even, “Hi college coach that brought me to this point where I’m making a gazillion dollars?” Why do they always say hello to mom?
These things happen because people are loyal to their mothers. They know, no matter what, a mother will remain loyal. No matter what her son or daughter does, mom still manages to love. A person can commit an unspeakable crime and everyone will abandon him, but not mom. Look at Mary,Jesus’ mother. As the Savior was dying to take away the sins of humankind, almost everybody else had deserted Him. Embarrassed or frightened, most friends fled from His side. But Mary, the Lord’s mother, stayed at the foot of the cross (John 19:35).
It’s Mother’s Day and it’s right that we celebrate it. But what are we celebrating? We can celebrate a mother’s labor of love. Not long ago, a 7th grade science teacher began a study on magnets. He introduced the subject with this riddle: “My name has six letters. I begin with the letter `M’ and I pick things up. What am I?” The answer in science class should have been “magnet.” Half the children in the class wrote, “mother.” And mom’s do pick up. Those who calculate such things say that by the time her newborn reaches maturity, mom will have put in some 18,000 hours of work. That’s work she would never have had to do if her child had not been born.
So, is that what we celebrate this Mother’s Day? Is Mother’s Day merely a time to give thanks for a biological maid who struggles and suffers through her children’s sins, stunts and shenanigans?
The church, Christ’s church, says, “No!” The church, Christ’s church, says, we rejoice in Christian mothers who write on the hearts of their children what the rough hand of the world cannot erase. In doing so we remember birth mothers, adoptive mothers, and mothers who never had a child to call their own, but who, nevertheless, found it within themselves to love and speak of the Lord to the offspring of others.
We remember mothers like that of Moses who cared so much for her son she was willing to risk the wrath of an Egyptian Pharaoh to keep him safe (Exodus 2:1-10). We remember the unnamed mother who appeared before King Solomon. She loved her child so much she was willing to give him up rather than see him harmed (1 Kings 3: 16). We think back upon Lois and Eunice, who without male assistance, brought young Timothy up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (2 Timothy 1:15; 3:15). Each of these mothers and many others who could be listed, acted as the Lord’s representatives to their children. Each in their own way, gave their lives for their young and tried to reflect the gracious love of God.
Yes, this Mother’s Day, we celebrate these heroic mothers of history. But, we celebrate more than the past. This Mother’s Day we celebrate those, who in Christ’s name, are showing their children the Lord’s love can conquer loneliness.
Loneliness. Can you think of a more depressing word? We come into the world alone and we go out alone. Yet, it seems to me most of humanity is more alone during the in-between times. Loneliness is not a respecter of persons.
In the 1800’s, the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson visited the palace of Queen Victoria, the most powerful woman in the world. After his audience, he commented, “Up there, in all her glory and splendor, she was lonely.” Loneliness has no manners, morals, or mercy. Indeed, loneliness is present for the child who is passed over as invitations to a birthday party are sent out. Loneliness is there when the high school junior doesn’t make the cut for the varsity team. Loneliness is there at college when your teacher may know you by number, but not by name. Loneliness is the prod that pushes people into poor and unproductive affairs and associations. Loneliness is there when nobody understands or cares. Loneliness is a supper eaten in silence; being let down by someone who said they would love you forever. Loneliness is an empty house after the last child has boarded the bus for school. Loneliness is no longer having a dream. It is having no hope. Loneliness is forgetting the future. Loneliness is selling your stuff, leaving your house of 50 years and entering a home where nothing is familiar. Loneliness is standing in the cemetery by a freshly filled grave. Loneliness knows a crowd is not company. Loneliness comes uninvited and unwelcome. Loneliness sits smug and secure smiling in a satisfied sort of way, while your soul is brought down, cut down and knocked down.
Loneliness is why a mother’s love is so important. Mothers are the only ones we can count on to accept us as we are, no matter what we’ve done wrong. Mothers are the only ones whose love can stand us with our sinfulness. Mothers are the only ones who will hope for us when we’re beyond hope. Mothers are the only ones who will take us as we are. Only mothers will allow strong sons to sob like seven-year-olds and cradle a successful daughter as if she was still her little baby. Maybe that’s why at the age of 50 plus this year, I almost sent my mother a card which read, “Now that we have a mature, adult relationship, there’s something I’d like to tell you, Mom. You’re still the first one I think of when I fall down and go boom!”
As true as that card may have been, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Mothers may not want me to share this, but the truth is there are some problems that a mother’s love, as patient and powerful as it may be, just can’t sort out. There are places where a mother’s love, as big as it is, simply cannot reach. There are hurts so hideous and harmful, so deep and dangerous, so painful and persistent, that a mother’s love, as kind and curing as it may be, cannot heal. And, there is a time when death comes and the grave is dug that a mother’s love can do no more than shed its tears and stand by almost helpless.
Almost helpless. I say “almost helpless,” because Christian mothers do have some assistance. Christian mothers recognize that their love and hope, as strong as these are for their children, are small compared to the love of the Lord Jesus. Christian mothers know their children’s loneliness can only be touched and truly changed by the love of the Lord Jesus. Christian mothers know their children don’t have to be lonely. Comfort and companionship, forgiveness and salvation come to their children when those children know the Lord. Christian mothers know the best thing they can ever do is introduce their little ones to Jesus.
