May 9, 1999
Everybody knows that this is a feast day. It was not fixed by the Church in Rome or even in Canterbury, but by somebody in Kansas City. Today is Mothers' Day. It is a hall mark holiday. But Mothers' Day is still a good idea. And I think mothers are a great idea. I am all for them and I think God is for them, too. And at least in one case, God took very special care in choosing a mother - the mother of Jesus.
We know very little about Mary. She is mentioned a few times in the Gospels, and yet she is always described as a young woman with strong and simple faith, as she visualizes her encounter with God. She is a very visual person, as all mothers should be, mine could visualize me three rooms away but she does not question her vision, nor do others, when she comes back and describes it to them.
We know that she was pregnant when she undertook an exhausting trip to Bethlehem. It was a trip where everything went poorly. Joseph had not made resevations. There was no room at the inn. They were tossed all over town. They ended up in a stable. Everything went poorly but she accepted everything that was handed to her.
We know that she went with Joseph to Jerusalem to present her baby in the temple, the equivalent of confirmation class in her day. That implies that she was interested in religious instruction, seeing that her children were brought up in the knowledge and love of the Lord.
We know she was a concerned mother. Like everyone when a 12-year old wanders off and decides it is time to hold forth in the temple, she goes to find him. We believe from reading Jesus' parables that she tended her household with great care. Remember the parable of the woman who lost a coin. She overturned everything in the house in order to find it. We can infer about Mary from what Jesus taught.
Read between the lines in the Gospels and you can learn much about Mary. In spite of simple upbringing and modest social stature, Mary is respected. Jesus shows deep respect for her, not characteristic of his day. One example of this is how Jesus protects women in divorce laws. Back then a man could divorce his wife by going up to her and saying "I divorce you" three times, and spitting on her shoe as he walked away. The woman would become a social outcast. The woman had no right to divorce her husband. Jesus puts women on equal footing with men. Where did Jesus learn such steps? Well, being the son of God would help!
But men learn about women from their mothers. Mary was a human mother. Word had spread about Jesus'ministry. He had made quite a name for himself. I mean QUITE a name for himself. So Mary collects her family and tracks him down in Capernaeum to take him home. Remember how Jesus reacts?
I am not sure that this is important, but Mary probably read, or at least recited, bedtime stories to Jesus. Do you remember his line, "Beware of wolves in sheeps' clothing"? That is not a Jewish expression. That is from Aesop's Fables, read or recited to children throughout the centuries.
A human mother, she worries about her children. She follows her children's progress. Ultimately it was Mary, who was one of the few who followed Jesus to the crucifixion.
Who taught Jesus to love? Who taught him that God loved him with his heart and mind and soul. Who taught Jesus to love his disciples as tenderly as a mother loves her children?
Who taught you faith?
Rudyard Kipling, macho poet, describes Mary in Jesus' eyes at the crucifixion:
"If I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother of mine, O mother of mine,
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother of mine, O mother of mine.
If I were tempted of body and soul,
Mother of mine, O mother of mine,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother of mine, O mother of mine."
The The Rev. Sean Cox
seancox@stmargarets.org
09 May 1999