Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2004 : May 9, 2004
A Christian Mother is Jesus' Mother
Easter 5 - Mother's Day
Someone has said, "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." What do you think that means? It's talking about how much influence mothers have on this world simply by raising their own children. And that saying is just as true today as it has always been. It's the roll that mothers play in the home and in our society that has changed. Today's moms are just as likely to be the one at home watching the kids as they are working 9-5. Years ago, moms were certainly stressed, fatigued and over-worked, but today when you have a mom getting all that in already at the office and then coming home to put a meal together to find kids that won't let her out of their sight for more than 1.5 seconds, the fatigue and stress add up all too quickly to depression, struggling with anger and feelings of guilt all at the same time. Yet motherhood is still one of the most important and powerful positions in our culture.
Now obviously we're not all mothers because we're not all female, and there are plenty of females who aren't mothers either. But we've all had mothers or have them still with us. You may not have known your mother; you may not have even liked your mother for any number of reasons, but hopefully most of us love and cherish our mothers.
This morning we're going to look at how Jesus describes motherhood, and the difference between your average, everyday, run-of-the-mill mother and one that has even more on her plate to deal with in this world -— a Christian mother. Jesus tells us something that on the surface sounds a little strange. He says that A Christian Mother is none other than Jesus' own Mother. And what makes a Christian mother different from an average, everyday, run-of-the-mill mother is that a Christian mother wants to hear Jesus regularly, and she wants to put Jesus' Word into practice.
It might seem a little strange to pick this portion of Scripture for a Mother's Day sermon. The only thing Jesus' mother does here is want to see and hear Jesus, along with Jesus' brothers -- most likely his half-brothers, sons of Mary and Joseph. (Jesus was miraculously conceived in Mary without having a human father involved, but having God as his Father.) But what is Jesus' reaction when he hears that they were looking for him? He basically ignores them. "He [Jesus] replied, 'My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice.' " Was he saying that these weren't his real mother and brothers? That would have hurt Mary deeply. How could Jesus say something so cruel? Wasn't this the Jesus whose name was Immanuel, which means "God with us"? Isn't this the Jesus who spoke from Mt. Sinai, "Honor your father and your mother"? Surely it was. It was also the Jesus who, beaten and bloodied and dying, with a gasp from the cross in the middle of his agony, entrusted his mother to the care of John, his disciple. Was Jesus staging a rebellion against mothers in general, and particularly against his own mother? No. He was telling the world, including all of us, that those who listen to God speak to them and put his words into practice are as dear to him as his very own mother and brothers. More on that later.
The mother in our text was an ordinary mother -— with the exception that her child was the Almighty Lord of heaven and earth. Okay, so she was no ordinary mother. Yet certainly she was just as sinful as any other mother, or father, or child, but she was blessed by God to be the mother of the Savior. She had to go through the same difficult nine-month pregnancy, with the added disgrace of being pregnant out of wedlock, which could have been punished at that time by being stoned to death. She had to deal with the morning sickness and having to get a new wardrobe and everything else that goes along with being an expectant mother. Oh, and she had to ride on a donkey for 70 miles while she was 8 1/2 months pregnant. And she gave birth to the Savior, in addition to the miracle of giving birth to a child. Ecclesiastes 11 says, "As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the maker of all things." Meteorologists can tell you why the wind blows and when it will blow in your area, but they can't make it blow. Doctors can explain how a child is formed; they can describe all of that child's developments, but they can't make it happen. Is it any wonder that God's work in conception and birth is so stunning, so wonderful? Is this perhaps why a mother's love is so strong, so resilient, so protective, because God made her a partner in this plan of procreation, a much more involved part than that given to the father?
