1 Thess 2: 6-9
As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, 7but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. 8We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. 9Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
Introduction:
A little girl’s dad was showing her some pictures of mom and dad on their wedding day. She turned and looked at her father and asked, “Daddy, is that the day you got Mom to come and work for us?”
It’s mother’s day. Happy Mother’s Day, everyone. You know a sermon on Mother’s Day is the hardest sermon of the year for me to preach. This true story illustrates the problem
Pastor Joe McKeever was pushing his 8-year-old granddaughter Abby in the swing. She and her twin Erin had been learning about childbirth from their mom and Abby was not liking what she was learning. “I’m not going to have children, Grandpa,” she said. “It hurts too bad.”Now Joe’s first thought was to say, “If your mother felt that way, you would not be here. And if your great-grandmothers felt that way, none of us would be here.” But what I said was, “You’re right. It does hurt. But the pain goes away, and you’re left with this beautiful child, and you decide that it was worth it.”
Abby looked him square in the eyes and replied, “You’re a man. What do you know?”
So today, instead of telling you what a mother should be, something I have to say, I don’t have knowledge or the courage to do, I am going to share with you six moms found in scripture. There are actually a lot of mothers found in scripture, some good, some bad, but in the end, they are all real, honest to goodness people. People we can learn from.
Sermon:
There’s an old Spanish proverb that says that an ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. Ain’t it the truth?
A fifteen year old boy slammed the door open and came bounding into the house as 15 year old boys have a tendency to do and discovered his mom sick in bed. He was very concerned and mom said that she just plain didn’t feel well. The son replied “Well, don’t worry a bit about dinner, Mom. I’ll be happy to carry you down to the stove.”
In the book of Proverbs, we read chapter 31 that outlines for us the wife of noble character which in Biblical terms means the perfect wife and mother. Most scholars believe that the woman being described here was not a real woman but was actually the woman that this man’s mother wanted him to find and marry. See right at the top in the introduction, it says this is an oracle or a bit of wisdom, that his mother taught him. You see, not only biblically, but our society, as well, has taught us to accept an outlandish picture of what and who a mother is supposed to be. Personally, I think we have done most of our mothers a real disservice and set them up for failure by telling them that this is what you are supposed to shoot for. Go and read the cards on the rack at Hallmark. Most of them have this gushy, mushy godlike picture of a mom. A June Cleaver mom. Of course nowadays that would be a movie about a mom who used a cleaver to kill her family in the month of june. I’m actually referring to the mom in Leave it to Beaver, you know, the perfect mom, the ideal mom, the mom that doesn’t really exist, mom. Now, I have to be honest with you, none of those hallmark cards, describe my mom. My mom was a real person. My mom got angry like a real person. My mom yelled like a real person. And without revealing all those secrets that you only know about someone if you live with them, my mom was everything that it means to be a human mom.
But I learned from my mom. And I’m still learning. When I was a kid, particularly a teenager kid, I would lie to my mom without hesitation. Oh yeah. As I reached adulthood, I started trying to avoid that behavior and for the most part, I don’t lie to her anymore, but still there are times and things that she just doesn’t need to know. But when mother’s day comes and it comes time to buy that mother’s day card, I usually look for something about me precisely because I don’t want to lie. My mom taught me that. Don’t lie! Like most moms though, what she really meant was, “Don’t lie to her.” She taught me other things too. She had all these sayings that she would repeat. I think most moms come with these sayings kind a built in cause you hear moms say them all the time but they all have a point. Like she taught me to think ahead
* She would say "Make sure you wear clean underwear in case you’re in an accident."
* She taught me about logic: She said "If you fall out of that tree and break your neck, don’t come crying to me."
* Mom taught me maturity: "Eat your vegetables or you’ll never grow up."
* And moms were experts on religion: "You better pray that comes out of the carpet."
* Mothers teach us about time travel: "If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
* Mothers teach us about contradictions: "Shut your mouth and eat your dinner!"
* Mothers teach us about contortionism: "Will you look at the dirt on the back of your neck?"
* Mothers teach us about perseverance: "You are going to sit here until you eat every last piece of that broccoli."
* Moms teach genetics: "You’re just like your father."
* Mothers teach us about the weather: "It looks like a tornado swept through your room."
