INTRODUCTION
Opening Statement: Mothers are teachers. Mothers are disciplinarians. Mothers are cleaning ladies. Some mothers are gardeners and landscapers. And most mothers understand that baking cookies is more important than washing windows. 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 of these things and much, much more.
Quotation: A Jewish proverb says, "God could not be everywhere so he made mothers." The power of a godly mother who understands the issues of the Faith and who takes the time to communicate those to her children surpasses the impact of a thousand Dan Brown’s. I love what Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:3-5: 1:3 I am thankful to God, whom I have served with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, when I remember you in my prayers as I do constantly night and day. 1:4 As I remember your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 1:5 I recall your sincere faith that was alive first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am sure is in you. And then later in this book: 3:14 You, however, must continue in the things you have learned and are confident about. You know who taught you 3:15 and how from infancy [brephos “a baby”: Luke used this word to describe the newborn Jesus as “a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes] you have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 3:16 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 3:17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.
Explanation: It’s important to do what Paul exhorts Timothy to do here because you’re going to run into some dangerous plots along the way like The Da Vinci Code. The main plot goes something like this:
While in Paris on business, a Harvard Professor who specializes in interpreting symbols named Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night call. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. A baffling secret message has been found near his body. As Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Nevue, who just happens to be the granddaughter of the slain curator, solve a series of bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo DaVinci. These clues, though visible for all to see, are ingeniously disguised by the painter.
The stakes are raised when Langdon uncovers a link between the clues and a secret society named the Priory of Sion, whose more famous members include Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo and DaVinci. Gradually they come to understand that the two are on a hunt for the Holy Grail and a breathtaking historical secret that would completely change the way people look at Christianity forever. It is a fast-paced tale that eventually leads to the home of Sir Leigh Teabing, an English knight living in Paris who has been searching for the Holy Grail for most of his adult life.
It is a conversation that the principle characters have in his study that has caused many who have read the book to question the very integrity of the Christian faith in three important areas. All the questions sharply debated at the beginning of Christianity in the first century are now being reopened. Is Jesus God? Is the Bible reliable? Is the church credible? What is even more disconcerting is that woven throughout Brown’s story is a movement toward the “sacred feminine.” There’s a movement to worship Mary Magdalene because he suggests that she was the mother of Jesus’ children. Through one of his main characters Teabing, Brown asserts that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, based on sketchy information in the Gospel of Philip. They had children and the church has covered this up for years. A secret society given to the worship of “the sacred feminine” knows about this secret. Leonardo Da Vinci was a member of this society and wanted to get the secret out in his day without being detected by the church. So he supposedly painted Mary Magdalene to Jesus’ right in The Last Supper painting of Christ with his disciples. This present day secret society knows the location of the Holy Grail, which turns out to be, based on their understanding of symbology, not a cup that Christ drank from at all, but rather, a person – Mary Magdalene’s grave. She is a Holy Grail with a trail of royal descendants from Jesus.
Clarification: The Bible does not tell us to worship the “sacred feminine” neither does it tell us to worship mothers. However, the inspired writers used “mothering and feminine metaphors” to communicate the love of God for people.
Title: Decoding the Da Vinci Code – Listen to Your Mother!
Text: Isaiah 49:13-49:16
Series Plan: Here’s our plan.
May 7 – Remember the Manual
May 14 – Listen to Your Mother
May 21 – Walk with the Master
May 28 – Guide the Misled
Illustration: Erma Bombeck tells of God in the act of creating mothers. She says that on the day God created mothers He had already worked long overtime. And an angel said to Him, "Lord, you sure are spending a lot of time on this one."
The Lord turned and said, "Have you read the specs on this model? She is supposed to be completely washable, but not plastic. She is to have 180 moving parts, all of them replaceable. 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 is 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 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?"
"No, 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 heal herself when she is sick - who can feed a family of six with one pound of hamburger - and who 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 is tough," said the Lord. "You’d be surprised at how much this mother 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. And the Lord said, "Oh, but I didn’t put it there."
