1.
Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen. Happy Mother’s Day to all of you! Moms are such a blessing to us aren’t
they? How could we ever make it without
mom? A yearly survey by Salary.com called the annual Mom Salary Survey attempts to put
a salary on the work of American mothers. First, they broke down motherly
duties into the ten categories: Day Care Center Teacher, CEO, Psychologist,
Cook, Housekeeper, Laundry Machine Operator, Computer Operator, Facilities
Manager, Janitor, and Van Driver. Then they studied how many hours moms work in
those categories and what the family would have to pay for outsourcing that
duty. According to the 2012 survey, they determined the following: The average stay-at-home mom should make an
annual salary of $112,962 (based on a 40-hour per week base pay plus 54.7 hours
a week of overtime); The average working mom should make an annual salary (just
for her "mom" role) of $66,969 (based on 40-hours of mothering duties
and 17.9 overtime hours per week). The
article concludes, "The breadth of
Mom's responsibilities is beyond what most workers could ever experience
day-to-day. Imagine if you had to attract and retain a candidate to fill this
role?" (Sources: Jenna Goudreau, "Why Stay-At-Home Moms Should
Earn a $115,000 Salary," Forbes (5-2-11); Salary.com, "Salary.com's
12th Annual Mom Salary Survey,").
2.
I would
add one more job description that was left out on this list: that mom is a prayer warrior. Every mom I know prays that her children
would be safe, that they do well in school, that they make friends, that they
continue to keep the Christian faith that they were taught from infancy, and so
much more. Ultimately, I believe that
every Christian mom prays that her children would not only come home to be with
them from time to time after they have grown up and left the house, but that
her children would have a heavenly homecoming with her, because of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection from the dead. For this reason, Christian moms have a lot in
common with our Lord Jesus Christ who prays for us His church here in John 17. The message is entitled, “Our Heavenly
Homecoming,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
3.
Isn’t it a wonderful
thought that your mother prays for you?
On this mother’s day thank your mom for that. Thank her for bringing you
to Christian worship, to Sunday School, and confirmation class. If your mom has gone home to be with the
Lord, thank your Heavenly Father for working through her to teach you the Christian
faith. But, isn’t it an even more
wonderful thought that Jesus was thinking of you and me when He prayed the
closing petitions of His High Priestly Prayer here in John 17. For after Jesus had pleaded with His Heavenly
Father for the continued safety of His disciples, His vision swept across the
coming ages and He could see the countless people who were yet to believe in
Him through the Word of His disciples.
These, too would have to be kept, these, too would have to be sanctified,
these, too, would have to be preserved unto His heavenly kingdom.
4.
Jesus prays here in John
17:20-26, “20[Jesus
said:] “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me
through their word, 21that
they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they
also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22The
glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as
we are one, 23I in them and you in me, that they may become
perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even
as you loved me. 24Father, I desire that they also, whom you have
given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me
because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25O
righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and
these know that you have sent me. 26I made known to them your name,
and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved
me may be in them, and I in them.”
5.
In the concluding words
of His prayer, Jesus throws the doors of His Church open to the Gentiles, to
all who would believe in Him as a result of the apostles’ preaching, as a
result of their spoken and written word.
It’s just as though our Lord Jesus pointed His finger to each of us and
said, “For you I am praying; I am praying
for you!”
6.
Again and again, the
Savior asks that “they may be one.” This sounds familiar doesn’t it? Our mothers I’m sure have prayed to God that
“we would all get along,” especially
when the whole family comes together for a special occasion. Jesus says that all believers are united in
Him. In Jesus, St. Paul says in Romans
12:5, we as Christians are one Body. So
close is this fellowship of believers that Jesus compares it to the communion
that exists between His Heavenly Father and Himself, “Even as We are one.” But,
are we always aware of the close ties that bind all believers into a fellowship
of faith and love? And does this
awareness find expression in our lives? The
hymn says, “Blest be the tie that binds,
Our hearts in Christian love; The fellowship of kindred minds, Is like to that
above.” (LSB 649:1)
7.
Every mother prays for
the unity and harmony of her family and Jesus prays for the unity and harmony
of His Church here in John 17. But, as
mother’s know, this doesn’t always happen in their families, nor does it seem
to happen in our churches. Centuries
after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Christians remain deeply divided. Churches act more like isolate islands rather
than seeing themselves as one assembly of believers that comprise the Holy
Christian Church on earth. Congregations
increasingly keep more and more of their resources to serve their own members
rather than supporting missionary work around the world. Fellow Christians view one another with
distrust rather than as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
8.
Often when the Church
seeks out unity, the approach is misguided.
Churches claim they are one even with serious theological differences. They agree to disagree. Unity is coerced by a powerful church
hierarchy or through binding resolutions.
But, this isn’t the unity that Jesus speaks about here in John 17. True unity is always founded on the Word of
God. It’s not agreeing to disagree. It’s not overlooking the truth so that
churches can claim to be one when they really aren’t. Instead, true unity is found as Christians
confess the truths of Scripture together.
As we do here in worship every time we gather together in the Lord’s
house.
9.
And, what is the result
of this unity? “That the world may believe that [the Father} has sent [Jesus]” (John
17:21). True Christian unity gives a
positive witness to the world. The Holy
Spirit works faith through the Word, and Christians are united by and speak the
word of truth to the unbelieving world.
The Spirit is at work working faith in the hearts of those who hear the
Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who died the death that we deserve
because of our sins and has given us the gift of eternal life.
10.
Jesus went to the Cross
of Calvary because He says here in John 17, “Father,
I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to
see My glory that You have given Me.” Only
the equal Son, Jesus, would address the equal Father this way. It’s Jesus our Savior’s will that we be with
Him and His death on the cross for our sins assures us of that. To be with Christ, that is heaven. It is to be assured of our heavenly
homecoming with Him, which is why our Christian mothers pray that we remain in
the Christian faith that we were taught from our youth. Our mother’s want us to remain in the faith
of our Lord Jesus, because that is the only way we will have a heavenly
homecoming with them and Jesus for all eternity. The Apostle Paul says, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians
1:23). “Forever with the Lord! Amen! So
let it be. Life from the dead is in that
word, ‘Tis immortality. (TLH 616:1). To
behold the glory of Jesus, what bliss! This
is the bliss that our Lord Jesus has asked His Father that you and I should
have. “We know not, oh, we know not, What joys await us there: the radiancy of glory, The bliss beyond
compare! (LSB 672:1)
11.
It was many years later
that the aged St. John the Apostle, remember this prayer and promise of Jesus
our Savior, wrote in 1 John 3:2, “Little
children we know that when [Jesus] appears we shall be like Him, because we
shall see Him as He is.” Let us
learn to cherish this High Priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus here in John
17. Let us read it again and again. Our earthly mothers pray for us, but how much
more does our Lord Jesus pray for our unity and our salvation in Him. Let us go to John 17 for comfort, for
assurance, for joy, for spiritual communion with our Savior, and for its
glorious promise of eternal life with Christ in heaven in that homecoming that
will have no end. Amen.
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