Mommy 9-1-1

Why were these mothers neglecting their children? Not because they deliberately sought the harm of their children. Not because they wanted their children to suffer. What mother ever wants her child to suffer? Almost every mother wants only the best for her children, so what could be behind this neglect? I want to mention three possibilities.

First, these mothers failed to recognize the supreme value of children. Jeremiah says these mothers were taking the children, worth their weight in gold, and treating them like pots of clay (v. 2). Napolean Bonaparte is credited with saying, “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” Jeremiah knew that the nation that fails to give the child first place is headed for disaster. The disaster of Jerusalem was evident to Jeremiah as he sat weeping over the city. These laments foreshadow in a magnificent way our loving Savior sitting on a hillside outside Jerusalem looking down over his beloved city and crying:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me” Matthew 23:37 (NLT).

How many of us are crying over the shape of our families today?

And we, so much more than these people whom Jeremiah targeted with his rebuke, should see the value in our children. Why? Because we have the example of Jesus Christ. When his disciples wanted to know who was the greatest in the kingdom, what did Jesus do? He took a child and set it in their midst. It was Jesus who said that the angels of heaven had charge of these little ones. And it was Jesus who said it would be better if a millstone were hung around a person’s neck than to cause one of his little ones to be offended. That is the view Jesus has of children.

So what makes the children so supremely important? It is a spiritual answer, my friend. The child is the essence of faith and trust. They trust innocently and completely, and are quite content to depend on others for their needs. Notice I said they were the essence of faith and trust. I did not say the essence of obedience. They have much to teach us adults who have learned to trust only in our own devices, and in so doing, miss the depth of joy that comes from depending fully upon Christ.

Secondly, these mothers may have failed to realize the terrible tragedy that is born of neglect. The media of our culture provides ample evidence that this is true of some mothers today. It is easy for us to recognize the deadliness of physical neglect. We know what happens to an infant left alone. It dies. We know what happens to a child lock away in a room, or a closet, or heaven forbid, a cage. It dies from lack of attention. Neglect in the physical realm spells disaster. Any sentence passed on a mother who treats her children in such a way we feel to be well deserved.

But there are hungers that go beyond the physical. Our children hunger for the Bread of Life, and they are thirsty for the life-giving waters of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah tells us: