A Mother’s Heart
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” – Ephesians 6:1-3
Moms are people, too.
That might seem obvious but take a moment to think about when you finally realized that simple fact. Moms are people, too. When we’re kids, we don’t see our moms as being like other people. We don’t imagine them with vulnerabilities or feelings like the rest of us. They are SUPERMOM! Able to leap large stacks of toys in a single bound! Then suddenly our moms seem out of touch. They just don’t get it. Suddenly they transform from knowing pretty much everything to knowing nothing at all. Over time as we grow and mature, we come to realize mom had a pretty good head on her shoulders the whole time. At least that’s how it was for me. Looking back, I don’t know how much I appreciated my mom until I became a parent myself and all of a sudden that veil over my eyes was lifted and I could empathize with her in a whole new way. I also realized how tough it must have been at times to put up with me.
“Honor your father and mother.”
We all know that commandment, whether you’re religious or not. But how well do we do it? How well do we honor our mothers whether biological or not? Because if you think about it, this mandate to honor your father and mother isn’t exclusive to biology and isn’t just talking about your own mother. It includes the mother of our children, too. Paul writes in Ephesians husbands are supposed to love their wives as Christ loved the church – and since Christ was willing to sacrifice everything, it seems we owe the mothers of our children an awful lot.
But how can we honor them the right way?
We can never go wrong by following Jesus’ example. When reading the Bible, we tend to focus on Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God and for good reason. But what if we were to also look at Jesus as the Son of Man and specifically the son of Mary and Joseph. We don’t read much about Joseph outside of Jesus’ birth, but with Mary we have a lot more to pull from. There were three distinct incidents of Jesus throughout his life that made me realize what it meant to honor your mother. Each one took place at a different moment – when Jesus was a child, when he first began his ministry, and on the cross before he died.
The first was when Jesus was in the temple.
This is the only incident we read about Jesus’ life as a kid. The only one. His family traveled from his home in Nazareth to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival and after it was over, the whole family was headed home, a journey of about 75 miles.[1] And by “whole family” we’re talking about cousins and uncles and aunts and grandparents, etc. It’s the WHOLE FAMILY. After the first full day of travel, Joseph and Mary realize Jesus isn’t with them and immediately head back to Jerusalem to find him. You might wonder why they didn’t notice before, but at Jesus’ age it was just as likely he was walking with some of his other relatives instead of his parents. Any of you with pre-teens or teenagers can probably empathize with that. I imagine they assumed he was with his cousin John or someone else in the family because the Bible tells us they were all traveling together. But at the end of that first day when they are setting up camp for the night, they can’t find him and immediately Joseph and Mary head back to Jerusalem.
I can’t imagine how worried Mary must have been.
I still have nightmares about the time Emma was trapped on the school bus and we had to drive after it like a mad man. The bus driver forgot to let Emma off at her usual spot and just started heading out of town. The next stop would have been 30 minutes away! We drove after her, honking frantically, and waving to try and get him to pull over. Finally, some kids at the back of the bus noticed us and told the driver to stop. He finally pulled over and we got Emma out safely. The next day we bought her a phone – and she stopped taking the bus. We were only missing Emma for a few minutes and that shook us to the core. Imagine how worried Mary must have been to leave her 12-year old all alone in another city overnight, not knowing what was happening to him or if he was even alright. When Joseph and Mary made it back to Jerusalem, Jesus was like a rock star in the temple, dazzling people with his wisdom and insight. But Mary didn’t care about that. She was probably panicked and relieved at the same time. She went up to him and said, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” But Jesus made her proud of him. Not just for his wisdom and insight but for what Luke writes what happens next, “…he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:51-52).” The only passage we have about Jesus’ childhood is one where we focus on Mary and how proud she was of her son.
Then there was that time at the wedding.
It’s the first recorded public miracle in the Bible and it happens because of his mom. Jesus and Mary were at a wedding and the family runs out of wine. Mary turns to Jesus and simply says, “They have no more wine.” Now, I don’t know if Jesus has done this sort of thing before, but I imagine he must have because that’s all she has to say to him and he knows what she expects. Jesus responds with “…why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come.” I guess that’s the 1st century version of “Ah, gee, mom. Do I have to?” But Mary knows Jesus will do it, despite his remark and he tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” And they do. Even though Jesus knows it isn’t time for him to reveal himself openly to the world, he does what his mother asks and he turns water into wine. The first recorded miracle happens because of his mother. He honors her by being dutiful.
And then there’s the moment of his death.
As he hangs on the cross, about to die, his mother, along with John the disciple and some of the other women who were close to Christ come to stand with him and give him their support. And right before he dies, he tells John to take care of his mother and asks his mother to adopt John as her own. Why Mary didn’t go to stay with one of her other children or what happened to Joseph, the Bible isn’t clear. But Jesus wanted to make sure before he died that his mother would be taken care of. In those days, a woman without a husband wouldn’t have the means to take care of herself and would end up destitute and alone so before he dies Jesus asks John to take care of her and he does. Only then does Jesus allow himself to die.
In each stage of his life, Jesus honors his mother.
It’s funny because we have no other story about Jesus’ childhood except this moment in the temple. And while most people remark on Jesus’ wit and wisdom, the bulk of the story is about Mary and Jesus. Not about Jesus’ time in the temple but about the relationship between mother and son. And we read that Mary’s heart becomes full watching her son. Then we see Jesus honoring his mother by doing as she asks despite the fact that it wasn’t time for him to reveal himself. Still, he does what she wants and Mary doesn’t have to say any more. And even at the moment of his death, Jesus makes sure that his mother is taken care of. He doesn’t die before he knows she will be alright. Throughout his life, Jesus never disrespected her, always cared for her, and lived a life that brought her honor. Jesus is the very model for how we should treat the moms in our lives.
I hope the life I have lived fills my mother’s heart.
I know my mom’s proud of me, but I hope I have honored the many sacrifices she has made for me in my life. I hope I properly show my appreciation and love because I know it’s so easy to forget. Not on purpose. Not because I mean to disrespect her. But because as a human being, I’m bound to make mistakes. The same is true for my love and appreciation for Cassie. I hope I am the husband she needs me to be, to show her honor and respect for what she does for our family. I hope she knows that even when we disagree, I still love her and am proud she is Emma’s mom. And although I can’t possibly expect to be like Jesus, I can try. Jesus is the model for our lives. He exemplifies for us what we should strive for. On this day, most of all, we should honor the women in our lives who have given so much of themselves to us. And hopefully, we will fill their hearts as they have filled ours.
[1] http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-59/on-road.html
Craig's Corner 