“I'll Love You Forever”

John 13:31-35

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Robert Munsch wrote a wonderful little children’s book called, “I’ll Love You Forever.” It begins with a mother holding her new baby. She rocks him and sings a little song:

I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

As the years go by, of course, the baby grows. He becomes a toddler, and get into everything; and his mother says: This kid is driving me CRAZY! But at night she still sings him their special song:

I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

The baby grows some more; he is nine years old, never wants to take a bath, and says bad words when his grandma visits. His mother feels like selling him to the Zoo. But still, at night, she sings their song:

I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

The boy becomes a teenager, and, of course, that's the worst! He has strange friends and he wears strange clothes, and he listens to strange music. His mother feels like she lives in a Zoo! But guess what? At night, when he is safely asleep, she still sings to him:

I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

Finally, the boy is all grown up and moves into his own house. But sometimes, on dark nights, the mother drives across town to his house, creeps into his house, and sings--well, you know what she sings:

I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

At last, the mother is old and sick. She sings to her boy, but she isn't able to finish the song. Her son, however, has learned his lesson well. He knows what to do. Holding his mother close, he rocks her in his arms, and sings to her:

I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

And when he returns home that night, he stands for a long time at the top of the stairs. Then, going into the room where his own new baby daughter is sleeping, he takes her in his arms and sings:

I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

And we can see the cycle of love between parent and child beginning all over again.

Today's Gospel reading comes from the chapters of John's Gospel known as "The Last Discourse." It takes place at the Last Supper, on the night before Jesus went to the Cross.

Jesus was about to die. He knew that. He knew Judas would betray him and that he would be crucified the next day. He had one last opportunity to teach them.

What would he say? Would he tell them once again of his resurrection to come? Would he tell them a parable that reinforced their faith in God’s ultimate sovereignty? Would he reveal some hidden secrets of God’s plan for the end of time?

Of all the things he could have said he said, "Love one another." Of all the hidden knowledge he could have revealed to them, of all the spiritual depths he could have sounded, he chose to remind them to love one another, as he had loved them.

Today, on this Sixth Sunday of Easter, we in the United States are also celebrating Mother's Day. We can find a deep connection between the kind of mother's love that is reflected in Robert Munsch's story and the new commandment that Jesus gives us in today's Gospel.

Most of us first experienced love in the arms of our mothers—and if we are lucky – from our fathers, too. The effect of a parent's love on a growing child cannot be overestimated.

Any priest or minister or rabbi can tell you that an adult who has experienced unconditional love as a child finds it much easier, even as an adult, to believe in and accept God's love.

It is the adult who did not receive this kind of love who winds up in the pastor's office saying, "God couldn't love ME, or, "God couldn't forgive ME." Or perhaps they never visit the minister at all, but just go through life feeling unloved and unworthy.

To be sure, mothers, and fathers, are not perfect. Even the most loving of parents have no doubt made mistakes with their children.

If we grew up in a loving environment, then we are fortunate. But, if we didn't receive the kind of love we needed when were young, it is never too late.

God's love is always available. God does indeed say to us, "I'll love you forever, for always--my child you will be." And God calls us to be instruments of God's love for our brothers and sisters.

Love – it defines what it means to be a mother. And today we celebrate that love.  Do any of you know the origin of Mother’s Day?  The story of the modern celebration of Mother’s day goes back to Ann Marie Jarvis.

Ann Marie Jarvis was a woman who not only gave birth to 12 children, eight of whom died in childhood, but she founded a group called "Mother’s Day Work Clubs" that offered humanitarian aid to soldiers on both sides during the Civil War as well as attempts to improve sanitary conditions.

After the Civil War she organized a "Mother's Friendship Day" to bring people from both sides of the war together and heal the wounds of the war. In other words she took the ideal of a mother’s love and applied it to loving her neighbor - even when that neighbor was an enemy.

Ann Marie Jarvis died in 1905. After her death one of her daughters, Anna Jarvis, organized a memorial service for all mothers at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church.

She also supplied carnations to be given to each participant in the service in honor or memory of their mothers. The idea caught on and by 1914 "Mother’s Day" was a national holiday.

