Ascension Day / 7th Sun.of.Easter / Mother’s Day “Enveloped in Love, Protection, & Truth”
May 12, 2024 John 17:11a-19
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,
Everything about our service & readings & hymns today celebrates Jesus’ Ascension. Even tho He would no longer be visible, He was truly not going away = He would be reigning over all things for His kingdom. That’s a great assurance for us, & for all who trust & rely on Him as our Savior from sin, and our Lord -to hear & follow- for this life.
It happens that this year we celebrate the Lord’s Ascension on Mother’s Day. Can we find a connection between those two things? I think so. But to do that, we will use the Gospel reading assigned for the 7th Sunday of Easter, from John 17, included on the back of the bulletin cover. And we’re going to use the word ‘envelope.’ Well, not exactly that word; we’ll use the word ‘envelop.’
To set the stage: in John 17, Jesus is praying. Jesus & the Twelve are in the upper room; it is maundy.thurs night; Jesus washes the disciples feet, & they celebrate the Passover supper. Then Jesus becomes troubled in His spirit, and announces that one of them will betray Him. They all wonder ‘who’? Jesus tells Judas Iscariot that whatever he is planning to do,
he should do it quickly, and Judas leaves. Jesus then teaches His disciples for 3 chapters.
And then He prays. Chapt.17 is what we call his High Priestly Prayer. And a portion of that prayer is our reading; and it sounds like this:
(Jesus said) Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them , and not one of them has been lost – except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake
I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
++++++++++++++++
I emphasized a couple of key words for us to think on. Jesus talked about having kept His disciples; He guarded them. And now He prays for the Father to do the same. Jesus asks the Father to ‘envelop’ them in His love, to surround them in His protection, & in His truth.
We don’t often use that word in conversation =envelop= but it’s a good descriptive word, & gets used in writings & speeches. We do use the word ‘envelope’, which is similar; it’s the way we surround & protect our letters & cards going thru the Post Office mail. Here, Jesus is describing His love & the Father’s love for us; & today it reminds us of a mother’s love.
So, The Love of God in Christ Envelops Us – as a Mother Envelops Her Child = first in the womb, and then in her arms.
++++++++++++++
Consider a couple of Qs: Was your life ever better than when you lived in the care of your mother? And if so, why did you leave your mother?
Now, I know that not everyone has had a praiseworthy mother, that’s just the reality
of sinful humanity. But generally, most have enjoyed the good love & care of their mothers.
I say ‘most’ because that’s the way our Creator designed women to be. Females are specifically designed to be motherly, with a protective, gestational womb; and with a matching heart & mind that cares for & nurtures the fruit of that womb = their child. Those God-created instincts are strong enough to extend even to children that their bodies did not bear. God designed women to love & care for children; this connection is all over the Scriptures for the purpose
of helping us understand God’s own love for us.
So, IF your life was so loved, protected, & nurtured under the care of your mother, why did you ever leave her? This is a rhetorical Q; I’m asking it as if it’s a parable Q,
with a spiritual meaning.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Let’s return to John 17. Jesus knows what was prophesied about Him in the OT;
so He knows that our corrupt human nature will be determined to abandon the love He has for us. Jesus also knows by Scripture that one of His chosen & close disciples would refuse to be enveloped in His love. He said: “I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost – except the son of destruction.” Judas had already arranged to be the guide for those who would arrest Jesus & crucify Him. God did not create Judas to be the betrayer, and God did not make Judas do this; Judas is responsible for his own sin & rejection of Jesus’ love.
So, why did Judas leave? Judas is among countless people who have left God’s enveloping love because of a corruption that infects all people.
What is it that makes a child twist & kick their way out of their mother’s good care & protection? It is the same sinful nature, inherited from Adam, that causes us to wrestle our way out of God’s embrace.
In a daily devotional, a pastor shares this memory: when he was a young boy, he asked: ‘Mom, what would you like for Mother’s Day?’ His mother hugged him & said, ‘I’d just like you to be a good boy today.’ To which he replied: ‘can you think of something else?’ How is it that a young child is already aware of being ‘good’ or ‘bad’, and when it stresses mom out? That’s the clout that our sinful nature has on our soul, that even from a very young age, we know that sin makes trouble for us.
Not much time passed before Adam & Eve gazed at that Tree in Eden that God said was off-limits, & they ‘pushed the envelope’ = so to speak. They were tempted, and then twisted & kicked their way out of God’s loving embrace in Genesis ch.3 By ch.4, Cain murders his brother Abel. By ch.6, vs.5, God says that ‘every intent of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil all the time.’ The corruption of sin can’t get any deeper than that.
We have been born into this darkness & death of sin from Adam; it is our base influence. We twist & kick our way out of God’s good design for our life. But sin is not content to just ‘run away’, it also causes us to treat God as the enemy, & fight against Him. It also causes us to treat other people as enemies, & fight against them.
