Mrs. Zebedee

Mrs. Zebedee

A Mother’s day sermon

Charles Sligh

May 10, 2020

NOTE: PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives

NOTE: Adapted from a sermon by Melvin Newman on SermonCentral.com

TEXT: Turn to Matthew 20 and we will read verses 20-23 a little later.

INTRODUCTION

Illus. – Someone wrote,

Mother’s Day is traditionally the day when children give something back to their mothers for all the spit they produce to wash dirty faces, all the old gum they held in their hands, all the noses they wiped, and all the bloody knees they ‘made well’ with their kisses

This is the day mothers are rewarded for washing sheets in the middle of the night, driving kids to school when they missed the bus, and enduring all those football and soccer games in the rain. It’s a day of appreciation for making your children finish something they said they couldn’t do, not believing them when they said, ‘I hate you,’ and sharing their good times and their bad.

What are mothers? Well, mothers are teachers. Mothers are disciplinarians. Mothers are cleaning ladies. Some mothers are gardeners and mowers of lawns. Mothers are nurses and doctors and psychologists and counselors and chauffeurs and coaches.

Mothers are developers of personalities, molders of vocabularies, and shapers of attitudes. Mothers are soft voices saying, “I love you.” And mothers are a link to God, a child’s first impression of God’s love. Mothers are all these things and much, much more.

Illus. – The late columnist Erma Bombeck told of God in the act of creating mothers. She says that on the day God created mothers He had already worked long overtime.

I think I missed that somewhere in the book of Genesis but bear with me a minute. An angel said to Him, “Lord, you sure are spending a lot of time on this one.”

The Lord said, “Have you read the specs on this model? She’s supposed to…have 180 moving parts. She is to have a kiss that will heal everything from a broken leg to a broken heart. She is to have a lap that will disappear whenever she stands up. She is to be able to function on black coffee and leftovers. And she is supposed to have six pairs of hands.”

“Six pairs of hands?!” said the angel, “that’s impossible.”

“It’s not the six pairs of hands that bother me,” said the Lord, “It’s the three pairs of eyes. She’s supposed to have one pair that sees through closed doors so that whenever she says, ‘What are you kids doing in there?’ She already knows what they’re doing in there. She has another pair in the back of her head to see all the things she is not supposed to see but must see. And then she has one pair right in front that can look at a child that just goofed up and communicate love and understanding without saying a word.”

“That’s too much.” said the angel, “You can’t put that much in one model. Why don’t you rest for a while and resume your creating tomorrow?”

“I can’t,” said the Lord. “I’m close to creating someone very much like myself. I’ve already come up with a model who can serve when she’s sick; can feed a family of six with one pound of hamburger; and can persuade a nine-year-old to take a shower.”

Then the angel looked at the model of motherhood a little more closely and said, “She’s too soft.”

“Oh, but she’s tough,” said the Lord. “You’d be surprised at how much she can do.”

“Can she think?” asked the angel.

“Not only can she think,” said the Lord, “but she can reason and compromise and persuade.”

Then the angel reached over and touched her cheek. “This one has a leak,” he said. “I told you that you couldn’t put that much in one model.”

“That’s not a leak,” said the Lord. “That’s a tear.”

“What’s a tear for?” asked the angel.

“Well it’s for joy, for sadness, for sorrow, for disappointment, for pride.”

“You’re a genius,” said the angel.

Well, the author took a few licenses there—I mean God created everything simply by His Word—but it got the point across: God created something special when He created mothers.

This morning I would like for us to look at Mrs. Zebedee. Follow along with me as I read Matthew 20:20-23 – “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. 21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. 22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. 23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.”