Anna Jarvis envisioned Mother's Day as a time of recommitment to honoring and caring for mothers, especially mothers who were no longer able to care for themselves.

But she was dismayed to see the way the holiday was celebrated. She lived to see Mother's Day become the victim of commercialism, when honoring mothers was reduced to giving flowers, cards and gifts.

Anna Jarvis died in 1948, disappointed and disillusioned that her work had been so trivialized.

Mothers Day need not be trivialized, though. It can and should be more than a "Hallmark Holiday." For that matter, I will suggest the only-slightly heretical idea that it should not be relegated to a celebration of those who have given birth. As the news media regularly attest, the ability to breed does not necessarily qualify someone to be a mother.

On the other hand, some of the finest mothering I have ever seen has come from people - both male and female - who have never had children of their own.

They provided encouragement to the dejected, fortitude to the faint-hearted, applause for accomplishment, and whenever needed, a shoulder to cry on.

You see, when we Presbyterians baptize children, the congregation promises to help the parents raise them:

Do you, as members of the church of Jesus Christ, promise to guide and nurture these children by word and deed, with love and prayer, encouraging them to know and follow Christ and to be faithful members of his church?

We do.

I think that is, in part, what Jesus was talking about: Loving one another … taking care of one another. If we listen closely to our text – “A new commandment I give to you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you should love one another.”  Who does it sound like?  Well, I think it sounds like Mom.

Every mother wants her children to get along, to love one another. My mother’s deepest wish for each of her four children, apart from living productive and happy lives, was that we would love one another.  Nothing made her happier.

No doubt, there were times that she wondered if that would ever happen, but nothing brought a smile to her face more quickly than to see us together – to see us love each other.

One thing to note - the Lord's command is not that we LIKE one another. That certainly would be nice, but to like or not to like is rooted in our emotions, and emotions do not respond to commands.

The love of which Jesus speaks is NOT an emotion. It is a way of acting toward one another that says, "No matter what, I want GOOD for you, and I will do whatever I can to insure that you get it."

Christian love is not something the Lord wants us to FEEL for one another but rather something he wants us to DO for one another.

As to how this love should be measured, our standard comes from the clause, "as I have loved you." That is a broad and lofty standard indeed!

The love that Jesus had for his disciples began with a willingness to ignore the limits of society. He did not content himself with a little group made up of only his "own kind" - he reached out to ALL kinds, and especially to those whom the rest of the world would shun.

The love of Jesus enabled him to take on tasks that would have been thought to be beneath him - servant work like washing dusty feet, for example.

The love of Jesus was able to encompass the hypocrisy of Peter, the self-serving ambition of James and John, the vicious self-righteousness of Paul. It was a love that knew no limit. He loved them so much that he was willing to die for them. That became our standard for obedience.

"As I have loved you...so you must love one another."

Of course, the heart of this unique commandment is not simply the prevention of internal strife. Christ's instruction to love one another as he loved us is itself motivated by another love...love for the world outside the church. "By this [everyone] will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

The command to love is really a command to witness with our lives, to be so winsome in our own fellowship that those outside will want to come in.

Indeed, love for one another - DOING for one another - may be the most effective evangelistic tool we have at our disposal.

Years ago Henry Drummond preached a sermon about love called "The Greatest Thing in the World" in which he suggested that if you put a piece of iron in the presence of an electrified body, that piece of iron becomes electrified.

It is changed into a temporary magnet in the presence of a permanent magnet, and as long as you leave the two together, they will share this characteristic.

It is no different with us and Christ - when we are close to him, we reproduce some of his characteristics which would be quite impossible if we merely attempted to obey his command or imitate his example.

"Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." Sounds just like Mom, doesn't he?

Oh. Speaking of magnets, a Junior High School science teacher was about to begin a unit on the subject, and to introduce it, he offered his students a puzzle.

It read, "My name has six letters beginning with 'M' and I pick things up. What am I?" Half the kids in the class wrote "MOTHER!"

Happy Mothers Day.

Amen!