Marked by Love

Early First United Methodist Church

Zephyr United Methodist Church

May 8, 2005

Rev. Eddie Smart

John 13:31-35 (NIV)

When he was gone, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. ³²If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

³³"My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

³⁴"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

My brother is 2-1/2 years younger than me. I know you will find this hard to believe, but when we were younger we would fight with each other. When it got to be more than our mother could stand, she would tell us to go to the loving chair. Anyone familiar with the loving chair. We would both have to sit in the same chair and hug one another until Mother said we could get up. Oh, what punishment that was!

Today is Mother's Day. It is that time that we have set aside to give thanks to God for our mothers. None of us would be here today if it were not for our mothers. Our experiences of "Mother" vary widely. For some the word mother may not bring warm feelings. For you we pray that the church family or some special person in your life has filled that void. For many of us our mothers have been special in many different ways.

I want to talk about the love of a mother. I want to talk about the love of a mother that is an example to us of the love our God has for us as demonstrated in an only son, Jesus Christ. I want to talk about the love of a mother that is an example of the love that Jesus has for you and for me. Jesus said to his disciples and to us, "Love one another as I have loved you." I want to talk about that love that we are called to have for one another, not just mothers but all of us.

In his homily at the St. Lawrence, Martyr Church in New Bedford, Mass. in 1995, Bishop O'Malley paid tribute to Mother Teresa and her nuns and told how many of them have sacrificed their lives for the poor and desperately ill around the world.

"You are a signpost on the pathway to God. We love you, Mother Teresa," the bishop said.

We are all called to be signposts on the pathway to God. For many our mothers were signposts on the pathway to God. We want to say, "I am not capable of doing that." We want to say, "I cannot love the way Mother Teresa was able to love." But...

Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

     In the May 9 (that’s right, tomorrow’s edition) issue of Newsweek magazine, Bobbi Zehner describes the long list of house guests who have spend a considerable amount of time in her mother’s home. However, she quickly focuses on Grandpa Nylen. Actually is was not related by blood to Bobbi or her mother, and yet he was Grandpa.

     Grandpa Nylen lived with Bobbi’s Mom and Dad the last 6 years of his life, because he needed a place. Bobbie’s mother did not hesitate about taking him in. You see back in 1947 when Bobbie was only 2 years old, her mother was desperate for someone to help her care for Bobbie while this single mom settled into a job and a new town. There were no provisions in post-war Chicago or elsewhere for a single mom and her child. The Nylen’s were total strangers, but they took Bobbie into their home for over two years. Bobbie celebrated her 3^rd and 4^th birthdays with the Nylen’s and their Salvation Army comrades. When noone else was there for Bobbie and her mother, Agnes and Gustav Nylen cared for them.

     Agnes died 16 years before Gustav. For ten years, Grandpa Nylen lived with his son, Art, until his family grew to 5 children. Bobbie’s Mom did not hesitate. She immediately took Grandpa in. The circle of love was complete. There was a time that Bobbi and her Mom needed Grandpa and now Grandpa needed Bobbi’s Mom. John tells us, “We love because [God] first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 (NRSV)

Jesus said, "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." 

A mother’s love is a never ending circle. Isn't that the way it is with God's love? God loved you so much that God sent an only son to die on a cross so that you might live for an eternity with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus loved you so much that in the Garden of Gethsemane he prayed, "Not my will, but yours be done." Paul wrote that, "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (NRSV)

Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

There is a story about two warring tribes in the Andes, one that lived in the lowlands and the other high in the mountains. The mountain people invaded the lowlanders one day, and as part of their plundering of the people, they kidnapped a baby of one of the lowlander families and took the infant with them back up into the mountains.

The lowlanders didn't know how to climb the mountain. They didn't know any of the trails that the mountain people used, and they didn't know where to find the mountain people or how to track them in the steep terrain.

Even so, they sent out their best party of fighting men to climb the mountain and bring the baby home.

The men tried first one method of climbing and then another. They tried one trail and then another. After several days of effort, however, they had climbed only a couple of hundred feet.

Feeling hopeless and helpless, the lowlander men decided that the cause was lost, and they prepared to return to their village below.

As they were packing their gear for the descent, they saw the baby's mother walking toward them. They realized that she was coming down the mountain that they hadn't figured out how to climb.

And then they saw that she had the baby strapped to her back. How could that be?

One man greeted her and said, "We couldn't climb this mountain. How did you do this when we, the strongest and most able men in the village, couldn't do it?"

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "It wasn't your baby."

Folks, you are God's baby! You have been redeemed by your God. You are worth saving. You have been redeemed. The question is... have you accepted that redemption? If not there is no better time than today.

God not only climbed the impossible mountain to bring you and me home, God sent Jesus to be our guide.

Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."