Chosen to Love

[Children’s Message] Question: Did you choose your mother? Answer: No, God gave us our mothers. I would never choose any other mother than the one God gave me. But I wonder if before I was conceived as a baby and knew my mother, if God had given me the choice, would I have chosen my mother? Fore example, if God had given me the choice to choose between mother “A” who would give me everything I want, let me do whatever I want, not make me do anything I do not want to do and never punishes me, and mother “B” who would give me only what she thought I needed, set strict limits and rules, make me do chores and discipline me, I probably would have chosen mother “A”.

But which of these two mothers is the one who truly loves you and cares for you? Of course it is mother “B”. And it is mother “B” who is most like our own mothers. That is why we are lucky that God does not let us choose our mothers, but gives us our mothers, because he wants to make sure we get the mother who loves us. And this is one of the greatest gifts God has given us: Our mothers. And today we want to thank God for the blessings we have received from him through our mothers.

Now, there is someone else that God gave us, someone we did not choose or even ask for. Someone who loved us so much that he gave up his life for us. We heard about him in our Gospel reading, where he said: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” If we are his sheep, who is this Good Shepherd? It is Jesus, the Good Shepherd of our souls.

Just as sheep do not get to choose their shepherd, we didn’t get to choose Jesus. If I had a choice, I probably would have chosen to be my own shepherd. But Jesus chose me and he chose you to be his sheep, his people. He did that when you were baptized into his name. In your baptism he washed away all your sins and God made you his Holy child and gave you his Holy Spirit as a pledge of his love for you (Acts 2:38, Romans 8:15-17). And so you are the beloved children of God! Let us pray: Lord, I thank you for giving me my mother who loves me so much that she not only cares for all my earthly needs, but also brought me to You, the Good Shepherd of my soul. Amen. (The children are dismissed.)

I find this idea that we did not get to choose our mothers or even our Saviour interesting. Considering the kind of leaders we choose to run our nation, I consider that a blessing. It seems that we are incapable of always choosing what is best for us. (If only God would elect politicians for us!)

It was no different during Jesus’ time. In our reading from Acts, we hear of the Jewish leaders who had put Jesus to death and who were now arresting and persecuting the disciples of Jesus. But we do not see God interfering in their wicked plans. He allows them to carry them out. And so the believers pray. But what do the believers pray for? Do they ask God to end persecution? They don’t. Instead, they acknowledge that what was done to Jesus is what God in his “power and will had decided beforehand should happen” (Acts 4:28). The same applies to the persecution directed towards the followers of Jesus. God allows it for a reason. So what do the disciples pray about? They ask God: “Enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” (4:29, 30). They didn’t pray for an end to persecution, but that Jesus be glorified through it.

This is what we need to pray. The world around us is a world that is hostile to the word of God and to anyone who dares to speak God’s word in public. Last Thursday, 71 year-old grandmother and Progressive Conservative MP Elsie Wayne was accused by the media of "hate-mongering", "homophobia", "spewing hatred" and "rabid prejudice" when she voiced her opposition to the redefinition of marriage to include homosexual couples. The PC party leader, Joe Clark, also announced that Elsie would be removed as deputy party leader (From www.lifesite.net).

Our world is no more tolerant of God’s word than it was during the time of the early church. The only reason we do not experience real persecution is because we have learned to keep our mouths shut when it matters. Most Christians in Canada no longer speak God’s word “with great boldness.” We have learned to simply keep “our religion” to ourselves. And that is exactly what Satan wants us to do. Because when we do that, our nation will lose its moral conscience and eventually, even we will lose “our religion.” For a religion that is not universal and that is not believed and propagated can be no true religion at all, but is only a collection of tales and myths.

The Beatles were right when they sang, “All I need is love.” But unfortunately, they missed the greatest love of all. They failed to meet the great Lover. God loves us so much that he gave us his only Son. God’s love is the greatest, most wonderful thing in this world. That’s because his love is not flawed like ours. His love is patient and kind. It does not envy or boast. It is not proud, rude, self-seeking; not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. God’s love always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres (cf. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7). That is the kind of love God loves us with!

There is even something more wonderful about God’s love. He does not just heap love on us and walk away, as if we were some beggar on the street. He gets us up on our feet and gives us enough love so we can share it with others. He gives us a job. He lets us in on his wonderful work of loving others. Through his Holy Spirit he comes to live in us and he uses us as his agents of love to the world. For God does not just love us. He is not partial. God loves all people and wants all people to come to the knowledge of salvation. And he gives us the opportunity to be his love agents to the world.

I believe that is one reason God created mothers. I believe that mothers are God’s greatest and most wonderful agents of love in our world. If we want to learn something about love, we should probably think about our mothers. They can be our closest human examples of what it means to be God’s love agents in our world. Mothers are amazing. For all the love they give, they constantly get whined and glared at. And sometimes they are even told, “I don’t like you” and “I hate you.”

As we are called to love the people of our world, as we speak God’s word, we will likely get a similar reaction. We will be told that we are intolerant, narrow-minded, hateful bigots. It can be most hurtful what people unjustly say. But remember, they are only acting like children; children who do not know how to choose what is good for themselves. That is why all we can do is what our mothers do: To keep on loving them. For when children do this, what they are really doing, I have learned, is testing the love of their mother. If the mother persists and is consistent with them, the children will come to know that their mother loves them and they will feel safe and secure with her and trust and love her. That is also what our world is doing. When we get accused of awful things for saying what we believe in, it is not time to back off. We are being tested to see if we really believe in what we say we do. If we don’t then we are liars and deserve to be called those awful things.

Christians who are killed for what they believe are called martyrs. The word martyr comes from the Greek language and means “witness.” So if we are being persecuted for our faith, we are being tested, for how else is the world going to know that God’s love is for real if those who believe in Jesus are unwilling to die for that love? Martyrs, it is said, are the seeds of the Church. Without Christians willing to lay down their lives for their faith, the church is dead and will not grow. And without Christian leaders willing to lay down their lives for the sheep entrusted to them, how are Christians going to learn what true love looks like? In truth, we have all fallen short of God’s great calling to be his love agents in a world that is crying out for true love.

Thankfully the love of our Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for us, always perseveres. Today, he calls us once again to come to his Table and fellowship with him. He calls mothers and fathers, and children and relatives of all kinds, and workers and co-workers, and bosses and employees, and students and teachers; he calls us all in whatever life-situations we are in. He calls us, not because we are perfect or because we have been exceptionally faithful as his love-agents. He calls us because he knows that we need help; that we have not always allowed his love to shine forth brightly. He calls us to his Table so that we might receive his body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of our shortcomings. He invites us to his Table that we would receive the assurance of his never-ending love for us. He invites us to taste true love. He invites us to experience a love that revives our souls and renews us in faith, in hope and in love. Amen.

Now may the God of love keep your hearts and minds in Christ our Good Shepherd. Amen.