A Mother’s Burden
Mother’s Day, 2007
Luke 2:25-35
Wildwind Community Church
David K. Flowers
May 13
Good morning. I want to begin today with a Mother’s Day wish for my own mother, who isn’t even here today! Week after week I stand up here and do my thing, with my parents sitting out there, participating, and quietly looking on. I don’t refer often to them and that’s probably just fine with both of them. I’ll bet many of you who are newer to Wildwind don’t even know my folks are part of the core team that started this church, and how faithful they have been. Their support of my leadership here means a lot to me and it feels good to be able to do this with their support and encouragement. Today is Mother’s Day and on this day, I just want you to know that my mom is a person who practices what I preach. And as for my wife – well, I happen to think my girls are tremendously blessed to have her, and so am I. Steadily, for nearly fourteen years, Christy has been turning my three girls into women. So for my mom, and my kids’ mom, and for all mothers today – the ones still with us, and the ones we have lost, let’s give a hand. Mothers, you can clap too, since you have mothers of your own. Happy Mother’s Day, ladies.
I want to talk to you this morning about a Mother’s burden. To be a mom is to carry a burden – for your home, and for your children. In fact, who are the mothers we consider the worst? The ones who don’t seem to carry a burden for their children – who don’t seem to care – who are cruel to them, who ignore and neglect them. They are horrible moms because they don’t seem to carry that burden. And if they do, perhaps they never embrace it, rise to it, and move forward under that burden. Good mothers carry mothers’ burdens. Bad mothers do not.
Protestants don’t revere Mary the Mother of Jesus the way Catholics do, but that does not mean we do not respect her. She was the person chosen to carry our Lord and as such, there is no mom who has ever been as blessed as she was, and there never will be again. And there was never a mother who carried the burden she must have carried, and I want to look at that this morning. Let’s look at our text – it’s in Luke chapter 2, verses 21-35.
Luke 2:21-35 (NLT)
21 Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived.
22 Then it was time for the purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
23 The law of the Lord says, "If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord."
24 So they offered a sacrifice according to what was required in the law of the Lord—"either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."
25 Now there was a man named Simeon who lived in Jerusalem. He was a righteous man and very devout. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he eagerly expected the Messiah to come and rescue Israel.
26 The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.
27 That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required,
28 Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,
29 "Lord, now I can die in peace! As you promised me,
30 I have seen the Savior
31 you have given to all people.
32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!"
33 Joseph and Mary were amazed at what was being said about Jesus.
34 Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, "This child will be rejected by many in Israel, and it will be their undoing. But he will be the greatest joy to many others.
35 Thus, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul."
And so we see Mary’s burden, right there at the end. A sword will pierce your very soul. Now probably the sword Simon was referring to was Mary having to stand at the foot of the cross while her son died horribly on it. But let’s look at some other swords that I’ll bet pierced Mary’s soul as she carried a mother’s burden.
There was no email in Jesus’ day, but have you ever wondered what kind of email Mary might have gotten from Jesus if he had sent her honest emails periodically while out doing his thing?
Hey mom. I hope things are good at the shop. I’m great today. Cousin John was baptizing people at the river and I went down to get baptized. When I came up out of the water the sky opened up and the clouds parted and this dove came down and landed on me, and this voice said a bunch of cool things about me. I know my Father is with me, and can’t wait to get started. Gotta run.
Hi mom. You have probably already heard that I tried bringing the message in synagogue in Nazareth for the first time the other day. It didn’t go that well. By that I don’t mean that I stuttered while reading the scroll, or that I realized my fly was open in front of everybody. I mean nobody believed what I had to say at all. They all started talking about dad and how I was just the son of a carpenter, and they got more and more agitated until – well, I don’t want to scare you or anything, but they tried to kill me, mom. They were really serious too. They tried pushing me off a cliff, but my time isn’t coming for a while, so I just walked through the crowd and went home. Gotta go, say hi to James and everybody for me. And mom, please don’t worry. I’ll be alright until my Father brings my number up. And like I keep telling you, mom – I’ll be alright then too.
Hey mom, I haven’t written in a while. Boy are things hectic. Hundreds of people follow me everywhere I go. I have my own disciples now. They’re good men, but they’re a constant headache. They don’t understand who I am or what I’m doing. I healed a guy with a withered hand yesterday. You should have seen the look on his face – my Father is doing his thing, and it’s so great. But the teachers there weren’t very happy. They were actually mad at me because I healed a guy on the Sabbath! I could read their thoughts, and they were trying to figure out a way to kill me. It’s like that’s all they ever think about. When I try to talk to them, they never listen. Life is hard, mom, but I love what I do. I love healing people and traveling and teaching. Not many really want to apply what I have to say to their lives, but some do, and it’s amazing to watch the Father change their lives.