We can be shocked & grieved when we see children turn against their mothers, because it has earthly consequences. But how much worse it is – when every person’s sinful nature is rebellious against their loving Creator, and the consequences are eternal. A godly mother does not willfully bring harm to her children. Likewise, when has our loving God ever willed something that is bad for you? Never; He is only good; in Him there is no darkness at all. God is not our trouble; our trouble originates from the dark-willed self-determination of ourselves, or of other people.
++++++++++++++++++++
In John 17, we are reminded of Judas Iscariot. He was lured into rebellion against God by his own dark will. He chose some false gods: the ‘idols’ of money, and his own arrogance. He wasn’t doing what was ‘right’ = but it was ‘right’ in his own eyes. WE share that same sinful nature; we might not be tempted into sin by money, but we carry that other ‘idol’ with us wherever we go: we are tempted to do what is right in our own eyes. We become our own false god.
This is why social media can be such a source of many sins & troubles. It’s just a fancy extension of our self-determination & self-fulfillment. With posting a hundred ‘selfies’, and the instant sharing of every personal thought, people present themselves as gods over their own lives, just like Adam & Eve. Instead of presenting the image God would have for them, people craft their own image for self-worship & for others to admire. And if someone else should disagree with their self-image, they go to war thru criticism & slander & bearing false witness against that neighbor. This is just one example of man’s sinful nature twisting & fighting out of our Creator’s embrace; jumping off his lap, & running away like a rebellious child.
But since we are not ‘gods’, the Law of God, & the natural laws for His creation, stand against us, & we feel their consequences. The law of human conscience with its guilt gnaws at us from inside; even as the law of physical aging, illness & pain, & the reality of death tears down our arrogance, & humbles us. God’s Law declares that we will be held accountable for this life – which He gave us thru our mothers. And then God’s Gospel is ready to speak another message He has for us: it calls us to return to Him, and be enveloped once again in His love.
+++++++++++++++++++
The Law confronts our arrogance. Jesus said (Lk.12), ‘you run after food & clothing & other things, but who among you can add a single hour to your span of life?’ The Law shatters our self-made images so that God can show us a better image. The miserable rejection, suffering, & death of Jesus in our place does two things: it exposes the dead-end of our sinful ego, and it opens our eyes to how loving our Creator is. The wages of our sin is eternal death; but the gift of God is eternal life in the Savior Jesus.
Even tho Judas twisted away & deserted Jesus, in His prayer, Jesus rejoices over those that remained with Him, and He commends them to be enveloped with the Father’s love to keep & guard them, while He is lifted up on the cross to bear that terrible burden of the Father’s wrath over our sin, and endure the hell that would be our finale. Jesus prays that the Father would envelope the disciples in love, protection & truth, because after Jesus is raised from the dead, they will be His apostles = sent out to proclaim God’s love for all.
Until Jesus returns visibly, His cross is calling all wayward children back to the Creator. His promise thru Baptism reminds us whose child we are as He has brought us thru a new birth of water and Spirit.
His Sacred Meal, in which He shares with us His very broken body & shed blood,
is a nourishment that our new nature needs while we wait == either for Him to return, or for His angels to carry us to Him. Word & sacrament envelops us in Christ’ love.
++++++++++++++++++++
In the meantime, God’s love in Christ is not only envelops us for that future hope,
but it guards & keeps us in those days when the world tempts & threatens our life in Christ. So Jesus prays, Father, ‘I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.’ Why would He leave us in this world? To be His witnesses, as disciples & servants of His kingdom; to show the love God has for all people, and to show what it means to obey Him & live in His hope. Jesus said: ‘As you sent me into the world,
so I have sent them into the world.’
Altho the world is enemy territory, yet the love of God envelops us. Have you ever heard an astronaut speak of the uninhabitable nature of space or the moon? There’s no air,
so there’s no sound, & no heat trapped by the air, no plants, no liquid water, no life.
Now think of the way God designed our atmosphere to envelop the earth, & make it a beautiful, habitable, living place. So even in a spiritually dead world, God’s Word & Spirit is at work to protect us, regenerating our souls in the image of the Son to be His children. Even as a confused or frightened child runs to, & finds deep comfort in the arms of her mother, so every frightened lamb is held secure in the arms of our Good Shepherd.
+++++++++++++++++
The love of God-the-Father enveloped the life of the Son during His incarnation, so that Jesus could substitute His life for us & redeem us. This redemption is necessary because of the corruption & idolatry we inherit from Adam, which causes us to twist & kick away from our Creator. But leaving God is not true life; so the Law of God works repentance in us.
In love God calls to us to come back, to return home, and to trust in His mercy & promises thru Jesus Christ.
Even God’s design of mothers is a testament to His love for us in the Savior.
As a Mother Envelops Her Child = first in the womb, and then in her arms, so the love of God in Christ envelops us.
Amen