After one of the great battles of the Civil War, a chaplain visited a dying man. “Son, what can I do for you?” The boy hoarsely whispered, “Sir, would you kneel down and give thanks?” The chaplain, who had been by other dying boys, was taken aback by this boy’s unusual request. Nevertheless, the chaplain was able to inquire, “And what, son, should I give thanks for?” “Chaplain, please give thanks for my mother. Thank God that because of her I am a Christian. What would I do now if I were not a Christian?” That mother had done her job well.
A mother’s love may accept us as we are but God’s love in Jesus changes us to what He wants us to be. A mother’s love may put up with our sinfulness, but God’s love forgives the sin and transforms the sinner. A mother’s love may hope we are never alone, but God’s omnipotent love is a sure, confident certainty that we will never be alone in this world or the next. Mothers may be forced to accept us as we are, but God’s love reshapes and recycles us into souls redeemed, restored, and forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ.
What we are saying is that today is Mother’s Day. A mother’s love is a great blessing and a cause for continued rejoicing. But today is also the Lord’s day and His love is the greatest of blessings and cause for eternal gladness. Look at what our Lord has done. He has done what no mother would consider. He sent His Son to die for someone else. Promised by prophets, Jesus was born for the express purpose of being the incarnate love of God for bratty, obnoxious, unrepentant, irreverent and irresponsible sinners (Romans 5:8). God sent His Son Jesus into this world to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).
God sent His Son to experience a loneliness that you and I shall never feel or could never survive. While most children born into this world are met with excitement and expectation, the birth of God’s Son went unnoticed and unapplauded. When Jesus’ birth was pointed out to the authorities, the ruler of His land promptly tried to kill Him. Such was the beginning of Jesus’ lonely life. It was hardly the end.
So that your children might be saved, God’s Son was rejected. Jesus was rejected by His hometown that tried to throw Him off of a cliff. Jesus was rejected by the pillars of the religious community, who spread all kinds of lies and rumors, about Him. Jesus was left unthanked by those He had healed (Luke 17:12-19); His mission misinterpreted by those He had fed (John 6:11-15). So that your children might always have a friend, Jesus was friendless. In the Garden of Gethsemane, as He shouldered the sins of helpless humanity, His closest followers left Him alone and fell asleep (Matthew 26:40). His loneliness was increased when one of His disciples, a fellow by the name of Judas, betrayed Him with a kiss. What should have been a mark of respect from a student to his teacher was transformed into a cruel affront (Luke 22:47).
But the loneliness that was to confront God’s Son as He suffered for our sons and daughters had just begun. You and I have a right to expect a compassionate ear from the leaders of our church. But Jesus was alone. His priests brought in liars to spread untrue tales about Him (Matthew 26:59-60). Jesus was alone. Knowing no one was there to take His part, His jailers blindfolded Him, struck Him and made a joke about having done so (Luke 22:64). Was Jesus lonely? One of His friends who had previously fallen asleep in the Garden, on three different instances, vehemently denied ever knowing Him (Luke 22:55ff). Was Jesus alone? His government washed its hands of Him (Matthew 27:24). Was Jesus alone? Even on the cross, as He hung dying, so all of humanity might never be alone, He was assaulted by loneliness. One of the thieves that hung there with Him couldn’t resist mocking Him (Luke 23:39). Let me say it again. The Son of God gave His life, endured loneliness so your children would never be alone.
But Jesus’ loneliness was not yet complete. The worst was to come. In those dark hours, as He hung on a cross, rejected by earth and heaven, He tasted a loneliness that no other person has ever experienced. Throughout history, the sickest of sinners, the cruelest of criminals, still has remained under the protection of God. Unrecognized, unheralded and unappreciated, God continues to bestow His blessings upon those who love and those who reject Him (Matthew 5:45). Yet, on the day Jesus died to show God’s love and alleviate your loneliness, He was rejected by His own Father. As He died for you and me, Jesus didn’t say much, but one thing He did painfully and plaintively call out was: “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken Me?” It was the ultimate loneliness. The Father had left His Son to the ultimate loneliness. And Jesus gave up the ghost and died.
Jesus laid down His life for you. Hear that again. God’s Son experienced the ultimate loneliness so that your sons, your daughters might never be alone. God’s Son suffered so your children would never have to suffer eternally. God’s Son laid down His life so that your son and daughter might live. And this–this is important–God’s Son rose so that death would not have the last word. God’s Son rose, so you, who were once helpless, might know that the grave is not the end. The granite headstone is not all that can be written about a person’s life. God’s Son rose so your sons and daughters might have life. God’s Son rose so all who believe in Jesus as their suffering substitute, their victorious friend, their living Lord, will never be alone.
