Mary, A Model of Motherhood
Luke 1:26-38
Mother’s Day holds its share of joys and sorrows.
Many of us have (or have had) good mothers and carry a multitude of pleasant memories.
However, some of us have lost our mothers, some at a young age, and thus this day holds positive memories but also a share of grief and sorrow.
Others of us have may have had mothers who were far from God’s ideal, and for us this day is bitter and angry.
Some of us of the female gender have longed to be mothers, but God did not have it in the plan for us, and we come to this day with questions and even resentment.
Other women have been given children whom they have loved and served, but who in turn rejected them and went on to life in a manner that brings pain to a mother’s heart, and for them today is a day of sorrow.
Those experiences are what make it very difficult for a pastor to speak a message into a group of people who bring such a varied collage of experiences.
However, I will try.
As I pondered this day, I was led to what is perhaps the most popular mother of all in Scripture—Mary, the mother of Jesus.
In coming to this text, I am very aware that in many ways our Catholic brothers and sisters have elevated Mary to a level above what the Bible would justify. However, if that is true, then it is equally true that we Protestants have probably not given her enough honor and respect.
I am suggesting today that we see Mary as a Model of Good, Godly Motherhood.
However, first off we must recognize that there are some reasons why Mary may not make a very good model for motherhood.
· She was engaged to be married at a very young age, in the neighborhood of 14 to 16 years old.
Of course, that was a different culture, and a long time ago, life was different, opportunities limited for women, etc.
· She was found to be pregnant before she was married.
Of course, her pregnancy was unique, not a result of any “mistake” on her part or that of her earthly partner.
Nevertheless, these are not necessarily the areas I wish to highlight today.
David, it is said “was a man after God’s own heart.” That phrase does not justify his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Urriah, but rather looks to his repentance and brokenness over his sin once he was brought to fess up to it.
So too Mary is not a perfect person, she was not sinless, though she was chosen by God to bear his son, Jesus, the one who was Messiah and Savior.
Consequently, she must have been something!
There are three qualities I wish to lift up.
First, Mary understood her role as God’s servant.
Can you imagine the utter shock of looking up from your work, or prayers, one day and seeing this celestial being standing before you. I do not know what Gabriel looks like, but the last time he appeared to someone, at least as far as we know from scripture, the man, Daniel, fell prostrate before him out of awe and reverence (Dan. 8:16, 9:21).
Luke 1:28 says Mary was greatly troubled.
Even more troubling to Mary than the appearance of the angel was his message—she was to become pregnant.
I cannot imagine the shock that these words must have sent through Mary’s body.
Some mothers here this morning may have been shocked to have the doctor tell you this news, but the news was understandable because you had been sexually active.
May was a virgin. Naturally she asked how this could happen, and the angel explained that it was God’s act and that the child would be a special one—he would be the Messiah. That is what verses 32 and 33 mean.
However, miraculous or not, there were still troubling things to face:
What to tell Joseph? Will he leave me?
How to face her family?
What of the gossip in the community?
How to deal with the public shame and humility?
How to support a child? Mary was from a small village and a family without many means.
For those reasons, I find Mary’s response to Gabriel so amazing,
“I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
Mary understood that she was called to be a servant.
A servant to God, called to do his will.
And his will for her was to be a servant of his by raising a child, a very special child. And raise him she did.
Every child is a gift from God. Not in the same sense that Jesus was, but a gift none the less.
And every mother is called to be a servant, to place the needs of her child/ren above the needs of her very self.
Motherhood is a life of service. Good mothers understand that. And the service rendered to our children is part of our service of God. We are caring for his gifts to us.
Our Parent and Child Dedication Service is built on the conviction that children are the Lord’s and are lent to us as parents for the purpose of raising them up to worship God.
When I say that we are called to serve our children as part of our service to God, I do not mean that our children should take the place of God.
In our attempt to build strong families sometimes we have gone to far. Some families make their children God in that serving them will even come ahead of our worship and service to God.
We do this by allowing children’s activities, like sports, or music, or whatever, as good as they may be in the right place, we allow them to crowd out our regular attendance at worship, our involvement in the church, our own and our children’s spiritual well-being.
When we do this we are idolatries, we are worshipping the god of family just as surly as Aboriginal peoples were guilty of idolatry when they worshipped the sun or the trees or their ancestors.
To serve our children is not to worship them. But it does mean meeting their needs, being there for them, serving them buy teaching, caring and training.
Mary gave herself unreservedly to the call to be a mother. Good mothers do the same.
Second, Mary cultivated a relationship with God through his Word, prayer, praise and meditation.
After Mary learned of her pregnancy she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was in her 6th month of pregnancy with John the Baptist.
The scripture records for us a song that Mary uttered while visiting with Elizabeth. The song reveals to us the heart and mind of Mary. From it we learn several things:
Mary knew the Word of God. The short song includes no less that 12 OT Testament passages which it reflects nearly line by line.
Obviously Mary spent time in the Scriptures, which for her would have been the OT books.
No doubt she did not own a copy of the OT. That would have involved owning over 30 rather large and very expensive hand-written scrolls. In ancient times, only the synagogues had scrolls.
However, though she did not own her own copy of the Scriptures, she went to hear them read and memorized portions of them so that she could meditate on their meaning. (See the Shema in Deut. 6:4-9.)
Mary Knew God personally. She knew God was filled with wonder and awe, that he was a God of mercy, that he was powerful and compassionate.
Mary knew how to worship and trust God. Her song is filled with praise for God. She was well aware of the difficulties that awaited her as the pregnancy developed, yet she trusted God and praised his name.
Mary studied the Word, walked with God and worshipped him. Good mothers today do the same.
Third, Mary loved even when loving was difficult.
She accepted the struggles and challenges that motherhood would bring and remained faithful and loyal through them all.
We might be tempted to think that Jesus would have been easy to love. After all, he was the Son of God, he never sinned.
No talking back,
no lies,
no stolen cookies from the jar,
no broken curfew,
no
And that may be true; maybe Jesus was easy to love.
But though he was easy to Love, loving him was not easy.
Mothers, how would you feel to stand by and listen as the key leaders of your neighborhood ridiculed your son, even calling him demon possessed.
Or what was it like to watch your other children, siblings of Jesus, question his integrity (John 7:5) and his own people (from your village, or extended family) questioned his mental stability (Mark 3:21).
And there were numerous times that Jesus barely escaped with his life. What is it like to live with that fear as a mother?
And there were times when it seemed that Jesus was even rejecting his very mother. At Cana, he seems gruff and at another time when told that his mother and brothers were outside he said, “Who is my mother and who are my bothers?”
And yet, Mary never wavered in her loyalty to her son. At his death, Mary was there by the cross (John 19:25-27).
After his resurrection and ascension, Mary was there in the upper room waiting for the fulfillment of the promise of the Father, the fullness of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14)
At Jesus’ brisk, the prophet Simeon said to Mary,
This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.
Luke 2:34-35 NIV
Many swords pierced Mary’s heart, but she remained loyal.
Now of course, Jesus was easy to love, in that though he suffered, his suffering was always unjust. He did no wrong, made no dumb decisions, never failed, never messed up his life.
That is not so with your children, is it mothers?
Sometimes our kids are hard to love.
Yet, though Jesus may have been easy to love, loving him as his mother was never easy. Yet she hung in there and never gave up.
In that sense, we can learn from her, and she becomes a model for motherhood today.
Mary a model of motherhood.
She understood her role as a servant.
She cultivated a relationship with God.
She loved even when loving was difficult.