Observation: Erma Bombeck had God saying as He was creating a mother, "I am close to creating something very much like myself." I suppose that is why today is very special - because we recognize that a mother’s love is probably the closest example we have to God’s love. It is a love that goes through the valley of the shadow of death to bring life into being. It is a love that sacrifices itself over and over again and would even dare to lay down its life for its own offspring or for some other needy child. I believe that mothers have a special place in the heart of God. She has that unique position in life to literally influence thousands and change the world by her love.
Illustration: I often tell my kids when we are in places where there are thousands of people and getting lost from us can happen in a few short seconds, “If you get lost from us, watch for a mother who is pushing a baby in a stroller or holding a young child by the hand, and ask them to help you find your mommy.” Nothing is safer in those situations than appealing to a mothers love and to the motherly instinct.
Transition: The prophet Isaiah did this very thing. He appealed to a mothers love to offer encouragement to his people.
OUTLINE
Background: The prophet Isaiah warned the people of Judah about the imminent Babylonian captivity. He also offered words of comfort to them before they were even conquered in 586 BC. Then, to comfort them in their time of captivity, he offered these words and the following metaphor.
Text: Isaiah 49:14-16
Recitation: Isaiah 49:14 “Zion said [“Zion is going to say…” Israel is personified as a city – a way to emphasize their identity. Their identity was being threatened and God is going to answer their argument before they can even make it. What was this argument?], ‘The Lord has abandoned me, the sovereign master has forgotten me.’ [God had promised a very special relationship with Israel. They never thought they would be conquered by other nations. But their disobedience led to discipline. And in this time of discipline, feelings of abandonment would have to be dealt with. Have you ever felt abandoned and forgotten? One of the greatest fears that people have is being completely alone, alienated from family and even God. The fact is, there are intense moments in life when God seems very far away. To address that fear, Isaiah asks two rhetorical questions to which the answer is implied…] 49:15 Can a woman forget the baby she holds to her breast? [No way!] Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? [Not a chance!] Even if mothers were to forget, I could never forget you! 49:16 Look, I have inscribed your name on my palms [Some servants inscribed the names of their masters on their hands in Isaiah’s day, but masters did not write the names of their servants on their hands. Yet Yahweh had written (lit. engraved, cf. Ezek. 4:1) the name of Zion on His palms so He would not forget her but be reminded of her frequently.]; your walls are constantly before me [The profile (skyline) of the city was constantly in His thoughts. Seeing you, your city, and your sense of identity rebuilt is constantly on my agenda].
Exposition: One author has suggested that "This is one of the strongest, if not the strongest expression of God’s love in the Old Testament, and is often compared with Jeremiah 31:20." The mothering metaphor is engaging. The passage speaks of how the child is born and given nourishment by its mother. Isaiah’s rhetorical questions imply not only the physical caring of a child, but the emotional intensity that bonds a mother to her offspring. Simply having children does not make you a wonderful mother. Having a child is simply a biological function. This passage speaks of something more than just the physical. Being a mother, on the other hand, is an act of the heart. Remember, the issue is about forgetting and neglecting. God is telling His people metaphorically how intense He is about His relationship with them. He’s saying to them, “I will sustain you. I will not forget you. I will nourish you even in your time of discipline.”
Observation: You know it is amazing to me that whenever God describes the nature of his relationship with his people he always speaks of it by comparing it to the most intense relationships that human beings have with one another. Did you ever notice that God never compares this relationship to a business partnership or a casual acquaintance? God is always our Father, or like a Mother, or our Husband, or our Friend who is closer than a brother and who lays down his life for us.
Explanation: The power of this metaphor of course depends on a positive image of motherhood. Maybe you are one of those people who have a less than positive view of motherhood. Maybe you are reflecting on your own experience as a mother or your experience as a child. Maybe you are sitting there and feeling guilty about your failures as a mother or reflecting on very painful and maybe even abusive experiences that you had with your own mother. After all, all of us know of irresponsible mothers who neglect and abuse their children. In the face of these things can this image still retain its power? Again, I realize that some of you did not have a great mother as we have described it this morning. Or, perhaps, you’re a mother and you feel that you’ve not done enough. Or, perhaps you’re a childless woman who has always wanted to be a mother. Whatever your state, God said, “Even if mothers were to forget, I could never forget you!” And God didn’t forget them. He brought them back into their land of blessing and eventually sent them a Messiah who loved them so much that Matthew describes Him as a mother hen who wanted to gather His people under His wings (Matt.23), but instead paid the ultimate price for their sin and ours.
