Sermon on Isaiah 46:3; 49:15; 66:13; Pastor Edgar Mayer; Wilsonton/Glencoe Parish; 13.5.01; Mother’s Day.
For more sermons and other writings check out pastor’s homepage: http://www.geocities.com/mayeredgar.
"Heavenly Father, help us to think of you as someone who mothers us. Amen."
Mother God
Mothers are under pressure. They look after children, spread love and affection, ... They wash and clean. Some care for ailing parents, others do volunteer work in the community, most labour in a job to supplement the family’s income and more than a few do all of the above. Mothers are kept busy and therefore one research project reports: "Two-thirds of mothers face most weeks without the prospect of spending time on themselves." And yet, regardless, many mothers feel guilty. They are run off their feet but nevertheless chastise themselves for not doing enough for their children, husband, home, community, career, and so on.
Just a few days ago I commented on a newspaper article which suggested that most children of two parents working in a full-time job are happy with the family arrangements. They apparently don’t worry about the latch-key or the many hours spent alone in the house. As we talked, my wife surprised me with swift affirmation of the findings. After a while she said: "That’s good to hear because most mothers feel guilty about going to work. I feel guilty sometimes especially when the youngest sheds a few tears at pre-school." Who would have thought? There I was in my male ignorance – completely stumped that someone who, I think, as a parent does a much better job than I do, a competent mother would feel guilty about the care she provides.
Mothers today need encouragement and maybe nothing is as encouraging as God comparing himself to a mother. Listen to the Bible. God says: "Listen to me ... you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth" (Isaiah 46:3); "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands ... " (Isaiah 49:15-16); "As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you and you will be comforted ... " (Isaiah 66:13).
Human as we are we may get most of our ideas about God from our fathers because our use of language is so limited. We call God our heavenly father and therefore involuntarily think about the fathers we know and make a connection with our earthly fathers. However, today on mother’s day let’s expand our horizon. The Bible says: God is also our heavenly mother. He himself makes the comparison. He carries us in his womb. We are like babies at his breasts – babies whom he has borne. He comforts us like a mother – the mother he is. What an encouraging comparison for mothers. Mothers – the way they love and dote on their children – mothers can give a glimpse of what God himself is like.
C.S. Lewis thought of the husband as the head of the family and tried to understand why. Here are his thoughts which pay a compliment to mothers in a roundabout way. Hear what he writes: " ... I speak quite frankly as a bachelor, because ... you can see from outside even better than from inside. The relations of the family to the outer world – what might be called its foreign policy – must depend in the last resort, upon the man, because he always ought to be, and usually is, much more just to the outsiders. A woman is primarily fighting for her own children and husband against the rest of the world. Naturally, almost, in a sense, rightly, their claims override, for her, all other claims ... The function of the husband is to see that this natural preference of hers is not given its head. He has the last word in order to protect other people from the intense family patriotism of the wife. If anyone doubt this, let me ask a simple question. If your dog has bitten the child next door, which would you sooner have to deal with, the master of that house or the mistress? ... " (Mere Christianity, p100-101). It seems that the bachelor C.S. Lewis was almost scared of the intense family patriotism of mothers. He rathers deals with the master of the house than the mistress. Isn’t that just another way of saying that mothers lavish grace on their children? Right or wrong: they will be defended. Just think that’s how God is. We sin but he defends us anyway. He is our heavenly mother who will roar like a lion if anyone tried to touch us. We are precious in his eyes.
God encourages us to believe it. He loves us. Let it sink in and consider what happened between a parent and his child. This is a story of a dad and his daughter but the dad could have been the mother. The grandmother reports: My son has two daughters, one who’s five and one who is in the ’terrible twos’. When a grandmother says this child is in the ’terrible twos,’ believe me, she is! For several years, my son has taken the oldest girl out for a ’date’ time, but he had never taken the two-year-old until recently. On his first ’date’ with the younger one, he took her out ot breakfast at a local fast food restaurant. They had just gotten their pancakes and my son decided it would be a good time to tell this child how much he loved and appreciated her. "Jenny," my son had said, "I want you to know how much I love you, and how special you are to Mom and me. We prayed for you for years, and now that you’re here and growing up to be such a wonderful girl, we couldn’t be more proud of you." Once he had said all this, he stopped talking and reached over for his fork to begin eating ... but he never got the fork to his mouth.
His daughter reached out her little hand and laid it on her father’s hand. His eyes went to hers, and in a soft, pleading voice she said, "Longer, Daddy ... longer." He put down his fork and proceeded to tell her some more reasons and ways they loved and appreciated her, and then he again reached for his fork. A second time ... and a third ... and a fourth time he heard the words, "Longer, Daddy ... longer." This father never did get much to eat that morning, but his daughter got the emotional nourishment she needed so much. In fact, a few days later, she spontaneously ran up to her mother and said, "I’m really special, Mommy. Daddy told me so" (John Trent: Longer, Daddy, Longer).
It’s one thing to say that God has an intense family patriotism which always, always takes our side. But it’s another thing to actually let it sink in, to receive enough emotional nourishment. Do we know in our hearts, not in our heads but in our hearts: God loves us even more complete than a parent, a mother does. God loves us. If we are not so sure about that, then please don’t be afraid to say in the same soft, pleading voice of the girl in the story: "Longer, God ... longer." Read his words in the Bible over and over again. These words are meant for you, for me. God says: "Listen to me ... you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth" (Isaiah 46:3); "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands ... " (Isaiah 49:15-16); "As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you and you will be comforted ... " (Isaiah 66:13).
God would even die for us – and indeed he has. Love made him sacrifice everything as love claimed the life of the following mother. William Gladstone, in announcing the death of Princess Alice to the House of Commons, told a story. The little daughter of the Princess was seriously ill with diphtheria. The doctors told the princess not to kiss her little daughter and endanger her life by breathing the child’s breath. Once when the child was struggling to breathe, the mother, forgetting herself entirely, took the little one into her arms to keep her from choking to death. Rasping and struggling for her life, the child said, "Momma, kiss me!" Without thinking of herself the mother tenderly kissed her daughter. She got diphtheria and some days thereafter she went to be forever with the Lord. Real love forgets self. Real love knows no danger. Real love doesn’t count the cost. The Bible says, "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it."
God burns with real love for us which waters cannot quench and floods not drown. He sent his son Jesus Christ from heaven to earth and with him he kissed us. He came real close – talked to us, lived with us humans on earth – but then, like the mother in the story, he died of our sickness. We passed our sin onto him which made him die on the cross as a consequence. That’s how deep the love of God is. God accepted even death for the sake of demonstrating his love for us.
Hear another story: A woman, carrying her baby on her back, was trapped by a prairie fire. As she looked about, she realized there was no way of escape. Hurriedly she took the baby off her back and began digging a hole in the earth with her bare hands. She then placed her child into it and covered the child with her body. Later the woman was found dead, but the child was saved.
What a mother that was and what God we have. He did the same. This is explaining the cross of Jesus in a different way from before but it’s the same truth. On the cross Jesus covered us with his death from the raging consequences of our sin. While we were safe in the hole, he took the punishment for our wrongdoings. God loves us. God loves us like a mother, even more than a mother.
Be encouraged by God and receive emotional nourishment. "Mothers, don’t run yourself down when God compares himself to you. You must be doing something right. All of us, let it sink in: God says: ’Listen can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you ... " Amen.
