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God, our mother |
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TODAY IS Mothers’ Day, and we specially honour mothers among us this morning. There are more these days than there used to be, when I had to preach mainly about the mothers we had had. I used the title, “God, our mother” today, because it’s a bit provocative, and I want us to think about that issue. I could have chosen several passages, because there are several like the one we read a little while ago from Isaiah 49: 13-16. You heard how God speaks of himself in his relationship with Israel as being like a mother to them. God is motherly towards us, and our mothers can reveal something of God’s qualities to us. For some of you here, I have a very clear idea of your mother, because I met your mothers. For others, I have heard so much about your mother that I feel like I knew her. But I don’t know every mother represented here this morning. Was your mother good or bad, sane or mad, trustworthy or sneaky? There are different mothers, because all people are different. But even the worst of mothers usually showed us glimpses of God. About the only kind that never shows a glimpse of God is the mother who clears off and abandons her child. There are many other passages which talk positively about mothers. For example, Paul describes himself and his fellow apostles as being like mothers to the Christians, caring for them in their needs. But have I gone too far in describing God as our mother? What do you think? Let’s just look briefly at Genesis 1: 27, where we read, So God created man in his own image, Male and female are equally created in God’s image. So God has both male and female qualities in himself. In a Middle Eastern context, the idea of a supreme ruler who was not male was inconceivable. But God himself in fact declares that male is like God and female is like God. And God’s female qualities come out most clearly when he cares for his people. In fact, God is Supermum in this passage, because he says, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast Even a mother may forget her child, strange though that may seem; God will never do it! So, how are mothers like God?
First, they protect those they love. When I was small, probably about six, we went to Newcastle, flew there in a DC 3 airliner, and stayed with family friends up there. They had a cocker spaniel dog, and I thought they were such cute, soft, gentle dogs. I got bitten. It doesn’t matter how cute, soft or gentle a dog may be, if its pups are threatened, it will bite. And this dog had very new pups, and I’m sure it thought that they were in danger if I came too close. CS Lewis, in his book, The Four Loves, writes about this kind of love, which is covered by the Greek word, storge. It is the kind of protective love which is so clearly seen in mothers. Of course, it is reactive and emotional. I have seen a mother on occasion who has too much of this, who is driven by a protective impulse which is quite out of proportion to the threat. And we have all seen mothers who did not have enough of it, and would let their child wander unchecked across a highway or play on the railway lines. But we know that these things are extreme, because we know what the natural state is. We know how mothers protect and defend.
Provision Another thing we know about mothers is how they provide for their children. The Psalmist writes, PS 131:1 My heart is not proud, O LORD, 2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul; 3 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD His image is of a contented child, who has been fed and provided for and is now curled up -— perhaps on his mother’s lap. He is not proud, not haughty, seeks nothing to take pride in; just content to be there and to be cared for. Jesus says that God is a loving father who provides splendid clothes for lillies in the field, and food for the birds of the air, a father who gives good things far more willingly to those who ask of him than any earthly father does. So both fathers and mothers provide. But each in their own way. Someone told me once that her parents had been close to splitting up at one time in her life, and that she and her brothers and sisters discussed between them which parent they wanted to go with. I was amused that they thought they would be safe with their father, but that their mother would give them lots of treats. I was amused because, even in that dreadful situation, a common difference between mothers and fathers was reflected. The father says, “I earned my $400 this week. After bills and savings, there is $200 for basic family living.” He probably then expects that the mother will work out a fair distribution. He provides with a view to the security needs of the family. On the other hand, the mother will often say, “Tarquin likes olives, so I will get a small packet for him, and Sophie really wanted ballet shoes this week,” and she provides with a view to the emotional needs. The Psalmist describes himself in relation to God as one whose emotional needs are met, who doesn’t have to grasp for what doesn’t concern him, but just rests in the knowledge of a motherly care, the care he knows from the Lord, the God of Israel. God provides like a father meeting the security needs of his family; but he is also the mother who provides for contentment.