Application: The good news about this passage is that when we feel forgotten and forsaken we find comfort, not from a flawed mother or an abusive mother, but from a God who will not fail to care or fail to remember us – even when the whole world us turned upside down and the best human mother runs out of maternal compassion. In this, Israel could find comfort and faith that she would indeed be preserved through her Babylonian exile and would indeed return to the land God had promised her. And in this we can find comfort that God will preserve us through our exiles and return us to the joy of his blessing. Are you finding it difficult to believe and hope again? It’s mothering day.
Amplification: A mother’s nurturing, compassionate love often rolls into one important truth: sacrifice.
49:15 Can a woman forget the baby she holds to her breast? [No way!] Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? Remembering and feeling compassion is not just an emotion; it’s also an action. Driven by compassion for her babies and the memories of those first few months of life together, a good mother often chooses to make great acts of personal sacrifice to care for her babies. Personal sacrifice begins by sacrificing their own bodies by carrying the child around in their womb for nine months. Our mothers fed us, nourished and protected us with their own bodies before we even saw the light of day. I don’t know anyone else who loves me enough to carry me around for nine months. But a mother’s sacrifice doesn’t end there. They keep on giving. They give up sleep for the midnight feedings. They give up personal goals to help their children achieve their goals. Ask yourself how many times you got a new outfit and mom wore the same old clothes, or how many times she gave you the last helping at supper when she was still hungry. God does this too. He gave up His son because of motherly love for you.
Illustration: In the movie Saving Private Ryan, a war department administrative assistant discovered that a mother had lost 3 of her sons in WW 2. She was going to be notified on the same day of all three losses. The story is about how they managed to safely extract her fourth son from battle before he too was killed. Watch as this mother visually expresses love for her children. [Show clip.]
CONCLUSION
Illustration: Another story is told - out of WW 2 and the holocaust that took the lives of millions of people - of Solomon Rosenberg and his family.
Solomon Rosenberg and his wife and their 2 sons and his mother and father were arrested and placed in a Nazi concentration camp. It was a labor camp, and the rules were simple. "As long as you can do your work, you are permitted to live. When you become too weak to do your work, then you are exterminated."
Rosenberg watched his mother and father marched off to their deaths, and he knew that next would be his youngest son, David, because David had always been a frail child.
Every evening Rosenberg came back into the barracks after his hours of labor and searched for the faces of his family. When he found them they would huddle together, embrace one another, and thank God for another day of life.
One day Rosenberg came back and didn’t see those familiar faces. He finally discovered his oldest son, Joshua, in a corner, huddled, weeping, and praying. He said, "Josh, tell me it’s not true." Joshua turned and said, "It is true, poppa. Today David was not strong enough to do his work. So they came for him."
"But where is your mother?" asked Mr. Rosenberg. "Oh poppa," he said, "When they came for David, he was afraid and he cried. Momma said, `There is nothing to be afraid of, David,’ and she took his hand and went with him."
Today, we say thank you for the sacrifice and we celebrate our mothers love and the motherly love of our Creator God.
Conclusion: The Bible reveals a sacred story. In the beginning, God created us good. Something went drastically wrong and we sinned. But God has sent a Rescuer to deliver us from ourselves. In the Old Testament – someone is coming. In the Gospels – He is here. In the Epistles – He is coming again! At the center of this story, stands the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. God is the center of the story, not me, not Dan Brown, not Mary Magdalene, not you. God broke the code of eternal death through Jesus so that we could all be restored to what God originally intended for all of us. We are a culture that pursues some "Holy Grail" that we think will give us meaning. You’ll not find peace in some "Holy Grail" if you leave out Christ. John Nash discovered that life was more than solving a code. Dan Brown will one day realize that the code he seeks to solve has been available all along. It’s in the Son of God. You’ll never find meaning outside of Christ. Jesus is the code-breaker. He is our Reasons.
