"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:4 NIV
Our text speaks of tomorrow - a day without tears, a day without mourning or crying, a day with no thoughts or concerns about death, separation or parting... it speaks of 'tomorrow.'
It speaks of an old order. "The old order of things." The old order includes tears, it includes mourning and crying. In the old order there is separation and death. The old order is 'today.'
It is hard to imagine (but a glorious thing to imagine) a day when this 'world of woe' is purged of such curses. A day when there is no night, not even the need for the sun, no talk (not even the thought) of death or sadness or grief. A day when the New Jerusalem shines with the glory of God. There is a great wall with twelve gates and twelve angels at the gates. The wall of the city has twelve foundations, it is made of jasper and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. There is however, no temple, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The nations will walk by the light of God and of the Lamb. I will walk by this light... 'tomorrow.'
That day is not today. Not for you, not for me. With patience we must endure the old order. This includes the presence of trouble upon trouble, heartache after heartache, loss after loss, grief upon grief.
But it shouldn't be hard to imagine a healing. It shouldn't be hard to comprehend a great comfort, or a supernatural empathy, or even the wiping of tears. For never once on earth has the goodness of God ever been contained. No, there is but one place where the goodness of God shall never reach, and you don't want to go there. Don't even toy with that path. If you are on it, get off, and with haste.
Even in a world that remains in the 'old order,' where crying and mourning and pain exist, God's goodness pierces the darkness - and not just in a single form, but multiple, and one such gift that undeserving mankind has received is the gift of 'mother.'
Mothers pierce the darkness, even beyond their earthly life (also in memory), that's how powerful their influence is. It's an influence that remains beyond their years, a scope that they themselves could never hope to realize while on earth, their own family and beyond, for such is the uncontainable nature of the grace of God, and such is the nature of the gifts of God, and such is the nature of God's grace given in the form of this gift that we call mother.
Mothers nurture, mothers care, mothers tend-to, mothers raise, mothers encourage, mothers protect, mothers love, some even give birth to children.
Yet how often have we grieved them? How often have we disappointed? How often have we taken them for granted? How often have we failed to thank them? How often have we fallen short, failed, rejected or ignored? Yet, like the grace of God, empowered by the grace of God, set afire by the grace of God is this unrelenting and beautiful gift to mankind: Mother.
Now you may be thinking: "Preacher, you speak as if mothers are divine, as if they are perfect and that is just not so." And you would be right. But do you think it wise for me to list their imperfections on Mother's Day? I thought not. But since you brought it up, let us explore their imperfections for just a moment.
All mothers have had an imperfect childhood. They were raised by imperfect people in an imperfect world. They were dealt an imperfect hand when it comes to life. They've faced unfairness, grief, all sorts of trauma, heartbreaks, perhaps abuse and dysfunction, they have been in imperfect relationships, married to an imperfect man, they go to an imperfect church and have an imperfect pastor. Their life has not been a bed of roses, nor has God given them omnipotence or omnipresence or an endless amount of patience.
Shall I go on? Their children haven't been perfect, the gratitude they have received is incomplete, the compensation for their time, their labor, their efforts is measly compared to what they deserve and even on Mother's Day they are still on the job.
The mother of Jesus, Mary, highly favored by God, suffered tremendous grief. The mother of all the living, Eve, suffered tremendous grief, and every mother since has endured trouble upon trouble.
All these things, that are sufficient to fully stifle, to handicap, to harden, to make callous... these imperfections, these set-backs, these weights and burdens and troubles just prove all the more that even the slightest blessing that we receive from mother is a result of God's grace at work within them, and it is a foretaste of the Grace that will one day be unleashed in full measure.
Fathers have their place and are vitally important as well, but when it comes to imagining that day when God wipes the tears from my eyes, I hardly compare that to father. A dad can wipe tears, but not like mother. Dad is apt to grab whatever is at hand; "Oh, you are crying. Let me get that for you son, um... let's see, oh, here's some sandpaper, that'll work, hold still."
And when there is mourning and heartache, one day God will erase all hints of it, but when it comes to imagining that day I hardly compare that to father. A dad might say, "That's life, get used to it." But not mother, a mother's heart breaks with yours.
I'm not sure if it has ever been medically proven, but I've seen it even recently with my daughter and grand daughter - the miracle of pain relief that is found in a mother's kiss. Little Harper (my grand daughter) loves her Poppy (that's me), but a bump to the head needs immediate attention. A kiss from Poppy apparently has no healing effect and the child doesn't even waste her time seeing if it will work, but there is some kind of supernatural morphine in a mother's kiss. God promises one day to remove all pain, for that is the 'old order' that will soon pass away. Until that day, one avenue God utilizes to disperse His grace, and grant us a foretaste of heaven, is in mother's kiss.
God is the supreme enemy of the old order. God will one day bring the old order to it's knees. The old order He will cast away, never to be remembered again. No more tears, no more death, no more crying, no more pain. Until that day comes, God has dispatched an army of empowered and capable soldiers. They are armed to the hilt with gifts of service to others (and they are not afraid to use them). They are set aflame with the unstoppable, untameable grace of God. They are His ministers of grace.
They are: tear wipers, hurt healers, pain killers, comfort givers, wisdom dispensers, heart menders, burden toting, courageous defenders, tireless workers, unconditional lovers, nurturing gurus, course correctors, they are God's answer to "It is not good for man to be alone."
They are God's gift to mankind so we can imagine the blessings, the release, the goodness of life in heaven. They are combatants of the old order, and they will continue to bring healing and comfort until the old order is altogether banished. They are mercenaries of God's mercy, worthy of honor, worthy of recognition, and at the very least, worthy of thanks.
