Jesus our Mother

John 17. 6 - 19

I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.

In our gospel for today, Jesus prays aloud for his disciples as he says goodbye to them. On this day when we celebrate mothers, I am reminded of times when I knew my mother was praying for me, times when I found my name on her prayer list, times I must have disappointed her and times her prayers were answered and I brought her joy. This scene in the gospel of John certainly depicts the mothering side of Jesus. It also reminds me of Kahil Gibran's beautiful advice about parenting and the its fleeting nature.

Your children are not your children.They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.They come through you but not from you,And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,For they have their own thoughts.You may house their bodies but not their souls,For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

May the arms of Jesus enfold us this day, knowing that we are only of this world for a short time, we do not belong to this world just as we did not belong to our parents and our children do not belong to us. But we belong to God in Christ whose love is greater than anything we can ask or imagine.