Let's be realistic, or at least honest with ourselves. According to the order God created, men are to be the head of the household. It works best when it happens that way. But then we also know it doesn't always happen that way. Furthermore, men are given the direct command to be the spiritual head of their house. St. Paul writes to the Ephesians, "Fathers, do not frustrate your children, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." But again, despite the direct command, moms probably do more of the bringing up in that discipline and instruction of the Lord, Paul was talking about. Moms usually do the prayers. Moms usually read the Bible stories. Moms usually help their children learn the catechism. Moms are often the ones who make sure the kids get to church, and make sure they know the faith. Let's face it, dads are supposed to, but moms usually pick up the slack. Thank you, moms.

In fact, there is a lot more that moms do. Dads are part of this, and set the tone, but despite how society has changed, it's usually moms that raise the kids. They teach the children how to share. How to forgive; how to work hard; how to not always expect rewards; how to look for ways to help others; how to deal with being told "no," and how to say "no" themselves; how to save money; how to be polite and courteous; how to eat well, how to take care of their stuff, how to be safety conscious and the list goes on and on.

But one day that comes to an end--the training does. One day, the children have to leave the nest. All the things that momma has been teaching is going to be put to the test. It's not like it hasn't been tested all through, but the day comes for the children to go out into the world, armed with what they have been taught.

I know for a couple of our moms that will be happening at the end of summer. Your kids are heading off for college. They aren't moving out permanently, but it's a step closer. Will they keep learning? I would hope so.

That's where we are with Jesus in our text. The difference is, Jesus is leaving His disciples. He's been teaching them for several years. It's time for Him to go, and they don't like the idea. What's it going to be like? How are they ever going to make it? The thing is, He won't really be gone. He'll be with them in a different way. He'll be with them in the Word, since He is the Word. But compared to having Him walking around with them like it is at that point, it was going to seem He was gone. Jesus assures them, it will be even better after He goes. They are not so sure.

When kids leave home, they are usually ready to go, but then after being out there, mom's house becomes kind of tempting again. The nest is safe and warm. The disciples wanted to stay in that nest, but Jesus was pushing them out so they could be more than they were--a lot more.

The disciples there in the upper room had no idea what they would become. They never would have dreamed it.

Walk into our Kids in Christ preschool, and tell our kids one day they will have children of their own; they will be easily handling numbers higher than 10; they will do things that others will depend on, and they won't have a clue what you are talking about. They just want that crayon or marker right now, and are pretty content with getting that.

The disciples weren't much beyond that when it came to their understanding of spiritual matters. There in that Upper Room, that same night, they were fighting over who was the best disciple. Nor did they have realistic pictures of their weaknesses. Peter said he would go to his death rather than abandon Jesus, but when the test came, he crumbled like a cookie. And all of them were crushed, when Jesus died, even though Jesus had been telling them all along this was the way it was supposed to go.

So, Jesus had been teaching them the fundamentals, just like mom teaches the fundamentals of life. Now, it was time to take it up a notch. Now it was time to develop them. To do this, Jesus would leave them and then send the Holy Spirit who would bring to mind all He had taught them. That means just about everything they would say later, Jesus had already taught them, but they didn't realize it yet.

There it is, moms. You'll wonder if the lessons you taught your kids will ever take, and then you will look at your adult children, and see they did. Moms with grown children already know this. But they have to get away first.

Is there any question, that it was better for them that Jesus went and then sent the Holy Spirit as Jesus had described? At first, though, it was highly doubtful that they would ever amount to anything. Jesus taught the truth to His disciples, and looking at them in the upper room that night, we would wonder if it took. A couple days later--and we're still not so sure, because they are locking the doors, afraid of being killed, even after they had heard reports that Jesus was alive.

But these same men were to become preachers, men who would not only be ready to die for the faith but actually would, spokesmen of Christ, speaking through the Spirit. And we can see how they developed theologically by looking at their writings. Peter, Matthew and John all have books that are part of the Bible. Each of these disciples had congregations of their own and even became heads of other pastors.

Yes, Jesus' lessons had taken. Just as Jesus had said, the Holy Spirit led them back into what Jesus had taught. The Holy Spirit led them into truth. And these same men passed the truth on to the next generation. Jesus had given them a solemn command. "Teach your followers everything I have commanded you." It is as if He had said, "These are words of life, do not add anything to them or subtract for them. They are too valuable. People who follow you will come to depend on them.

