Luke 7:11-17

The Great Consolation

Sermon preached Mothers Day 2014
Opening
If you get a group of preachers together - now that would be an exciting crowd, wouldnt
it? - and you took a survey, and asked them what is their least favorite Sunday of the year
to preach, I guarantee that a majority would say, Mothers Day. Now its not because
we hate motherhood, along with America and apple pie. Its because were afraid, of
screwing it up.
I am reminded of a story of a pastors conference. Among the speakers were
many well known motivational speakers. One such boldly approached the pulpit
and, gathering the entire crowd's attention, said, The best years of my life were
spent in the arms of a woman that wasn't my wife! The crowd was shocked! He
followed up by saying, And that woman was my mother! The crowd burst into
laughter, and he gave his speech which went over well.
About a week later, one of the ministers who had attended the seminar decided to
use that joke in his sermon. As he approached the pulpit one sunny Sunday, he
tried to rehearse the joke in his head. But it seemed a bit foggy to him that
morning.
Getting to the microphone he said loudly, The greatest years of my life were
spent in the arms of another woman that was not my wife! His congregation sat
shocked. After standing there for almost 10 seconds trying to recall the second
half of the joke, the pastor finally blurted out ...and I can't remember who she
was!
Its just difficult to preach a mothers day sermon rooted in the scriptures and the gospel;
its really hard to say something with substance to actually help and bless mothers; and
often we preachers end up feeling weve delivered a pile of sentimental claptrap when we
try to preach a Mothers Day sermon; often we end up avoiding it altogether.
But enough whining - its a lot harder to be mother, than it is to preach about it.
I starting thinking about this - what you all, and I suppose all parents, go through.
Your body is no longer your own - you make room for a new life - in some cases multiple
new lives like the families whove had twins and triplets - and your body is never the
same again - and getting adjusted to the hormonal changes leads to a high incidence of
post-partum depression. You lose control over your own body to give life to a new
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person.
And then, you lose control over your life. Sleepless nights feeding a squalling infant -
shuttling children around to soccer and dance and swim lessons and meets - cooking them
meals and washing and folding their clothes, worrying about them during sleepless nights,
praying for them - I mean, you get it - your life and your heart are not your own.
I read a helpful piece of advice for mothers that says, Unless you deliberately set
aside a little time for regular relaxation, you will not be able to care efficiently for
your family. Therefore, plan to relax a minimum of an hour and a half...every
fifteen years.
Sometimes, it just wears you down, doesnt it?
It was one of the worst days of my life, wrote Clara Null of Oklahoma City in
The Christian Reader magazine. The washing machine broke down, the
telephone kept ringing, my head ached and the mail carrier brought a bill I had no
money to pay. Almost to the breaking point, I lifted my one-year-old into his
highchair, leaned my head against the tray and began to cry. Without a word, my
son too his pacifier out of his mouth...and stuck it in mine.
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And then they grow up. A child that grows into an adult is one person, one human being
- but they are so different from stage to stage. Helpless infants grow into headstrong
toddlers; then theyre off to kindergarten and before you know it theyve turned ten years
old and you blink twice and puberty hits and all of a sudden they are embarrassed of you
and have these wild mood swings and then youre just trying to get through those years
and then boom - theyre off to college or out of the house and theyre all grown up.
Two of our three children are in town this weekend - so Ill talk about the one who
isnt here - our son Peter - heres a picture of him when he was a little guy
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. ..I know, he was adorable.
There is one Peter Bowerman - but there were also multiple Peter Bowermans.
The cuddly infant who would bury his head in the space between your neck and
shoulder. The delighted little fellow who took his first walk around the room.
The four-year-old who would wrap his arms around my legs and cry out Daddys
home. The seven-year-old with a baseball bat in his hands taking a cut during a
coaches pitch game. The thirteen-year-old whose voice suddenly got cracky and
squeaky. The fifteen-year-old who brought home his first girlfriend. The
eighteen-year-old who we left at college. And now, the grown man who is
married and has a son of his own.
Looking at that picture this week - I would give a lot just for five minutes with
that Peter again, to feel his little hand in mine, to have him sit on my knee, to see
him smile. Feel that way about all three of my children.
Parenthood, especially motherhood, is about a series of losses - as one version of
the child grows into the next. You want them to grow up, thats our job, to help
them to grow up and go out on their own - but it can rip your heart out doing it.
Being a mother, means joy and wonder and love, but is also means inevitable loss.
And Mothers day is hard for some of us - despite the cards and flowers - its a hard day
for those of us like me and Susan who have lost our mothers, its hard for couples
struggling with infertility; its hard for mothers who are burdened by regrets of mistakes
they feel they made raising their children; and its hardest of all, hardest of all, for
mothers who have faced the inhuman pain, of losing a child.
Scripture Passage
Context - its a short little account in Luke that has huge meaning. Jesus cites this event
later as a sign for John the Baptist, rotting in jail and doubting his faith, to know that
Jesus is indeed the Messiah. Giving a son back to his mother.
We get no backstory - how old was the son, what did he die of, and so on. But really
dont need it. We can surmise that she raised and loved her boy, that he went through all
the stages our children do, and that when he fell sick, she prayed and wailed for God to
heal him, she stayed by him day and night, and when he died she felt crushed that there
was nothing she could do to save him.
