A Mother's Care

Psalm 127 reads, “Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from Him…Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.” Well, Jim Bob Duggar is a very blessed man. He and his wife, Michelle, are currently expecting their 18th child! If being a good mother is strictly based on quantity, Michelle wins. Of course, it's not just the quantity of children cared for that determines a mother's excellence. The quality of care a mother gives each of her children makes the difference. Let's look at a difficult moment in Jesus' mother Mary's life and consider a mother's care.

“Standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.” – John 19:25-27

First, let's look at a mother's care for her child. As a parent, it is extremely difficult to see someone insult, exclude or bully your child. It is even more painful to witness a group of people do so. We want others to love and accept our children like we do. With this in mind, try to imagine what it was like for Mary to watch a mob publicly humiliate, torture and murder her Son. It is difficult to do. Additionally, it appears that Mary was a single mother by the time Jesus was an adult. It is speculation, but most Bible students suspect this because Joseph is completely absent from the gospel accounts of Jesus' adulthood. So again attempt to put yourself in the place of a widowed single mother watching her firstborn Son, the man of the house after the father's death, undergo such extraordinary cruelty and rejection. I am asking us to do so to help us appreciate the depth of a mother's love. A godly mother's love is so great that she knows her place is with her child no matter what it cost. "Standing by the cross of Jesus (was) His mother...." - v. 25. What an example Mary provides, and what an expression of unfailing love God shows us through loving mothers who are there for us no matter what!

As excruciating as it was for Mary to go through this with Jesus, we have no record of her working to prevent Him from faithfully carrying His cross. As parents, we rightly want to protect our sons and daughters from pain, but we cannot allow our desire to protect them prevent them from faithfully following God's sometimes painful path. That is over-protection, and it undermines growth in Christ-likeness. We are called to go through providentially ordained pain with our children when following Christ gets them teased or even tortured, but we are not to spare them or ourselves the discomfort of faithfulness by encouraging them to just quietly go along with a wayward world. Not that she could have, but where would we be if Mary had talked Jesus out of going to the cross?

A mother's care for her child is not all we see in the scene recorded in our text. We also see a Son's care for His mother. Even in the middle of offering Himself up as the atoning sacrifice for humanity's sin, Jesus is not too busy to take care of His mother. I think this has implications for us, particularly in light of His call for us to "take up our cross and follow Him." Think of how His heart must have gone out to His mother as He looked out from the cross and saw her there witnessing His execution. In that moment, He made arrangements for her to live with one of His disciples, likely John who wrote this Gospel, and apparently she did so from then on. Sons and daughters, we have a divine obligation to care for our parents, who have cared so much for us. All of our parents, and all of us as parents, have fallen short in some ways, but no matter what, we are called upon to rise to the occasion and take good care of our mothers and fathers. In our culture, we often think of that as involving assisted living centers and such, but it does not have to. I was privileged to see my mother take great care of her mother by moving her into her home after my grandfather died. Caring for her mother required significant sacrifice on my mother's part. We can not all do exactly what she did, but we can do everything in our God-given power to care for our aging parents, no matter the sacrifices it requires of us. Here again, we are not called upon to avoid discomfort, but to grow in Christ-likeness by denying our selves for our mothers' care.

100 years ago Anna Jarvis, who did not marry and had no children of her own, honored her mother, who had died three years before, by championing the first official Mother's Day at a church where her mother taught Sunday School. They celebrated simply by giving each mother a single white carnation to symbolize the pure, unfailing love of mothers. I pray today our appreciation for our mother's care will grow and show. Thank you Father for our mothers - In Jesus' name.