Mother's Day

Sermon for 8 May 2022

I love Mother’s Day. It comes at a perfect time of year. Early in the Spring when everything is reborn after being dormant for the long winter. I also love Mother’s Day because of the memories it gives me. I was raised by strong women. Women who could work along-side any man. The year I turned 15 I ran a hay crew. Back then, all hay was in 60-pound bales dropped off the end of the baler and left until someone picked them up and put them in the barn. We were that someone; my three aunts and I. Ethel owned and drove the truck, Francis and I walked on either side and pitched the bales onto the flatbed and Helen stacked them. I was elected leader because farmers wouldn’t deal with women. We even had some try to turn us away when they found out we were co-ed. They tended to acquiesce when I reminded them, we had a contact, and we wanted paid regardless.

My Grandmother was the strongest person I knew. She could have posed for the picture of Rosy the Riveter. She was an inch or two shy of five feet tall but would fill a room with her presence and made 50 caliber machine gun bullets in WWII. She was as much a mother to me as my mom. I looked up the term “To Mother” in the dictionary and found it means much more that to give birth to. The definition includes to nurture, raise, tend, nurse, care for, and cherish. Thus, Grandma and my three aunts mothered me. My relationship with my birth mother was sometimes difficult. We didn’t see eye to eye on many issues, but she was always my mother, and we loved each other. We just didn’t always get along. I was probably too independent and needed more space than most mothers willingly gave their children.

I wonder if Biblical mothers had similar problems. Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph would take their family to Jerusalem every year for Passover. When Jesus was 12, they lost him and were very worried. Then they found him in the Temple. Luke doesn’t indicate the 12 yar old was at all contrite. He needed his space even at that age. Jesus’s last thoughts, however, were for his mother. She followed him to the cross; and with his dying breath, he made sure John would care for her.

Who is your favorite Mother in the Bible? Most of you would probably say Mary the Mother of Christ, and I would agree, but there are other strong Mother figures in Scripture. The first one that comes to mind is Hannah. One of the scripture readings we had today was from 1Samuel and tells us a bit about Hannah. Hannah was barren and prayed to God for a child. This doesn’t seem very noteworthy to us today, but at the time, normal folks didn’t pray directly to God. God was considered a communal concept rather than individual. When the prophet Eli saw her praying, he thought she was drunk. She admitted speaking directly to God and was worried Eli would consider her an evil person. It was a gutsy thing to do. Her conversation with the Almighty included the promise that her child would become a servant of God. That child was Samuel, the prophet who anointed David as King of Israel.

How about Sarah the wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac? You will recall that Sarah was also barren; and in order to give Abraham a son, she allowed him to father Ismael with a servant girl. Ismael was the oldest and according to custom should have been Abraham’s successor. But Sarah did the unthinkable. She defied Abraham and had him send Ismael away such that Isaac inherited the birth right. Again, this doesn’t sound like much to us today; but in Sarah’s world, wives were little more than possessions. It was not uncommon for wives to be bought and sold. So, wives didn’t go against the will of their husbands. And they absolutely didn’t go against the will of their patriarch. It just wasn’t allowed. Sarah broke the mold.

I have mixed feelings about Rebekah. She was the wife of Isaac and mother of the twins, Esau and Jacob. Esau was a man’s man. He was big, strong and burley with a full head of red hair. He was a skilled hunter and did those kinds of things that make men envious. Jacob on the other hand was more refined both in manner and physical appearance. He was his mother’s favorite. When the time came to name a successor, she tricked her husband Isaac into blessing Jacob instead of Esau. Do you see where I might have mixed feelings. She fulfilled the definition of mother, cherish, nurture, protect, etc. for Jacob but didn’t do that for Esau. She played favorite. So, I’m not sure what I think of her.

I have no doubts, however, about Naomi. Naomi married a guy from out of state and had two grown sons with wives of their own. There must have some kind of sickness or something because Naomi’s husband and both sons died leaving her with nothing. She encouraged her two daughters-in-law to go back to their original families and start over. One did, but the other one, Ruth, for whatever reason stayed with Naomi, and they moved back to Naomi’s home town. They were penniless and dependent on charity, but Naomi took care of Ruth as if she had given birth to her. She pulled strings, called in favors and used family ties to give Ruth a chance in life. Naomi mothered Ruth.

The New Testament doesn’t have many accounts of Mothers other than Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist and, of course, the Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ. Mary had a house full of children. In addition to Jesus, she had at least four sons and two daughters. James who became the head of the church in Jerusalem was the half-brother of Jesus. I wonder if Jesus was difficult to raise. We get one glimpse of him being headstrong during their annual visit to Jerusalem. We know he learned Joseph’s trade, but even if he wasn’t difficult, can you imagine the responsibility of raising the son of God? Remember the wedding at Canna? She had to tell Him when it was time to begin his ministry. Mary had to be something special. I thought she would be the Patron Saint of Mothers, so I looked it up and found she wasn’t. The Catholics recognize 16 patron Saints for mothers plus Gerard the Patron Saint of expectant mothers. Mary, however, is not among them. Anne, Mary’s mom and grandmother of Christ heads the list, followed by Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist. Then Google lists fourteen others, most of whom I have never heard of. Their stories make interesting reading, but I will not take time for all of them here. When you get a chance, I encourage you to look them up. The first saint from America was Elizabeth Ann Seton. I can only wonder why Mary doesn’t head the list.

Could it be she was too special to be limited to only one role? She was the chosen one of God. She gave birth to and mothered our Savior. Christ both loved and respected her. This is Mary’s Day. Jesus was part of Mary just as you are all part of your mothers. The bond with our mothers began while we were still in the womb and physically part of her body. No relationship can be more special.

Dear Lord, thank you. You could have given us life in any one of an infinite number of ways, but you chose to be partners with our mothers in our creation. Thank you. Amen