Mother Church

TEXT: John 14:23-3123

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither et them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

At times the Holy Christian Church has been called “Mother Church.” Mother Church is descriptive of the Creed where a literal translation might read, “one holy catholic church.” Or as Luther also wrote in the Catechism, “one holy Christian Church.” Mother Church cannot be used exclusively of the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Church or even the LCMS. Mother Church is the term associated with the Church universal. In this church there is no denominational affiliation. There is no false doctrine, no sects or schisms. In Mother Church there is a single congregation of saints. Mother Church is the historic Church… not any era’s contemporary flavor of it. There is one Lord, one baptism, one faith, and one God and Father of us all. Mother Church has saintly children on earth and sainted children who have already inherited eternal life. Mother Church is not the New Testament Church or the Old Testament Church. It is the Church built on the prophets and apostles with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone.

The Scriptures also speak in terms that teach us that it is good for us to consider the Lord’s Church as Mother Church. Isaiah personifies the church as mother when he writes, “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.” (54:13) Jesus quoted this in John 6, saying of the Church, “You all shall be taught be God.” And if the Church is Mother. Then Who is the Father? None other than, the One to Whom we pray in the Lord ’s Prayer, “Our Father, Who art in Heaven.”

Today is Mother’s Day… an honoring of earthly mothers, but we might also think of the Church’s festival of Pentecost as Mother Church’s Day. As it is so often true, the way in which the Lord orders the universe is meant to be a blessing for us. Not only that we live together peaceably, but that in this order we might also understand and believe the doctrine of God.

Proverbs 31 teaches us much about an excellent woman and a noble mother. Many of these things are evident in Christian mothers… “She is far more precious than jewels… the heart of her husband trusts in her…She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life… She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong… She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hand to the needy… Strength and dignity are her clothing… she opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue… She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed… her husband also, and he praises her. Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

And while these platitudes may be true of virtuous mothers, they are always absolutely true for Mother Church. Mother Church is more precious than jewels…. She opens her arms to the poor and her mouth with wisdom. She looks after her household. She is praised by God, her husband. All of Proverbs 31 is descriptive of the one Holy Christian Church.

The Gospel lesson is taken from Jesus’ sermon on the night when He was betrayed. It was Maundy Thursday. In less than 18 hours, Jesus would be crucified, and the Spirit would be handed over. Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit who would come to be Mother Church’s Advocate, Comforter and Helper. Jesus would never leave His one Holy Church, but He had to ascend to the right Hand of the Throne of God after His resurrection. We shouldn’t think of the right hand of God so much as a place. Rather, it is a position, or even better, an “office.” Humanity can no longer be despised. For flesh and blood now occupies the Highest Office in the Church.

In Jesus’ Maundy Thursday sermon He reminds us once again of the importance of His Word for the Church. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we (the Holy Trinity) will come to him and make our home with him.” When a mother coddles her little child and sings songs to her baby or reads the Bible to him, she loves her child. When she nurses her infant and nourishes it with her own breast milk, it is a picture of the Church nursing the children of God with the pure spiritual milk of the preached Word of God and Sacraments. When a mother is in labor and delivers her child, there is also the picture of a poor miserable sinner at the baptismal font being born anew with the water and the Word into the family of God. And all of this through the sending of the Holy Spirit who is THE ONLY evangelist in Mother Church. It is the Holy Spirit who calls, gathers, and enlightens the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. That’s the blessing of Pentecost Sunday…. The sending of the Holy Spirit to create and preserve the New Testament Mother Church.

Pentecost Sunday has been mistakenly called the birthday of the Church. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The Church has been in existence since the beginning of time. A proper understanding of the marks or identifications of the Church is where the Word is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered. In the early Church, Adam preached the Word of God and administered the sacrament from the Tree of Life. And after the fall, the Lord continued to provide His Word. Men were appointed to be pastors and godly women served in submission. The sacraments took different forms – a rainbow, a burning bush, a bronzen snake on a pole, and circumcision. When the Christ came, baptism was given and so was the sacrament of the altar. The Office of the Apostolic Ministry was established to continue the preaching office of the prophets and the priestly office of administers of the sacrament. Of course all of them were appointed by the one Prophet and High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. All of them were to proclaim the stricken, smitten and afflicted Savior who was to die as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world. Their message could also never ignore the Truth that my Redeemer lives (Job). That message has always been and will always be a message of peace in a world where there is no other peace. Even today that apostolic office continues. It is not an office inherited genealogically. God calls Men through Mother Church to serve the one holy Christian Church in Word and Sacrament.

May God grant all mothers a blessed and holy Mother’s Day… and even more, may He preserve Mother Church through the work of the Holy Spirit for you and for me.

The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
She is His new creation by water and the Word.
From Heav’n He came and sought her to be His holy Bride;
With His own blood he bought her, and for her life He died.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.