Hi Mom – something awful happened today. Remember my friend Lazarus I told you about a while back? He took sick and died a few days ago. I mean, no real concerns there. The Father brought him back to life, but he died! He came out of the grave still wrapped in his death clothes. I could barely stand thinking about it. Death is a terrible thing, and it’s not what I had in mind when I made this place. The worst thing for Lazarus is knowing that someday he has to die again. What a mess the world is in. I’m gonna fix it mom. It’s gonna be awful for both of us, but I’m gonna fix it. I know that as I do, I’ll think of dad and of Lazarus.
Mother – you know what I have learned? I think the hookers and tax collectors and lepers are my favorite people. Scratch that – all the worst sinners are my favorite people. They listen to me when I talk to them. They have nothing to prove. Every time I help one of them, the religious leaders get mad and either try to kill me, or want to kill me – what else is new? It’s getting old. Today I actually kind of dared them to kill me. I said, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days.” Of course they had no idea what I was talking about. They are in for a surprise. People argue with me all the time, and the miracles I do are so often just taken for granted. I miss home sometimes, having a place to call my own, and knowing you’d be there to talk to. As for now, I’m just trying to stay focused on doing the Father’s work day by day. I hope you are well. All is going exactly as planned.
Dear mom – today will be the last day I get to write. The time is getting close and I have a lot to do. Please pray. You have known this day would come for a while, and so have I, but this isn’t going to be easy for either of us. I have wondered a few times today if I can go through with it – I suppose that’s only human, right? I think I’ll head up to the Garden soon and spend some time in prayer – I gotta make sure my head is straight and that I’ve heard from the Father. By the way, mom, if you decide you can’t be there over the next day or so, I understand. I don’t think you’re going to want to see this. Heck, I wouldn’t even show up if I didn’t have to. If you do come, I’ll have John look after you – all my other friends are going to abandon me. They’ll be pretty scared. Anyway, I’ll respect whatever you decide, but it would mean a lot to me if you think you could be there. I love you, mom. Please don’t lose faith. I told you I’ll be okay, and I will. Wait and see. And mom – thanks for everything.
Surely Mary had many burdens besides watching the crucifixion of her son. He left and went out traveling – wasn’t home that often if at all. And just three and a half short years after he left home, he was dead. I don’t know how much about Jesus’ ministry Mary actually knew about. Sometimes kids don’t let their moms in on everything they’re going through, because they know how hurtful it would be for mom, and no one wants to hurt their mom! Maybe the greatest possible blessing for Mary was that she wasn’t in on all of these hurtful moments in the life of her son. But we do know Mary was there at the beginning, and she was there at the end.
Moms, I do not know exactly what burdens you are carrying for your children at this moment, but to be a mom is to carry them, isn’t it? Let’s look at how Mary carried the burden of motherhood, and see what we can learn. First, we see in our text that Mary and Joseph named the child Jesus, according to the name the angel had chosen before Christ’s birth. Angels are just messengers of God, so really God had told Mary what to name the child. Mary understood that God knew Jesus’ name. What does that mean? In Bible times, names were incredibly significant, saying something essential about who the person was. Jesus is an Americanized form of Christ’s actual Hebrew name, which was Yeshua, which means “salvation.” God, through the angel, had given this name to Jesus before his birth, and Joseph and Mary were obedient in naming the child Jesus.
For a mom to properly carry the burden of motherhood, she must realize that God has a purpose for her child. God already knows the child’s name.
Isaiah 43:1 (NKJV)
1 But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.
Mothers, you cannot properly carry the burdens of motherhood unless you understand that God has a name for your child that maybe only he knows.
King David wrote:
Psalms 139:13-16 (NRSV)
13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.
Mothers, it was God who knit your child together in the womb. God knows your child’s name, in other words, who your child really, really is. Motherhood will have moments of incredible joy, but also moments of deep pain as you realize you cannot shield your child from the world or from the consequences of his/her own choices. Many things will happen to your child that you will have no control of whatsoever, so you must believe that whoever your child is, whatever they are doing, God knows their name, and has called them by name to fulfill his purposes in this world.
Which leads to my next point. If you believe God knows your child’s name (and mom’s, this is essential for you whether your child is small or fully grown) then, like Mary, you must dedicate your child to God for his purposes. We see that Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple to “present him to the Lord.” Moms, have you presented your children to the Lord? I’m not asking if you had them dedicated in church one day. I’m asking if today, if this week, if this month, you have presented them to the Lord. “God, I realize these children are not mine, they are yours. Thank you for giving them to me to manage. Please help me raise them to be the people you created them to be. Let your will be done in their lives and may they always seek to know and serve you.” Mary presented her child to God in the temple. We must present our children to God regularly. Moms, you must never forget that as important as you are to your children, God can be to them what you can never be. When you cannot protect your child, God can. When you cannot be close to him or her, God can. When you cannot understand what’s wrong, God can. When you do not know what to do, God does.