Dear mothers, look into your cribs and cradles. Look at your young children, your teens, your young adults, your children with families of their own. Look at your grandchildren growing up in a different world than we could ever have imagined. Look at them. Do you love them? Of course you do! You’ve laid down your lives for them. But God loves them with a greater love than yours. God loves them with a deeper love than yours. God loves them with a longer lasting love than yours. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us. His is a love so great that His Son died, so we might be called children of God.
Today is Mother’s Day and it is to you mothers that I now speak. If, this day, your children, your grandchildren, don’t know Jesus as their Savior, do not hesitate in introducing Him. You suffered much and endured great pain to give your children physical life. Now, take those children to Jesus who also suffered much and endured pain to give them spiritual life. Don’t wait. Don’t ponder. Don’t hesitate–not one minute, not one moment more. If your child was dying and there was a cure, you would spend anything, give anything, do anything to get your child that cure.
Without the Savior, your child is dying, spiritually. There is a cure. It is Jesus. He is the medicine that can give healing; He is eternal healing from loneliness, sinfulness and damnation. God’s grace can grant the cure for your child and grandchild and God, who loves your little child more than you, is offering that cure, free of charge. If you don’t know where to go for this medicine, the Lutheran Hour is ready to help. Call us today. Make it so your child can echo the words spoken 2,000 years ago by the disciple John. Let your children be able to say, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for May 11, 2003
ANNOUNCER: For more on the perfect Mother’s Day gift, I’m Mark Eischer here once again with Pastor Ken Klaus.
KLAUS: Mark, excuse me if I interrupt. I was wondering would it be all right for me to say “Happy Mother’s Day” to my mom, Jeanette Klaus in Illinois, or your mother, Lois Eischer in Michigan?
ANNOUNCER: No, Pastor, you probably shouldn’t do that. Just like I wouldn’t say, “Happy Mother’s Day” to my wife Debbie or to your wife Pam.
KLAUS: Well, I’m new here so I thought I would ask.
ANNOUNCER: You never learn unless you ask. On Mother’s Day, we have a quote here from Sydney Harris who says: “The commonest fallacy among women is that simply having children makes one a mother….” What do you suppose that means?
KLAUS: Well, not knowing the context of the quote, I can think of two possible explanations. First, the author is referring to those women who never give birth, but who nevertheless are good mothers. In that category we could list those women who adopt someone else’s child and make that child their own. Or the women who never give birth but love and teach and care for the children of others. I’ve had grade school and Sunday school teachers like that. I’ve had the opportunity to know one young lady who worked for years with a church youth group. She hasn’t given birth, but she’s a mother to many of those teens.
ANNOUNCER: You said there was another explanation?
KLAUS: I think there is. The man who spoke those words may be saying, “Being a mother is a higher calling than mere biology.”
ANNOUNCER: Continue on.
KLAUS: Outside our office door, a Canadian goose has built a nest. She has been faithful at the nest, and will faithfully, I imagine, watch over her goslings when the eggs hatch. That kind of devotion and sacrifice is seen among many mothers in the animal kingdom. But a real mother transcends what is seen among Canadian geese. A real mother recognizes her child is a complete person: body and soul. Such a mother will care for her baby’s body, certainly, but she will care just as much, if not more, for her child’s soul.
ANNOUNCER: And that would mean pointing her child, or rather, taking her child to the Savior.
KLAUS: Yes, taking her child to Jesus, the only person who loves that child more than she does.
ANNOUNCER: That’s a lifelong task.
KLAUS: It is.
ANNOUNCER: So on Mother’s Day, we give thanks for such Christian mothers. Now, Pastor, if I heard your sermon right, you listed a whole bunch of things you wouldn’t get your mother Jeanette or your wife Pam–nothing electrical, no jewelry, no clothes, nothing that requires feeding. What’s left?
KLAUS: No, I wouldn’t get those things for them. Nor should you give them to your mother Lois or your wife Debbie. But there is one gift every mother needs. It’s sort of a one size fits all.
ANNOUNCER: But didn’t you say something about not getting sizes?
KLAUS: This is different. I’m talking here about God’s forgiving love for us in Jesus Christ. Knowing her child is forgiven, knowing her child will be in heaven, knowing her child has Jesus, is a gift that every mother should want. It certainly is a gift that every mother needs, no matter how old she and her children might be.
ANNOUNCER: But there is another gift. Certainly, mothers and fathers want to do what’s best for their children. Unfortunately, human families are all made up of big sinners raising little sinners. We should have patience with our children but we don’t. We should always say the right things but we don’t. We should always love and respect each other but we don’t. We sin against each other and against God. The gift for mothers is that God never fails us. He sent Jesus to be our substitute to live a perfect life and to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins so that we could all, mothers, fathers and children, be part of God’s great family.
KLAUS: Jesus’ forgiveness is the kind of gift that fits every mother perfectly. The candy, the jewelry, the power tools, the cards and flowers have their place. But the greatest gift a child can give a caring mother is the assurance that Jesus lives in the hearts of both generations.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus.
KLAUS: You’re not going to mention Pam and Debbie, Jeanette, or Lois?
ANNOUNCER: Well, maybe not a third time. The next Lutheran Hour message is titled, “Proper Pruning.”