The love of a mother for a child is a normal thing. But it's especially true of Jesus' mothers, in other words, Christian mothers. Their child is not just a person with eyes and ears and a mouth, sometimes a big, loud mouth. A Christian mother also sees her child as a precious soul, about which Jesus once said, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet loses his soul? Or what can you give in exchange for a soul?" Jesus' mothers want to stay in close contact with him. They want to hear him regularly, every Sunday, as well as every day of the week. An average mom likes to hear the first word their child says, but from there they'd probably rather that their child stop pestering them with words so much after a while. But Jesus' mother, a Christian mother, wants to hear every word that Jesus speaks to her in his holy Word, as well as every word her child speaks that shows he also knows Jesus as his Savior. To a Christian mom, baptism is more important than a discussion about the bottle or breastfeeding. To a Christian mom, Bible stories are more important than Mother Goose or the Brothers Grimm. That's because for a Christian mother, for Jesus' mother, not only hearing Jesus is enough. She wants to put what she hears into practice.
That means that she will obey Jesus when he says, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." So Christian moms know that the most important thing they can do for their children is giving them a Christian education, which may include sending them to a Lutheran elementary or high school, but certainly includes Sunday school and Sunday through Saturday school at home, as she is raising her children in God's Word and making sure above all else that her children know Jesus Christ as their Savior.
A famous 19th century preacher wrote of a mother in the wild frontier days, washing her clothes in a stream. Her little boy was playing nearby. Suddenly she realized he was gone. She called his name over and over; she raced back to the cabin -— no son. Then she dashed into the nearby forest and found the body of her dead son. He had been killed by a wolf. Heartbroken, she picked up his lifeless body and carried him home. The preacher concluded, "Oh, how that mother hated wolves."
Every Christian should have a similar hatred for evil -— anything that can harm our child physically is certainly a danger and needs to be avoided. But hating everything that can harm us or our children spiritually should be hated most of all. The Psalmist says, "The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me. Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil." Mothers, if you are so careful to protect you child from physical harm, like running into the street without looking, then exert an even greater care to keep evil forces from your child to protect their spiritual welfare, which is more precious by far because their soul hangs in the balance. Unfortunately, many mothers don't. They show little concern for the friends their kids make. The kids often have free rein over the TV remote and the internet and magazines. Those are more threatening than any wolf could ever be. It's okay to hate those things, because God hates them.
Remember what kept Jesus' mother from being able to see him and hear him? "Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd." Crowds still prevent us today -— crowded schedules, agendas, too many kids to get up in the morning, too many things to do and not enough time. Cook, clean, calm scared children, grocery shop, taxi them over half of creation; serve a psychologist, sounding board, home work teacher -— and that's all before 8:00 A.M. Who has time to read the Bible, to get to hear Jesus with their child every day? The way you raise your child is how they will raise their children. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
Is that what you needed this morning -— another guilt trip by the pastor on Mother's Day of all days? Whether you're a mother or not, you will not just feel guilty about all the times we've failed to diligently study the Scriptures and listen to Jesus as well as all the times we've failed to make sure our kids are hearing Jesus as well. We've failed many times to put Jesus' words into practice. Have you been impatient instead of caring and patient with your child? Have you resorted to yelling and scolding instead of giving good discipline? Jesus' mother, Christian mothers, know these are not just little things that carry no consequence -— they are sins against God himself and against the precious souls God has placed into your care. And fathers and brothers and sisters and children aren't exempt —- how have you treated your mother? Have you made it easier for her to be your mother or wife? Just think of the times you treated your mother like garbage when you were growing up -— especially those teen years.
But Jesus' message, that Jesus' mother and brothers need to hear, is that Jesus took all those times when we have been uncooperative, uncaring, unloving, self-centered sinners, and went to the cross to take all of them away. That's why you want to hear every word Jesus tells you; that's why you want to put every word of Jesus into practice. He gave you life instead of the death you deserve. He gave you perfection in God's eyes. He gave you a reason for living —- for him. He has brought life and immortality to light in his gospel. Trust that word of Jesus. Hear it. Put it into practice. Spend your whole life on it, expend every effort on it. And, mothers, he entrusted you with a very important task in this life -— the most important task of all -— making sure your children hear Jesus as well and put his words into practice. God is with you; he will bless your efforts, as you live as a Christian mother -— Jesus' mother. Amen.
