Sermon Notes on “Mothers, Hands and Nails”
Mother’s Day 2001 Pilgrim Baptist Church, Vancouver, BC
Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth!
And break out in singing, O mountains!
For the LORD has comforted His people,
And will have mercy on His afflicted.
But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.
Isaiah 49:13-16 (NKJV)
There are 3 stages of motherhood: young, middle age and "your’e looking fine".
Have u ever heard of the woman who hated Mother’s Day? According to the Toronto Star’s website, there was such a woman. If you think the spirit of Mother’s Day has been spoiled by the commercialism of cards, flowers and once-a-year sincerity, you stand united with the woman credited with giving us the annual event.
West Virginian Anna Jarvis was so horrified by the monster she helped create in 1914, she spent most of her later years campaigning to have the second Sunday in May removed from the calendar as the day to honour your mother.
In the end, Jarvis lost the fight. The woman, who was never a mother herself, exhausted her financial resources and ruined her mental health in that fight. She died alone in 1948 in an asylum at the age of 84. Just before her death Jarvis told a local reporter: "I devoted my entire life to Mother’s Day and the racketeers and grafters have taken it over."
"She simply wanted a day to honour and remember mothers, but in her mind it didn’t turn out that way," says William Pollard, an archivist at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Va., where Jarvis bequeathed her letters and other writings.
In 1914, Jarvis spearheaded a campaign to help persuade U.S. president Woodrow Wilson to set aside May’s second Sunday as a national day for recognition. She orchestrated a letter-writing campaign to Wilson, lobbied influential politicians and clergymen and distributed brochures arguing about the importance of a national day for mothers.
Jarvis’ cause came from admiration for her recently deceased mother, Anna Maria, and others like her who had been an inspiration. But by the early 1920s, she was sickened by the commercial circus she had helped create. She felt the day had nothing to do with celebrating the real achievements of women.
Jarvis spent her latter days crashing floral company conventions to protest and urging card companies to give the money they made from Mother’s Day to the poor. At one Mother’s Day convention where flowers were being sold she was arrested for disturbing the peace. She even launched a lawsuit to stop a Mother’s Day festival from being held.
For Jarvis, her mother was an inspiration, she wanted to honor her. And I believe it is the same kind of inspiration that drove Isaiah to write, for he sees something in mothers that shows us what God is really like. He wanted his readers to know that God cares, and he knows the power of a word picture and he chooses mothers, to picture for his audience, the kind of God who is totally committed to their welfare. The reason he is telling them is due to the fact that his audience the Hebrew people are in trouble big time.
But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.”
Ruled by oppressive Assyrian gov’t. in North and equally oppressive Babylonian go’t in South. People who lost homes, economy in shambles, lost their jobs, (sound a lot like current day BC). Nation divided into two kingdoms (NDP or Liberal). If you have ever felt alone abandoned, exiled, you know what these folks going thru’. So prophet uses the most intimate picture he can find, mothers to tell about what God is doing in midst of pain…
1. Mothers:
a. Imagery of mothers
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you…”
intimate picture – I have seen 4 children being nursed by my lovely wife, and from my view point I can see the bonding, that only mothers can have, beautiful, full of love, joy, amazement,
surely no mother can forget that… I believe that’s the power of that verse
b. Incompleteness of motherhood
“… Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you…”
Yet, we know there are many stories in this world that will send chills, where mothers forget, don’t care, where they are so bombed out with drugs, self-centred, drunk, surely some do forget…
Story of Amy Grossberg, teenager, who hid her pregnancy, hoping baby growing in her would go away. Words she keep repeating to her boyfriend Brian Peterson “Get rid of it, get rid of it.” One frigid November 1996 night, Brian drove from Gettysburg Pennsylvania, to pick up Amy and take her to a Delaware motel room, where they would deliver their baby. Moments after baby was born, he was dumped into a freezing garbage bin outside the motel.
Yes, there are mothers who do forget, not everyone in this world have a great mother
( Always in Our Hearts by Doug Most, 1999)
however God says: “… Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you…”
2. Hands:
Notion of hands – communicate touch, love, gentle, warmth, shake hands in culture today…
a. Cut hand of God
“See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me”
NLT - “Ever before me is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.”
b. Caring hand of God
3 One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother him. 14 But when Jesus saw what was happening, he was very displeased with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I assure you, anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God.” 16 Then he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them. Mark 10:13-16 (NLT)
The LORD cares for his nation, just as shepherds care for their flocks. He carries the lambs in his arms, while gently leading the mother sheep. Is. 40:11 (CEV)
3. Nails:
a. See the hands of a loving God
Apostle Paul says this of Jesus: “He loved me and gave Himself for me”
Joachim Neander 1680 wrote: “Ponder anew what the Almighty can do, if with His love He befriend you.”
Charles Wesley 1738 “Amazing love! How can it be that You my God shouldst die for me.”
J. Wilbur Chapman 1910 “Hallelujah what a Savior, hallelujah what a friend, saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me till the end. Jesus what a friend for sinners, lover of my soul…”
Martin Smith 1994 re: Jesus “Your river runs with love for me…I could sing of your love forever”
b. See the nails in his hands (John 20:24-29) Play “Nails (forever)”
24 One of the disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me and believe anyway.”
Play “Nails (forever)”
On this mother’s day in 2001 I believe
4. God is telling me to… here’s the first r word….
a. Relax: I am invited to joy and peace in God’s faithful love
Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth!
And break out in singing, O mountains!
b. Recall: God will not forget me, I am not alone
c. Restore: He knows the realities broken walls and struggles with faith and yet does not forsake me.
d. Respect: Honor our mothers, for it is God’s invention to…
i. lead us to know Him better
ii. give us a picture of compassion
iii. see in her we see glimpses of God
iv. feel the power of His intense commitment to us
v. touch our hearts inner being
For the LORD has comforted His people,
And will have mercy on His afflicted.
e. Receive Him and be born supernaturally as His children.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12,13 (NKJV)
I trust that we won’t get lost in the sea of commercialism and not see how much God loves us in the imagery of mothers, hands and nails. He loves you!It’ll be a tragedy like Anna Jarvis who wished Mother’s Day was not invented, if we do lose sight of God’s love and prefer to replace it with stuff.
