Newsletter: May
It's never been easy being a mother. Do you think it was any easier for Mary, the mother of Jesus? Life was no picnic for the wife of a carpenter in Nazareth. They were not an affluent family. The scripture tells us that when Mary and Joseph dedicated Jesus at the temple, the offering they made was only two turtle doves—the offering prescribed for poor families. But there were other children in the family besides Jesus—a houseful, in fact. There were four additional boys and an unknown number of girls. And then, after Jesus' 12th birthday, we don't read any more of Joseph. He probably died young, as did many men back then. Have you ever thought of Mary as a single mom with a house full of children? How did she did she do it? She never remarried. How did she support them? Maybe this is why Jesus delayed beginning his ministry until he was thirty. Maybe Mary needed help raising his younger siblings.
It was not any easier after Jesus began his ministry. Mary did not understand Jesus' teachings. She, better than anyone else, knew that he was sent of God, but he didn't talk like the other religious figures in their culture—in fact, many of his teachings were in direct conflict with the conventional wisdom of their time. She and his brothers worried about him. They even asked him to come home. They knew that no good could come from challenging the established order of things.
And they did well to worry. For, soon, the establishment struck back. There hangs her baby boy on a cross. And at the foot of the cross stood his mother. All his disciples had forsaken him, but not his mother.
After Jesus' resurrection, Mary began to understand that what he had been teaching, though it was not what she had been taught, was reflective of who his Father really was. And Mary, the mother of Jesus, became one of his followers. And there she is, just before Pentecost, with the disciples awaiting the gift of the Holy Spirit. The writer of Acts tells it this way: "These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."
Do you think it was easy for Mary? It's never easy being a mother.
CHILDREN CAN BAFFLE YOU. Jesus baffled Mary. At his birth, she knew he was special. Who could forget the testimony of the shepherds and the wise men? When she and Joseph took Jesus to the temple at age twelve, she saw how he amazed the elders and the priests with his answers. He was truly about his Father's business. At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, she saw him turn water into wine. He was special. She knew that. But she also saw him fail in his effort to impact the people of his own village. And his teachings disturbed her. She and her other sons went to hear him teach on one occasion, but they were turned away. She heard him say, "Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" And she saw him stretch forth his hand toward his disciples, and say, "Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother" (Matthew 12:49‑50). Didn't he know who his real family was? What was happening to him? Have you ever been baffled by your own children?
Children can baffle you. Even adult children. Jesus did not cease being Mary's son simply because he passed thirty. She still worried about him as he began his ministry, just like many of you worry about adult children. Children can baffle you.
It broke Mary's heart to see Jesus hanging on the cross. Can't you imagine her weeping with great sobs as she gazed upon his broken body? Her beautiful boy who would never hurt anybody in the world, hanging there in shame and disgrace like a common criminal with the blood draining out of his body. How could she make it through this awful tragedy? She would make it through the same way millions have made it through such trials through the centuries: she would lean on the strength of the One who created her son in her womb. Where else does anyone turn at such a time?
Children can baffle you and children can break your heart. And yet generation after generation, we keep having children. Why? BECAUSE CHILDREN MAKE LIFE WORTHWHILE. They fill our lives with joy. They give our lives meaning and purpose. Some unknown author has put it like this:
Children can baffle you and break your heart. But they can bring you great joy as well. Maybe that's why God had children. Certainly we baffle God with our actions. And occasionally we break God's heart. Still, God loves us so much that God sent Christ to give his life in our behalf. On this coming Mother's Day, it would be good if we remembered Mary the mother of Jesus. She was baffled by her son. On one occasion, her heart was broken. But she loved him and stood by him to the end. Why? Because that is what life is all about. Love within the human family. Love within the divine family. Love, which comes from the heart of God.
Blessings