On Mothers’ Day
2 Timothy 3:14-15, Exodus 2:1-10
May 11, 2008

Before we begin this morning, I want to read a story for you that I found.  It’s both funny, and it’s a good way for us to start talking about the important role of motherhood.  It is widely found on the internet, and it’s been attributed to Bill Cosby:

The First Parent

Whenever your kids are out of control, you can take comfort from the thought that even God’s omnipotence did not extend to God’s kids. After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and Eve. And the first thing he said was:

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Adam replied.

“Don’t eat the forbidden fruit.” God said.

“Forbidden fruit? We got forbidden fruit? Hey, Eve…we got forbidden fruit!”

“No way!”

“Yes, way!”

“Don’t eat that fruit!” said God.

“Why?”

“Because I am your Father and I said so!” said God, wondering why he hadn’t stopped after making the elephants.

A few minutes later God saw his kids having an apple break and was angry. “Didn’t I tell you not to eat the fruit?” the First Parent asked.

“Uh huh, ” Adam replied.

“Then why did you?”

“I dunno” Eve answered.

“She started it!” Adam said.

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“DID NOT!!”

Having had it with the two of them, God’s punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own. Thus, the pattern was set and it has never changed. But there is reassurance in this story. If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give them wisdom and they haven’t taken it, don’t be hard on yourself. If God had trouble handling children, what makes you think it would be a piece of cake for you?

We can find all kinds of mothers in the Bible:

• Model mothers (we’ve heard about two of these this morning)
• Not-so-model mothers (Jezebel, Herodias)
• Mothers-in-Law (Naomi)
• Mothers who lose children (both Pharaoh and Herod kill a large number of children)
• Mothers who are forced to abandon their children (Jochebed)
• Mothers who bear children late in life (Sarah)
• Mothers who were never supposed to be able to have children (Hannah, Sarah, Elkanah)
• Women who are virtual “mothers” to others, if not biologically (Dorcas)

For every kind of mother there is, we can find an example in the scriptures – even if it’s a not-so-noticeable example.  That’s OK.  Motherhood is not always the most-noticed task.

Motherhood is a calling from God – I don’t think any of us would dispute that.  It’s a noble calling, one that can be fulfilling and satisfying.  In a way that no other task can, motherhood (in whatever shape) fulfills the inner desire that God has given to nearly all women.

But it’s not an easy calling – I don’t think any of us would dispute that, either.  Not if we value our lives.  It’s painful, difficult, demanding.  It’s often thankless – women do many things as mothers (again, no matter what kind of mother) that children and fathers don’t ever know about.  It’s not easy to give yourself a way in the nurture of another person – but that is exactly what a mother is called to do.  To rephrase something Jesus said, “Greater love hath no woman than this – than to lay down her life for her children and family.”

In short, there’s a reason that child-bearing was a kind of punishment given by God!

There are so many tasks inherent in being a mother.  And these tasks are all things that God has already modeled for us.

NURTURE

PROTECT

LOVE

GIVE INDEPENDENCE

INSTILL CONFIDENCE AND SELF WORTH

And yet of all these tasks that a mother – of whatever kind – has to do, the hardest one is the one that you rarely think about.  It’s the one that God did perfectly, but none of us as parents will ever get completely right.  It’s the job every mother of every type is doing right this moment and every moment of every day.  As a mother, you’re not just called to make bottles and change diapers.  Those things are important for physical life, but if we only focus on these kinds of needs at each stage of life, in twenty years we’ll have a person who’s physically mature – but emotionally and spiritually a baby.

The most important task you have as mothers is to live life in a way that shows our children a better way to live.  To live in a way that reinforces the behavior and values you’re teaching them.  To live in a way that shows them you really BELIEVE and ACT upon the faith you talk about.  It’s a task for all of us, really, but children latch most closely to their mothers in those formative first six years, so it’s a most important task for mothers.

And for all of our lives, they are watching you.  Watching to see if you really live the way you talk.  Watching to see if you really value the things you’ve taught them.  Watching to see if you believe – not just if you go to church – but if you really believe and LIVE what you believe.  It’s a daunting task.

