May you get from God the good you have not deserved, not get the bad you have, and may you have peace with God because of the blood of our risen Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Happy Mother’s Day!
All of us have had a mother, even Jesus Himself did! It is one of those few things that unite people. Some may have had more loving mothers than others. Some may have had mothers they didn’t even know, or some had a woman who took the place of a mother when they needed them most.
Our readings from a few weeks back from Isaiah 42 had God comparing Himself to a woman in labour crying out gasping and panting. God Himself made both male and female in His image. We know that motherhood is so crucial an aspect of humanity that it cannot be separated from who God is Himself. God is above the descriptions of male and female, and yet He always identifies Himself as our Father, and comes to earth as the Son, so who are we to argue with Him and how He shows Himself to us to be?
Even though God does not reveal Himself to us as “mother” we can still see how motherhood is designed after who God is.
For example, God feeds us with His Word and Spirit – God feeds us with Himself! 1 Peter 2 tells us that we should, like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk. It is by this milk that, we who drink it, are joined together.
Now, do not get me wrong here, I am well aware there are very many different ways a family can be knitted together, but one of the most common and traditional ways two people become siblings, is by growing in a mothers’ womb and all being nursed by her. Siblings are all fed by the same source.
God, who makes our every breath possible second by second, sustains us in our bodies in many different ways, joining us together as creatures of His creation. We are further joined together, nourished and kept alive spiritually, by our relationship with God. God cares for us, talks to us, listens to us, came to live as one of us, and, through Christ, assures our relationship with Him, and one another HimHiis never beyond His repair. God joins us together as His one family through Jesus – Through Jesus’ body, blood, baptism, and forgiveness we all share.
Do you ever notice that, sometimes, maybe just sometimes, the families we have share similarities? For example, Marion’s family all call a dishrag a “luppen” and a potholder an “unterzetzer” Why? Because that is what their mom called it. Her siblings are all joined together by how they were “fed” language growing up. Some families might not share many traits in common at all other than being provided with the same last name, yet they share the name they had been given. Others call each other “family” who do not share anything other than a likemindedness.
It is this likemindedness which is very powerful in a family. A mother will try to provide a likemindedness among her kids so they will not fight or have conflict. She will try to fairly teach them all the same things like “we brush our teeth before going to bed,” “we say our prayers before eating and bedtime,” or “we don’t hit your brother!” so that they always know what to expect and can work together. A mother would not teach one kid exclusively English and the other child exclusively another language because the children wouldn’t be able to communicate or work together! She unites them together by teaching them one language.
God unites us together as the body of Christ. He teaches us the same things about Jesus and about what He has done for us. He unites us in the forgiveness He shares and tells us to share with each other. God unites us as a family so that we become like “one mind.” St. Paul says “complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” He goes on to say “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:3-5).
God unites us together by what He has told us about who He is and how He relates to us. We are united knowing He is our Creator. We are united knowing that, as our Gospel from John 14 so clearly says, Jesus and the Father are one, and Jesus is the only way to the Father, Jesus is the truth, and Jesus is life. We cannot see the Father, or come to Him, except by seeing Jesus and being brought to Him. God unites us with His commands. He unites us in His forgiveness.
We work together with One Will (1 Peter 2:10) led by our God who made us all in His image. We share One Will that is fixed on praising God and doing His works here on earth. We pray together with one voice, confess together as one voice, sing together as one voice, and commune together as one body, to physically show the reality of our unity which God has made between us in nurturing and caring for us, as mothers care for their own.
In Jesus’ Name,