A young mother recently posted on Facebook that there is nothing sweeter than hearing an older child reading to their younger sibling. P.D. Eastman’s Are You My Mother? was published in 1960 by Random House. (Wikipedia) I remember reading Eastman’s book.

The young hatchling at the center of Eastman’s story looks high and low for his mother. Not only would young readers find simple sentences, they would also learn the skill of comparison. A bird does not look like a car.

Sunday we will celebrate Mother’s Day. It is interesting that the story of Jesus contains an incident where Jesus’ mother comes calling. Upon hearing that Mary and his brothers were waiting outside Jesus asks, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Hardly a question one expects from the Son of God. If anyone should know who his mother is it should be Jesus.

Jesus’ questions rarely call for the obvious answer unless that answer exposes a critic. Here Jesus appears to be calling attention to comparison. In a simple question, Jesus rhetorically asks the stunned crowd for the identity of his mother who happens to be standing outside. Then he says, “Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:49-50, NIV)

Simple sentence. Pointed comparison. It is as if Jesus is asserting that when you look for family identity it is not in the family name or looks – as in she looks like her mother. Instead, when we look for indicators that a person is in relationship with Jesus the evidence in in the life lived, “whoever does the will of my Father in heaven.”

Over the years people draw comparisons between what they experience in us and what they know of our mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters. For Jesus’ followers our hope is that they do not need to ask us who is our mother. We want our ways to give evidence that indeed we are doing the will of Jesus’ Father.

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Mother’s Day

Texts: Acts 10:44-48; Psalm 98; 1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17

Tuesdays Together – Come help us prep our space for our Wednesdays Are for Others (7 p.m.)

Wednesdays Are For Others – Community Meal, Food Boxes, Community of Hope Free Medical Clinic (begins at 5:30 p.m.)

Language Exchange – Our reciprocal learning exchange for those wanting to help others learn English and at the same time desire to learn Spanish (6:30 p.m.)

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Texts: Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 22:24-30; 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Texts: Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18

From Pastor Todd’s Weekly Email . . . 

My parents live off of 104th in south Oklahoma City. Recently I was heading back to Tuttle after a visit and noticed a fellow pan-handling. You know, you have seen them located near on-ramps or off-ramps throughout Oklahoma City. They have found themselves in hard times and resorted to asking for money on these street corners.

Many of us would as soon express what Bruce Horsnby did in his song, That’s Just the Way It Is, when in lyrical form he noted how we respond to people in need by saying, “Just get a job.” We quickly point to the Scripture that describes that a person should not expect to eat if they do not work. We feel justified in our feelings. After all we can support our opinion with Scripture. But, is it that easy, that simple? I have a good friend who has been applying for jobs of every sort from at least six months only to be told he is over-qualified or under-qualified. It is not so simple.

Our text from 1 John 3 for this coming Sunday challenges the way we structure our thinking about these matters. John writes, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” The frame of reference for John in 1 John appears to be Jesus’ words in John 10. The reference to laying down his life is surely tied to Jesus’ self-description as the Good Shepherd.

We spend time trying to nuance how this works. One move is to emphasize the description “brother” as making our actions exclusively for those “in” the Faith. Jesus’ own words problematize this. The religious establishment of Jesus’ day thought in exclusive terms. That is, those the approved of and who followed their dictates were considered “in.” Jesus, in John 10, suggests in their hearing that he had sheep not of this fold. They did not like Jesus’ words. Love breaks the barriers we construct. We do not know who will or who will not find the love of God in Jesus. So, we do not get to be the filter that says “yes” to this person we see, and “no” to that person. John, in 1 John, seems to suggest the evidence God’s love as a resident part of our life is bound to our willingness to lay down our lives for those we see in need.

Augustine offered sermons on 1 John where he described what we might do. In Ten Homilies on 1 John 5:12 we find,

If you are not yet able to die for your brother, at least show him your ability to give him your goods. Let love be stirring your inmost heart to do it, not for display but out of the very marrow of compassion, thinking only of the brother and his need.” (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament XI, Ed. Gerald Bray,p.203)

Those pan-handlers are hard to miss. Others slip through the cracks. Maybe we should ask God to grant us the sensitivity of his love to recognize those in need. Once aware, let’s together not shut our heart against them in hopes our actions of love might be received as the very acts of God’s love.

Third Sunday of Easter

Texts: Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36-48

Second Sunday of Easter

Texts: Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 133; 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31