In fact, Christians a little less than 20 centuries from now in a country their ancestors don't know anything about yet, in a region that will come to be called Minnesota, in a town that will be called Morris, are going to be gathered in a congregation that will go by the one name you will recognize, Zion. They will be surrounded by people who claim no one can know the full truth, who claim no one can know the mind of my Father. They will need to know you have been careful to preserve the truth I have passed on to you. They will depend on you; don't lose a single thought."

And you know what? They didn't. Not a single thought. Through them, the Holy Spirit set into motion the steps that preserved that truth.

Now, I can't say that things didn't get mixed into it. A lot of things did. A lot of people had particular ideas of what Jesus meant, and they were wrong. But if we were to trace the line of thought, we would find the truth coming through the centuries. The Holy Spirit preserved it. Despite all the additions, it was still there. Always going back to what the Holy Spirit had inspired, the truth always came through. And it wasn't just a simple message of salvation, but everything Jesus had taught the disciples. In fact, all those teachings were compiled together in the 16th century in a book that is readily available today, as a way of saying, "This is what Jesus had taught the disciples." And you people of Zion can still have it.

It's true. We have the original words in those words inspired by the Holy Spirit, recorded in the Bible, of course, but we also have the clear understanding of Christians throughout the ages who interpreted those words. We are crazy to dismiss what they have said, especially when they had done heavy theological battle throughout the centuries to make sure the teachings were still clear.

But preserving the truth wasn't the only thing the Spirit would do. He would need to make Christians by bringing sinners to Christ and keep them in Jesus Christ in the one true faith. He would use these weepy and wimpy disciples to do it. But they would no longer be what we see in the Upper Room that night. They would boldly speak the truth, and the Holy Spirit would work through their words as they preached nothing else but the Law and Gospel. Not just talking about Law and Gospel, but actually proclaiming it.

Through their words, the Holy Spirit wouldn't just describe the Law. He would actually convict hearers with its message. And He does to this day. Although those of us who are members of this congregation and fellowship have been baptized and made God's children, we are the people who do not believe in Him. We say we believe in Him, and I would stand up and argue for you that you do, but at the same time, we don't. If we did, our behavior would always be perfect, our motives would too. We would always do what we know we should. But we don't. Our shoulds and do's don't match up. We know what we should do, but what we actually do is rarely that.

The problem is, this isn't just some goal to shoot for, a target to encourage us to try harder. It's do or die, baby. Either we do this, or we die eternally. And avoiding this death doesn't look like it's in the cards.

But Aha! The Holy Spirit has a second role. He will work through the Gospel those disciples would preach. Jesus said, "But the Holy Spirit will also convict the world concerning righteousness." Maybe avoiding eternal death isn't in the cards for us--whatever cards this saying is referring to--but Jesus shuffled the deck. He went to His Father. To do this, He had leave His Father, which meant leaving heaven. Then He had to become a human being, just like the right side had sung. "The Son obeyed His Father's will, was born of Virgin mother; And God's good pleasure to fulfill, He came to be my brother. His royal power disguised He bore; A servant's form, like mine, He wore to lead the devil captive."

Both sides then took turns singing about the life He lived and the death He died. This line, sung by the right side again, captured why He died, "Life will from death the vict'ry win; My innocence shall bear your sin, And you are blest forever." But it was the left side that got to sing about exactly what we have been looking at in our sermon. "Now to My Father, I depart, From earth to heaven ascending, And, heavenly wisdom to impart, The Holy Spirit sending; In trouble He will comfort you And teach you always to be true and into truth shall guide you."

The problem was, as we have already know, this simple truth of the Law and Gospel, would not go unchallenged. The devil would resist it. He would raise up people to challenge it. They would tell the disciples they were godless; that they were divisive, that they needed to be more tolerant and loving. Sometimes the disciples and later generations would cave to this pressure. Sometimes they even changed the message to avoid the accusations. But they needed the Holy Spirit to assure them of one more thing. Jesus tells them the ruler of this world, the one behind the accusations and the false teaching, has been judged. He has been muzzled. He may snap and snarl but greater is the One who is with them, than the one in the world. He's no match for Jesus.

And that's it. This is basically what the Spirit would do, and this is where He would start with these men who at this point, seem like little more than children, hiding under their mother's aprons, afraid of coming out and facing the world. Yep, that's what He used, and that's what He still uses. It must work, because the Church goes on, and will go on to the next generation. And most likely, it will be with the girls of our congregation, who will teach their children the faith, just as our mothers had done.

AMEN