Both Jochebed and Eunice are background characters.  Jochebed’s name is barely known, because it’s only mentioned explicitly twice in the Bible.  She is also referenced (but not named) in the story we read from Exodus this morning.  Eunice is similarly unknown – her name is mentioned explicitly once, and implicitly only one other time.

And yet, their legacy is secure because of the sons they raised in the faith.  We may not know Jochebed’s name, but Moses we know very well!  Without the protection and cleverness of his mother, Moses would never have survived infancy – much less come back home to save his people.  And the kind of faith it took to do the tasks that God asked of Moses – that kind of faith isn’t one you develop late in life.  It’s the kind that is rooted and planted early in life – the kind that is modeled by a faithful mother.

Though Eunice is unknown to most of us, her son is probably better known.  Timothy was one of Paul’s right-hand men, evangelizing alongside Paul and spreading the influence of the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire.  Paul considered him a “son,” wrote two letters to encourage and instruct him, and spoke fondly of him on several other occasions.  It seems that Timothy was instrumental in Paul’s final years of ministry, providing him with news and items that Paul desperately needed.  And all these things – a lifetime of service to God – were possible, Paul tells us, because of the faith of his mother, Eunice, and her mother, Lois.

Another mother we read of elsewhere is Monica.  You may not know her name, but you know her son’s name Augustine of Hippo, or more commonly, Saint Augustine.  His mother had been a Christian since Augustine was born, and Augustine was raised in the faith.  But he was something of a rebel for the first part of his life, and ended up abandoning his faith and his home, getting involved in things that most anyone of his day would be ashamed of – drunkenness, sexual escapades, drugs.  Still, Monica prayed for her son, and encouraged him to seek God.  Augustine was eventually converted, and credited his salvation to his mother’s influence.  He became one of the most influential Christian theologians of the early church.  We owe much of our understanding of things, like the Trinity and the nature of the Church, to St. Augustine.

The faith and example of mothers is not often praised in the Bible, but it is one of the most important tasks mothers have.  The faith of mothers has influenced world politics, spiritual warfare… the course of history as we know it.

So are you scared yet?  You have a HUGE job.  Whether your child is biological or not, each woman in this room has a faith to pass on.  Each has values to instill.  Each has a life to teach.  And a lot of what they become depends upon you!

And yet, daunting as this task is, it’s important to remember that it’s really very easy.  It’s not a task you can do alone – you can only do it with God’s help.  God knows perfectly how difficult it is to be a mother, and God knows perfectly how to give the care that is needed.

It’s a matter of putting first things first.  NOT putting the child first.  Children who are at the center of their parents’ world come to think they are at the center of EVERYONE’s world.  They are either rudely awakened, or live their lives in the delusion that they are always owed something.

No, the best thing we can do as parents is to put GOD and our FAMILY first.  The child is not the only member of the family, nor is he or she the most important.  If we put our children before God, how can we ever expect them to understand how important God is?  If we don’t put God first, why should we expect our children to?

Your family – and specifically your relationship to your husband – is also vitally important.  Most mothers here had a relationship with your spouse before your child was ever born, and will have a relationship with that spouse long after the child has left home.  It’s as important – if not MORE important – to focus on that relationship and keep it strong.  More marriages fall apart when the kids leave home, because Mom and Dad have focused on the children instead of keeping their love alive.  The love has gone, and the children are the glue that holds the family together.  When the kids are gone, the glue is gone.

And experts say that children gain much from this kind of environment.  Children typically become more secure and grounded when they see that they are part of a family that loves them and cares for each other – a family that could still exist without them.  A family that doesn’t rely on the child to hold the family together.  As Rabbi Edwin Friedman has said, “the children who do best in this world are the ones we make least important to our own salvation.”

Putting things in the right order is an important part of being a mother.  And when we put the right things first, God will give you the grace to succeed in this difficult task.

©2012 Notes From Jon. All Rights Reserved.