Mother's Day Sermon
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers around the world for today is a special day to honor our mothers - whether they are young, old or even gone to heaven - like the mothers of many of the older people.
Let me just explain it to you. Way back over 150 years ago - there was a great war in The United States of America. Many good men and indeed many good boys, teenagers who believed in a good God began to fight & were dying.
And as only a mother can understand, a mother by the name of Mrs. Anna Reeves Jarvis felt the pain that all mothers feel when they see their children suffering and dying. And so she organized a special day, A day for bringing comfort & peace for mothers who had sons fighting on both the opposing sides, a day of offering prayers for all these mothers & their children & A day of prophetic challenge for all these mothers to live as one family in peace. And so it was done. Later during the war, another woman named Julia Ward Howe organized a Mothers' Day meeting in her home town of Boston. And it was also a great success in bringing mothers together and reminding them to live in peace.
So friends do you know that Motherhood is not about us, & neither it is of our children. But it’s all about God, and God’s work in the world. In motherhood which is the only one place where we mysteriously participate with God in his work to redeem the world, by teaching our children to hear and follow God. By our speaking and living what we see in the scriptures, God’s word can again become incarnate before our children’s eyes, so that faith can take on flesh and become a part of this cray world. The Lord wants women to be fruitful for the purpose of advancing and expanding the family of God. The point of motherhood is to bring forth and nurture children in the faith. Women who have no biological children can also participate in this calling. A woman does not have to be married, nor be a mother, to nurture those in need. I would encourage all women to pour out their lives in deeds of service to those in need, such as victims of abuse, orphans, widows, the elderly, the homeless, the hungry, and the afflicted, through thousands of God-honoring involvements.
Friends, There are many kinds of mothers in this world but Christian mothers are totally different. Christian mothers are for the purpose of sending forward into a sinful world those who will become the salt of the earth and fill this world with Christian idealism. They are, the chief soul-molders, character-constructors, God’s recruiting agents for the eternal realms of heaven. They rule the world. They guide the destinies of homes; that is why God is relying on mothers to keep Christ in the world by keeping Him in their hearts and homes.” How? To know this Let’s see the best example from the scripture & that is of Mother Mary:
Mary:
As
we celebrate our mothers this Sunday. It’s probably impossible to look at
motherhood, through God’s plan, without looking at Mary the mother of Jesus.
Motherhood
has always been a blessed and a dignified job,
but Mary raised it to even greater stature when she became
the Mother of God. As the mother who is “blessed among women” (Lk 1:42),
Mary gives us the clearest and most inspiring picture of what the
ideal(perfect) mother should look like, and every Christian mother would be
wise to take her clues from the one who excelled at motherhood like none other.
Friends,
The Messiah could have come to earth as a fully-grown man. God didn’t need to
come through the womb of a woman, but yet He chose that path. This monumental
choice makes it clear the importance God places on motherhood. Yes, Moms
matter! Jesus shared with all of us the very human experience of being born and
cared for by a mother.
Motherhood
is not an extraordinary thing. No, on the contrary motherhood is very ordinary.
But going back to the Gospel how did the ordinary compare to the extraordinary
when it came to impacting the life of Jesus. He was born to an ordinary girl
who lived an ordinary life. She was the only human being to be with Jesus
throughout his entire life. She gave birth to him as
her baby and watched him die as her Savior.
Friends, If we want to learn from
Mary how God can use us, we must understand how God took an ordinary woman and
used her in an extraordinary way. To understand this lets go to …
Luke 1:26-38
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; [e]blessed are you among women!” 29 But [f]when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I [g]do not know a man?” 35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.” 38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
So friends, Luke 1:26 onwards tells the story of how God sent an angel, Gabriel, to the virgin Mary. Mary was Just an ordinary young poor little Jewish girl, probably only about 12 or 13 years old when the angel Gabriel came to her in Nazareth.
Now Nazareth was not a big renowned city like Jerusalem. But it was a
very small unattractive not much known village having hot dusty summers &
cold muddy winters. There was not much
to recommend of this village & it had a population of just 400 people. Now Mary had recently become engaged to a
carpenter named Joseph in this village & was looking forward to marriage.
To such an ordinary girl & in such an unattractive village the angel Gabriel
appeared to her and said
“Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed
are you among women!”
When Mary saw him, she was fearful & troubled. This would be a totally normal response to such an encounter. The angel told her not to be afraid and then continued to turn her world upside down. She was just unaware of the fact that her whole life was going to change forever. He told her she was going to conceive a Son named Jesus. She could never have expected to hear the most incredible news — that she would have a child, and her son would be the Messiah.
When
she heard that she was chosen among all women to give birth to the God of this
planet, the Messiah, she had to respond. She had a
choice to make. Now was she going to
accept God’s plan for her or was she going to rebel against it. I’m very much
sure that this was not the way Mary thought her life was going to go. So how
did she respond then?
Although surprised that she would be the mother of the promised Messiah, Mary was not baffled by the pronouncement that there would be a Messiah. On the contrary she very well knew of the Old Testament prophesies about the coming Messiah, His miracles, His deity, and His offer of salvation.
This clearly shows that she was familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures, she might be reading the scriptures daily, which made her respond in this manner, isn’t that. But no, it‘s doubtful that she knew how to read or write, since literacy was extremely rare among women of that time.
Reading was a specialized skill, necessary for men so that they could read the Torah, but not necessary for women, who developed more practical skills.