When I was about 10, we visited the Feltons. Paul had a sailing boat, so we all went to one of the harbourside beaches for a Sunday of sand and sailing. Paul’s boat wasn’t big, but he could take us out two at a time. So, while my dad and I went around for a sail with Paul, Mum and my brother, Stephen, stayed on the beach. The water was shallow, and Steve played in the wet sand at the water’s edge and paddled in the water. A large motor cruiser came past right near the edge of the beach, and Stephen stepped closer to get a better look, and disappeared. Of course, for a big boat to get through, there has to be deep water. And Steve had stepped out of the shallow water into the deep trench that the boat had been following. Of course, Mum dived straight in after him, and had to dive deep to find him. She grabbed him and pushed him towards the surface. Several times she got his head above the water but went under herself. Finally, a man came along in a canoe, and asked, “Do you need some help?” Mum pushed Stephen towards him, and he hauled him into the canoe, but she started to go under herself. She didn’t have much more strength left. But the man reached his paddle out to her and she grabbed on, and he swept her back to the shallow water. History tells of many mothers who have given their life to save the life of a child. I mentioned at the beginning that mothers often defend their children. In a way, dying for a chid is an extreme version of this. But, in another, they are totally different. In India, before Independence, it was illegal for Indians to make their own salt. Even those living by the seaside were prohibited from boiling a pan of seawater dry to make salt for their own use. Instead, they had to buy salt from the Government, which kept the price of salt high, and used this iniquitous tax as a significant part of its revenues. In 1930 Mahatma Ghandi notified the Government that he planned to walk to the coast and make himself some salt unless the Government repealed the salt law. The Government ignored his plea, so he began a walk for 23 days across India until he reached the coast. But, as he walked, thousands of Indians, Hindus, Muslims and Christians, all walked with him. The world press took notice, and the Government did nothing. Within a month, similar marches were held across the country. The people not only made their own salt, but they also boycotted British–made goods. But the Government reacted. Over 60,000 Indian protesters were imprisoned. And, when one leader was arrested, his followers gathered in the Kissa Khani Bazaar, where British troops opened fire, killing hundreds of unarmed protesters and ordinary civilians. The protesters were truly non–violent. As each group of people were shot and fell, those behind them stepped forwards with empty hands, and were themselves shot The shooting continued from 11am until 5pm. About ten days later, at midnight, the Magistrate for the Surat district and 32 armed men came to a village near Dandi where Ghandi was sleeping, and arrested him. But the British Government had lost and, in time, they had to hand India back to its own people. I want us to understand that the British were defending, just as a mother defends her children. They were defending their power and privilege in Indian society. And the Indian protesters were equally defending their society against the injustices of the British Raj. But the British did it through violence while the Indians did it through sacrifice. The Bible’s account of Mary is a beautiful example of this sacrificial spirit. You know the account so well: LK 1:26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her. I’ve often pointed out before that Mary was a young teenager living in a very intolerant society. She was probably only 13 or 14; it was quite legal for the people of the village to take a woman out and stone her to death if she fell pregnant out of wedlock. In accepting this pregnancy announced by the Holy Spirit, she accepted the very real possibility of death. It was an intensely self–sacrificing act. She may only dimly have grasped how her baby would bring life and salvation to the world, but she was prepared to put her own life on the line so that others could have life. I am not teaching here that Mary is a co–mediator with Christ, or that our salvation somehow hinges on her together with her son. But I want us to understand that all sacrificial acts are ultimately redemptive, and that Mary, a mother by the grace of God, acted self–sacrificially and redemptively. And, in that way, her action points us away from herself to her son who paid the ultimate sacrifice for you and me.
Jesus looked out across the city of Jerusalem and spoke of himself as a mother: MT 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, `Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ “ Here he compares himself to the mother hen who cares for its chicks, the one who cares in all ways for those he loves. As God come in the flesh, he reflects God — God the father, and God in his motherly qualities. I have a dear friend who didn’t quite know how to break something to me. She had been thinking about me and decided I was very like her grandfather — and like her grandmother! Her grandfather pottered around the yard and always had interesting ideas to talk about. And her grandmother would say, “There you are, dear, come in, and I’ll make you a nice cuppa and we’ll have a good chat.” I felt good about that, because becoming more like a father and like a mother — or a grandfather and a grandmother — is a reflection of God’s character, and progress in becoming like Jesus. But we only become like Jesus if we first begin on the way, and Mothers Day should remind us that we all must follow Jesus. He said, MT 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Let’s give our hearts to him, even today.
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© Peter R. Green 2007. Permission is granted for quotation in full for non-commercial purposes provided that authorship is acknowledged and this copyright notice is displayed with the text. Portions also copyright The Bible, NIV (Zondervan Ltd.) |
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