If you believe God created your child with a purpose, that his or her life was not an accident (no matter what you and the child’s father may have called it!), then you must dedicate your child to God for that purpose. All moms want to believe their children have a unique purpose and place in this world, but not all moms think about what that purpose might be, and decide to intentionally cultivate a sense of that purpose in their child. This can be incredibly simple. I still tuck in my girls every night, and I will for as long as they are in my home – that’s precious connecting time, because they’re ready to talk at bedtime. Sometimes before I tuck them in, I sit next to them in their beds and say, “You know Brittany, you know Kyra, you know Anna – God loves you honey. God created you, and sent you here to live with your mom and me, for a reason. You are a blessing in our lives and we love you, but in ways I may never understand, somehow God loves you more. God is always with you whether you feel it or not, and there’s nothing more important you can do in this life than have faith that God will keep his promises.” Moms, tell that to your kids often enough, and they will believe it.
You see moms, if you are going to dedicate your child to God’s purposes, your child must see you living for those purposes in your own life. Kids are a product not of what their parents say, but of who their parents are. Which leads logically to this question. Moms, who are you to your children? Who you are to your child is one of the most important things in how they will grow up. Your child will be molded and shaped not by who you are, or who you think you are, but by who he or she thinks you are. So do you know how your child sees you? Do you know how you come across to him or her? I have asked my girls before the question, “What do you think about your mom? What role does mom play in the family?” Their answer is, “Mom makes everything fun – makes everything seem special and magical.” Christy isn’t perfect, moms, and none of the rest of you are either, but if your children have a basically positive impression of you, then you are making a bigger impact in their lives than you can imagine.
So moms, who are you to your children? Have you ever asked them? A year ago I sent an email to each of my girls with a list of questions for them about how I was doing as a parent. Did they feel safe with me, did I listen to them, was I harsh with them, did they feel I loved and respected their mom, etc. Moms, who you are to your child matters a lot, and if you want to know who you are to them, ask them. Ask them and tell them you really want to know so you can be the best mom you can be, and that you promise not to get upset with them for answering your questions honestly. Remember, if you want them to live out God’s purpose in their lives, you must live out God’s purpose in your own. Your children must know you as a person who follows and honors God. They will be shaped not by who you are, or who you think you are, but by who they think you are. Do you love God and try to please Him with the way you live? If so, great. But do your children know that’s a priority in your life? How do you make that clear to them? And are you as careful as possible to be straight-up with your kids about your flaws and weaknesses so they can learn how to pursue God while being honest about their own humanness? I think the number one reason people avoid God is because they feel they are too flawed for him. Moms, love God in front of your children, and show them that the only way we really can pursue God is imperfectly. Your children will be more likely to pursue God’s purposes for their lives if they have seen you do it with authenticity and integrity.
For my third and last point today, I want to say that the hardest part of carrying the burden that you feel for your children is making sure it remains your burden and does not become theirs. I want to be positive here, ladies, because today is about how much you matter to your children and how much you sacrifice for them – and that’s what it SHOULD be about. So I want to be careful in how I say this, but I think it’s really true that because of the burdens you carry for your children, moms, because of how deeply you love them and want the best for them, it’s very easy sometimes to allow the burden to slip off of your shoulders and land squarely on the shoulders of your children.
Moms, I say this with love. Hurting for our children is the most natural thing in the world. I would never dare to suggest that good moms don’t hurt for their children – I’m saying that how a mom hurts for her child is really important. There are pains and burdens moms (and dads) carry that children just don’t need to know about. Moms, I challenge you this morning – sometimes the burdens you carry for your children need to be carried without them ever knowing how heavy they are for you. Picture the mom who tells her high school graduate how proud she is that today he leaves for college, and smiles, and offers words of encouragement, and kisses him goodbye, only to go back into the house and cry – careful not to take away from the excitement of this day for her son. Or the firm Forrest Gump type of mom who finds out her child has a learning disability and offers words of encouragement and support, but still expects great things of the child, according to what he/she is really capable of, even if they have to work harder. This caution isn’t just for moms. I know that some of my greatest regrets have been times when I allowed the burdens of my schedule and the stresses of my life to become burdens on my children.
I don’t need to tell you that being a mom is the hardest job a woman will ever do. And the most rewarding. Moms, if you realize that God has a purpose for your child, if you dedicate your child to God’s purposes and model this commitment to God in front of them, and if you do your best to make sure your burdens for your children do not become their burdens, you will impact your kids far beyond the day the nest is empty – your influence will be felt by your grandchildren and their children, and beyond. There’s nothing like a good mom. If you have or had one, celebrate her today. Thank her if you can. Can we pray together?
Father, thank you for what only moms can do. Dads are important, but they can’t be moms. May the mothers here today of all ages do their duties with love and ever-increasing confidence, and courage and skill and integrity, impacting the lives of people for generations to come. Amen.