Then how did she know scriptures, & that the Messiah was coming. Mary spoke Aramaic, a language with a strong poetic tradition. Hers was an oral society which valued the oral transmission of tradition, ideas, stories and news & hence stories, prayers and poems were learnt off by heart, rather than read. They did not even have their own copies of the Scriptures, like we do today. The young women would hear the reading of the Scriptures at their local synagogue & would hide these words in their hearts, which is how Mary knew that the Messiah was to come. Scripture stories were not just ‘religious’ to Mary. They were entertainment as well. People told the stories and acted them out for pure enjoyment. This was the only way that they could kick off boredom & get entertained in their lives. Bible scholars talk about how all Jewish girls at that time dreamed of being the mother of the Messiah. It was promised that a savior, a redeemer was coming & She knew very well that some woman would bear this baby. And so when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, & told her that it was she who would be the mother of the coming King of Israel, she didn’t seek proof from Gabriel. Her only question was,
“How can this be, since I do not know a man?” (Lk. 1:34).
Her
question was not
“Whether I‘ll be pregnant?” but
"How I‘ll be pregnant?"
This
clearly shows that she did not doubt God but just asked for an explanation that
how this could be possible as she was just a virgin. This is an important
distinction, as it highlights Mary’s trust and belief in God and His ability to
miraculously follow through. This stands in contrast to Zachariah's response
when Gabriel announced in (Luke 1:5-18)
that Zachariah's and Elizabeth would have a child. Zachariah's struggled to believe
this news (verse 18). As a result, Zachariah's was made mute for the duration
of Elizabeth’s pregnancy “because he did
not believe” Gabriel’s announcement (verses 19-20). Mary had pleased God with
her trust and faith (Hebrews 11:1, 6).
Mary’s faith in God was vibrant and powerful. It served to shield her
during this challenging events that poured unexpectedly into her life. Mary had
the necessary faith to believe Gabriel’s announcement and act on it when he
said that
“Elizabeth, in her old age is
now pregnant because nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:36).
Although
she could not comprehend how she would conceive the Savior, she responded to
God with great belief and obedience. This came naturally because of her upbringing. As I mentioned earlier she was for sure
taught to be loving, kind, attentive and obedient to God’s word & will.
With such a firm foundation, Mary was so favorably disposed to God that when
the angel Gabriel appeared to her and said, “You will bear a son,” with deep
faith she trustingly replied,
“I am the Lord’s servant, may everything you have said about me come
true.”
Mary’s
response to this life-altering news reveals much about her character. Mary was
clothed in humility and meekness.
Humility as simply defined in the dictionary is a modest or low view of one’s own importance.
But
it is, in fact, an important core value of our faith. Although she saw herself
enriched with greater graces than all other women, she never preferred herself
to anyone. Instead she referred to herself as the lowly servant, the handmaid
of the Lord.
Apart from humility there’s one more important quality that Mary possessed which made her from ordinary to extraordinary and that was the quality of her trust and obedience in God. He very well knew that she would willingly serve God in one of the most important callings ever given to a human being. God knew that Mary was a woman of rare strength and obedience. Mary’s obedience is clearly unfolded by her words
“May it be done to me according to your word.” (verse 38).
This
obedience of Mary is the antidote for Eve’s disobedience. Recall in the story
of Creation, specifically the part when the serpent, or the devil, tempted Eve
by luring her to disobey God. The serpent told Eve that in so doing, she will
be equal with God. (Genesis 3:4-5) She
forgot the advice of God not to eat the forbidden fruit. She lost her mind to
the present pleasure. So original sin was born, born out of pride and
disobedience of Eve. But Mary was just not selfish like Eve and she focused on
the Will of God for her & declared
"I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said”
(verse 38).
Mary’s
soul magnified the Lord & rejoiced because Mary was to become the vessel
that would bring the Savior to the world, because of whom salvation could come to all mankind & that all
would be saved. Mary’s obedience became
a blessing for humanity & reparation for the evil done by Eve.
Mary understood the magnitude of her decision to say yes when God chose her. But at the same time she was also taking a great risk because she knew that her submission to God's plan would cost her & that this calling would demand great suffering as well. Just as there is pain in childbirth and motherhood, there would be much pain in the privilege of being the mother of the Messiah. Though she would one day be highly honored as the mother of the Savior but before that she would be disgraced as an unwed mother, Joseph would divorce her, or worse yet, he would even have her put to death by stoning. Her beloved son would be rejected and would die a terrible death on the cross. Yet Mary did not doubt the angel’s message and willingly submitted herself to God's plan. She knew that the miracle in her womb would bring considerable risk to her but she was ready to face these difficulties with great courage. Friends such courage is deeply rooted in a relationship with God (Joshua 1:7, 9). It does not form overnight. Rather, it reflects a lifetime of building a relationship with God.
Conclusion:
Friends, Can we willingly accept God's plan? Can we even rejoice in God's plan, like Mary did, when we know that it will cost us dearly?
Sometimes
we may have a certain idea of how our lives are going to go. We think we will
graduate, get married, start having kids or begin a career. We even have a time
frame associated with all of these plans. We think we have the best plan for
our lives, but life doesn’t always go the according to our plan. Sometimes God
moves us in a direction we didn’t see coming. It is at these times that we need
to know what our answer is going to be. Are we going to say yes to God or not.
When God calls us as women, the reality is that answering the call involves personal sacrifice, misunderstanding, and even the ridicule of those who refuse to acknowledge our calling. We live in a culture much like Mary’s—a world that does not recognize our power, purpose, or potential, But God sees. Let us honor Mary’s courageous choice, voice, and poise in suffering during this season. May she inspire all of us, to answer the call of God in our lives with the certainty that God listens and cares?
--------Glory Be To Almighty------