Losing a son in any age is horrible enough. But in Jesus time there was an extra burden.
Luke says that the man was the mothers only son and that she was a widow, too.
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Thats shorthand for saying that the mother is not only bereft of her son, she will
be destitute. Because there was no safety net in those days, no life insurance, no
Social Security benefits or pensions - and no good way for a woman to earn a
living on her own, aside from prostitution or begging. Family was everything and
hers had been snatched away by death.
There are three accounts of Jesus raising people from the dead in the gospels. And in
each one of them, the gospel writers say that Jesus gets emotional, gets emotionally
involved. Like the story of Lazarus, when he weeps outside the tomb of his dead friend.
And here - Luke says Jesus had compassion within himself, using a Greek word meaning
that he felt compassion deep down in the gut. Compassion means to suffer with
someone, and Jesus did in a raw and visceral way. He felt the enormous pain and grief of
that mother.
Now if you think of this, its a little strange. In the account of raising of Lazarus,
hes about to raise his friend from the dead and tears will turn to joy. Here, hes
going to raise this mothers son from the dead - and yet he gets emotionally
involved. In the account of raising a dead girl, he says to her in Aramaic with
great tenderness, Talitha kuom, which means, sweetheart, get up.
First thing this tells us is that Jesus was a real human being. Its not like the Son
of God was faking being human. Like a CIA operative, working in Pakistan - has
to grow a beard, learn to speak the local dialects, dress like a native, walk like a
native, pray five times a day like a native. If hes really skilled, the operative may
pass for a Pakistani, but hell never be one.
Jesus didnt just take on a human costume - he really became one of us -
and not only did he feel real human emotion, he felt it for us when we
suffer. Jesus knows and feels our grief and pain.
Kathleen Norris quoted a saint of the church named Terese who said of
Jesus, "When Jesus tells us about his father, we distrust him. When he
shows us his Home, we turn away. But when he confides to us that he is
acquainted with grief, we listen, for that also is an acquaintance of ours."
Second thing that Jesus getting emotional around death tells us. He hated it, and
what it does to us. It made him weep, it made him tender, it made him feel, and it
made him act.
Jesus and the Kingdom
And so Luke tells us that Jesus raised the boy from the dead, and gave him back to his
mother.
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Jesus cared about this mother whod lost her son. And even though giving that boy back
to his mother was great enough, there was something even greater behind what he did.
Jesus came to bring the Kingdom of God - Gods loving rule breaking into a broken
world shrouded in evil and death. And when Jesus did great miracles like this - he was
announcing the Kingdom of God is here, and he was also pointing ahead to the day when
the Kingdom would arrive completely. By raising this boy, Jesus was pointing ahead to
the day when there is no more death, where there are no longer mothers crying at the
funeral processions of their children.
There is a great consolation coming. Where as Julian of Norwich said, All shall be well,
and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.
And where mothers and fathers who have lost sons and daughters, will get them
back, where those of us who are motherless children, will get back our mothers.
Never to lose them again.
And theres something else. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says something mysterious and
wonderful about the world to come:
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we shall see face to face. Now I know
only in part, then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
I think the Word is pointing to that time of reunion that is coming - and that we
will not only see and hug one another, laugh together - well know our mothers
and fathers and children in a depth we never could in this life - our children -
well see and remember all of who they are, from the smiling toothless infant to
the toddler to the teenager to the grown adult; all that was lost, is given back. And
well also see and understand our parents, see why they made the mistakes they
did and be able to let it go. Well be able to understand ourselves, and forgive
ourselves for the mistakes weve made, as God forgives us
Gods sacrifice of his son
But there was a cost for all this. That would leave the mother of Jesus weeping over the
body of her son, crucified by the Romans, rejected by his people, deserted by his friends,
snuffed out by death. To bring us out of the tomb of death meant Jesus had to enter it
himself.
As Fred Craddock puts it, Shall there be a thorny road for the flock but a primrose path
for the shepherd? Shall the scouts sleep on the cold ground in the darkness of the woods,
while the scoutmaster relaxes in a nearby motel?...Are we to thrash about in the angry
waves along knowing he stands safe and dry on shore?
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1. Dynamic Preaching, April-May-June 1998, p. 31.
2. Fred Craddock, Jesus Wept, in Journal for Preachers, Easter 2000, p. 37.
No, Jesus died for our sins, and went into the tomb, that we could come out, that the ones
we love, could come out.
The Son of God died a real death...as we will, our children will, everyone will...but his
Father raised him from the dead - and because of that, everyone in Christ will live again,
live forever, too. Tears of grief will be replaced by tears of joy - at the great reunion, the
great consolation, that God has planned for all who love him.
Conclusion
A couple was moving across the country. They decided to drive both cars. Their 8-year
old son Nathan worried. How will we keep from getting separated?
Dad reassured him, Well drive slowly. One car can follow the other.
But what if we DO get separated? Nathan persisted.
Well, then I guess well never see each other again, Dad joked.
Nathan quickly answered. Then Im riding with Mom.
We will see each other again. In Gods everlasting kingdom. Amen
Endnotes
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