Church of the Holy City

A Mother’s Wisdom

A Mother’s Wisdom
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
May 10, 2009
Mothers’ Day

I like the New Testament passage for this morning because it shows an interaction between mother and child that we all can relate to. Jesus’ mother knows her son’s abilities, and prompts him to do something he apparently wants to get out of. This interaction becomes Jesus’ first miracle. Mary, Jesus, and His disciples are at a wedding feast and the host has run out of wine. Mary tells this to Jesus, and He says, “Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not come yet” (John 2:4). Mary ignores Jesus’ comment and tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” She doesn’t let Jesus get out of it. Essentially, Mary pushes Jesus into his ministry which he takes up from that point forward.
Sometimes, perhaps often, our mothers know our capabilities better than we do. They also know what is good for us to do. And they sometimes, perhaps often, get us to do the right thing, when we might not feel like it.
From the moment we are conceived, we are constantly on our mother’s mind. We grow in her womb, she nurses us when we are born, and has our interests close to her heart all our lives. And even when we don’t, our mothers know what is best for us, what is best for us to do, and she will get us to be and do our best.
A mother’s love is perhaps the closest thing we will know to unconditional love. She is always ready with open arms to help us when we go through trials. And no one is prouder, and more happy in our successes. There are a few lines form a Robert Frost poem that capture this unconditional love well. There is a discussion between husband and wife about home. The man says, “Home. The place that when you have to go there they have to take you in.” The wife says, “I should have called it a place you don’t have to deserve.” Our mother’s home is just that. It is a place you don’t have to deserve. In many areas of our life, perhaps most areas, we are measured by what we do and how we do it. We constantly have to prove ourselves. In the job world, we have to show ourselves competent to perform our task. And advancement depends on how good we are. In many of our friendships we are judged by what we bring to the relationship. Are we funny? Are we good company? Do we have good manners? But whether we are a success in this world or not, we will always have our mother’s love. Home is truly a place we don’t have to deserve. And a mother’s love is so generous, that we can never make it up. No matter what we do, flowers, cards, visits, phone calls, we will never do enough to deserve the love our mother’s give us. It is the closest thing we have to God’s love. It is like grace—freely given without our meriting it. It is the closest thing we will know of God’s grace. For a mother’s love is given freely, without our needing to earn it—just as God’s love and grace is.
With the intimacy of mother’s love, it is strange that in Protestant Christianity there is so little feminine imagery. When I was looking through the hymnal for this church service, there was only one hymn that mentions mothers specifically. It was our opening hymn, Mother Dear Jerusalem. There are many hymns about fathers, since in Protestant Christianity, God the Father and Jesus assume such a prominent place in our religious symbols.
Catholicism venerates Mary, and her elevated status elevates motherhood and the feminine in religion. Catholics pray to Mary as their spiritual mother and implore her mother’s tender care. Jesus has a feminine side, and there are a few feminine references in the Bible associated with Jesus. One is his sorrow for Jerusalem. He presents Himself as a mother hen to the children of Jerusalem, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings” (Luke 13:34). This is a poignant and touching side of Jesus. But it is still Jesus the divine-man speaking. He is not a mother, as Mary is.
Some of our ministers try to include God’s femininity in their prayers. They pray to Father and Mother God. There is Biblical support for this kind of prayer, as both man and woman are created in the image and likeness of God. I take a different approach to the question. I think of God as the divine human in the glorified risen Jesus Christ. For me, the feminine side to Jesus is his soul of love and his masculine side is his form as truth. But even with this formulation, it doesn’t capture that intimate love I found from my mother. Seeing a motherly God might change my perception of God’s love and how I interact with God in my prayer life.
In Swedenborg’s system of correspondences, the church is called our spiritual mother. In the book of Revelation, the establishment of the New Church is symbolized by a mother giving birth. This is because the church nurtures our spiritual development in a like fashion as our natural mothers nurture our growth and development. We turn to the church as we do to our mother. We grow up spiritually in the church. The church teaches us religious truths that lead us into spiritual life. The church gives us some of our most tender religious feelings, as our mothers home gives us tender feelings of family. The holy feelings of love we find in church serve us as an emotional cushion throughout life’s harsh realities. These holy feelings are called remains in Swedenborg and are God’s connection with us. When we go through emotional trials, we turn to our church community for support as we would our mothers. In the great life stages we go through, we turn to the church. We are baptized in the church. We are married in the church. Our children are baptized in the church. And our memorial service is given in the church.
Another aspect of motherhood is receiving much needed attention these days. I mean Mother Earth. We think of the earth as our mother because mother earth provides us with all our needs. Mother earth gives us plants and foods to eat. We are nurtured by Mother Nature. We need especially today to take care of this wonderful and precious mother. Global warming from pollution is threatening Mother Earth, and she is turning from a gentle, nurturing mother into a raging, stormy home. We can’t keep disrespecting our natural mother and expecting things to be alright. Mother Earth will continue to nourish and provide a home for us if we respect the forces that govern her. Recycling, biodegradable materials, and renewable energy sources are ways our 21st century technologies can take care of our dear Mother Earth. We celebrated Earth Day recently, and I would include caring for Mother Earth in this Mother’s Day talk.
Many mothers today are self sufficient. They can take care of themselves. But that does not mean that they need our love any less. It is fitting that we set aside a special day to honor our mothers. Too often in our hectic lives we don’t take time to touch base with mom. Often a phone call from time to time is all a mother wants. For however old we get, we will always be our mother’s child, and our mother will want to know how we are doing and what is going on in our lives. Our mothers may know that we love them, but we need still to tell them. So it is fitting that this special day be set aside to honor our mother’s love and to complete the circle of love by giving her back our love. On this Mother’s Day we honor not only our own mothers, but that special contribution mothers everywhere make to life on this Mother Earth.