* And finally mom taught me about the circle of life: "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."
Anyway, mom taught me not to lie, so when Mother’s Day comes, I look for a card that expresses my sentiments. Something like, “I’m so lucky you didn’t kill me when I was a kid, thanks. Happy Mother’s Day. Or “Remember, that time you accidentally left me at the amusement park but you came back and got me? It’s really amazing that you did. Thanks, Happy mother’s day.
As I look back, I was not an easy kid. I had two older sisters, Patty, who was three years older and Dot who is five years older. Patty was a lot harder on my parents than I was. Believe me, you don’t see yourself as a difficult child when you have an older sister that is an impossible one. It wasn’t until I got older and started thinking about what I was like as a child that I realized, I was a difficult child. I thought I was fine but in reality, I was a difficult child.
Very quickly, we are going to look at a few moms from the Bible who are real people. They are not perfect, far from it. But from them, we can certainly gain inspiration.
Eve was the mother of us all. Eve made a big mistake maybe because she didn’t have a mother herself to give her some guidance, did you ever think of that? Or Maybe Eve ate the apple because she was the only one who could remember where it was? Women are like that. They remember where things are. But Eve had to figure everything out for herself. No mom to call and ask for advice or guidance but of course no one to tell her she was doing everything wrong either.
Then there’s Sarah married to Abraham. She’s in Genesis ch. 21 if you want to read it. God promised her when she was very young that she would be the mother of many nations so when she hit 70 and didn’t have any children, she began to get a little worried. You would, too. But, When Sarah was about 90, an angel told her husband that a year later they would have a baby so don’t give up, you never know what can happen. When Sarah heard she was going to have a baby, She laughed in disbelief. But a year later, Isaac was born and then, Sarah laughed for real. Sarah learned that good things really do come to those who hear God’s promises and wait for them
Rebekah’s story, in Genesis 27, shows us the incredible danger of playing favorites. Rebekah married Isaac and they had twins. Esau, the oldest was Isaac’s favorite and Jacob, the younger was Rebekah’s favorite. Danger, danger Will Robinson!! Favoritism does not work very well in any family. In fact, Rebekah schemes with Jacob, whose name actually means trickster, to steal the family birthright from Esau. Naturally Esau resents his brother and Jacob must flee for his life. This was a rift between the two that would last for a long time. Maternal power should not be used for manipulation.
The mother of Moses was named, well, turn to Numbers 26, verse 59, I want you to see this name. It’s pronounced, Yoqueved. Much nicer than jocka bed isn’t it? Moses was born to Jochebed in the time of the Pharoahs when the Egyptians were so threatened by the Hebrews that they were tossing the baby boys into the Nile River. The story of Moses is not for the faint of heart. Jochebed knows that her child is likely doomed but she hides him in a little papyrus boat in the reeds by the river. Pharoah’s daughter finds him and raises Moses as an Egyptian prince. Jochebed shows us that the determination and ingenuity of a desperate mother can result in surprising circumstances.
Then there was Mary, Jesus’ mum. Think of it, not only did she have to reconcile all the angels hanging around when he was born, but she still had to do all the work that comes with having a child: The least some of those angels could have done was hang around and help out, right? Momma’s little helper with wings. But nope, Mary had to change his diapers, cook, wash clothes, get up with him at night, all by herself, just like a normal mother. But then we see the picture of Mary at the foot of the cross watching while her son is executed. Mom’s are subject to the greatest heartbreaks anyone could ever suffer. The disciples have scattered. His followers are mostly in hiding, But his mother, hmmm, a real mother stays with us when the rest of the world has walked away
In the end, mother’s day is really just a time of being grateful for a special relationship between human beings. These bible moms show us that a mom’s love is fierce and stubborn, even wrong headed sometimes but moms love is practically the basis for all creation. Moms can do the right things for the wrong reasons and the wrong things because moms think everybody needs their help. Which I have to admit, most of the time, we do.
But that’s okay, because I don’t want a mom who’s fake. I don’t want a mom who’s pretending to be something she isn’t or is striving to be something unreal that she can never be. I want a real mom.
And I finally found the perfect mother’s day card. On the front it says, “Now that we have a mature, adult relationship, there’s something I’d like to tell you.” And then inside it says, “You’re still the first person I think of when I fall down and go boom.”
