Let Her Who Bore You Rejoice
Let your father and mother be glad;
let her who bore you rejoice.
Proverbs 23:25
Proverbs 23:25 – Proverbs
Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 10, 2020 (am)
Mother’s Day is at once one of the most celebrated days of the year—with phone calls and flower purchases, and restaurant visits, back when we had restaurants to go to—yet also one of the most painful, grievous, even dreaded and despised days of the year. And the hardest part is that those who see Mother’s Day as a sweet and treasured observance can truly think that anyone who doesn’t is just being selfish and obstinate. But at the very same time, those who see it as grievous and painful can think that anyone who loves Mother’s Day is just naïve and sentimental. And, it doesn’t help to expand the focus of the day to include mentors and spiritual mothers. To those who love Mother’s Day, this feels like it just waters down the celebration. And to those who despise it, this feels like it just props it up!
The modern roots of this holiday are found in the church, especially in Europe. Evidently Mothering Sunday was observed on the fourth Sunday of Lent when faithful believers would return to the church closest to their home—their Mother Church, so to speak. Then in the mid-19th century US, Anna Reeves Jarvis began organizing Mother’s Day work groups, mobilizing mothers to improve sanitary conditions and lower infant mortality by helping younger moms learn to care for their children better. This group also attended to injured Civil War soldiers, from both sides. And after the War, they worked to bring reconciliation among them. Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the lyrics to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, was part of this effort. In 1908, three years after Anna Reeves Jarvis’ died, her unmarried, childless daughter, Anna Jarvis, began lobbying to institutionalize Mother’s Day on the American calendar. And in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a Proclamation making the second Sunday of May Mother’s Day in the US. Interestingly, Anna Jarvis was so troubled by the commercialization of the holiday that she spent her remaining years and considerable fortune trying to remove it from the calendar.
For us in the church, Mother’s Day is not just a Hallmark Holiday. But neither should it simply be a celebration of biological family. Motherhood is a rich element of God’s plan in creation, and the original Great Commission to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with worshipers (Gen.1:28) displays this richness. So does God’s work in granting children to elderly, barren, and even one virgin woman at key moments in His story of redemption. Plus, He delights is in His children, in us! Through the prophet Isaiah God said to His people: 66:9 As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you…. And Jesus added: Mat.23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…! Father God mothers His people!
So, mothering is a worthy engagement. Motherhood is a noble calling. And mothers are deserving of thanks and praise. Pro.31 says of the excellent wife (10): 28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. But how do we bridge the gap this morning between those who delight in Mother’s Day and those who despise it? The secret is to live in honor of the one(s) through whom God gave you life, and to do so as part of a higher calling in Him. Our theme verse today states it clearly and concisely: Pro.23:25 Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.
This day, American holiday though it is, is not meaningless in God’s economy. In fact, one of only Ten Commandments He gives us is to honor [our] father and mother (Exo.20:12). And if that commandment becomes the focus of our Mother’s Day (and Father’s Day) celebrations, then they will take their root in the Word of God and enjoy the enabling of the Spirit of God! Our call, then, is to honor God’s Word in response to our [mothers] rather than just to set them apart to receive honor in their own right, based on their own merit. We honor our [mothers] as an act of obedience to God’s Word! So, we honor them as one of the ways we express our honor of God!
The fifth commandment (Exo.20:12) is stated in remarkably strong language. Honor literally means heavy or weighty; in adjective form it’s used to describe Eli as a heavy man (1Sa.4:18). But as a verb it could also be translated as glorify! David used it in Psa.86:9 All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. Now, clearly, this doesn’t mean that our parents are to be glorified or worshiped, but it does give a sense of the weighty level of respect that God expects us to show them. And what in our lives is not better handled, better served, by our treating it in a manner worthy of God rather than just according to its own inherent worthiness, or unworthiness?
When we’re seeking to honor the fifth commandment rather than just seeking to honor our mother (or father), we find multiple layers of advantage, at least one of which will be perfectly well-suited and well-shaped for each and every one of us personally!
If you’re a mother just like you always wanted to be, this will drive you into the Word of God and strengthen your faith in the Son of God to enable you, by His Spirit, to mother your children in a manner worthy of Him, by faith in Him.
If you’re a mother and never wanted to be, this will drive you into the Word of God and strengthen your faith in the Son of God to enable you, by His Spirit, to find His grace for your calling—this calling that Scripture holds in such high regard.
If you’re not a mother but always wanted to be, this will drive you into the Word of God and strengthen your faith in the Son of God to enable you, by His Spirit, to find a depth of joy and satisfaction in Him that surpasses even childbearing. Psa.113:9 [The Lord our God] (cf. 5) gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. And Jesus added that there is nothing we can lose out on in this fallen, broken world, including loving family and children, that will not be replaced a hundredfold in His family and His Kingdom (Mar.10:29-30).
If you’re a mother whose children don’t honor you in their lives or with their words, don’t bring [gladness] and [rejoicing] to your heart, this will drive you into the Word of God and strengthen your faith in the Son of God to enable you, by His Spirit, to love them still, with the supernatural, steadfast love of God.
If your own mother is/was not worthy of the honor you’re called to display, this will drive you into the Word of God and strengthen your faith in the Son of God to enable you, by His Spirit, to honor her for God’s sake, in obedience to Him, not unlike the way we’re enabled to love even our enemies (Mat.5:44).
If your mother is/was worthy of the honor God calls us to display, even still the fifth commandment will drive you into the Word of God and strengthen your faith in the Son of God to enable you, by His Spirit, not to exalt your mother to a place of undue honor, not to turn her into an idol who rivals your allegiance to the true and living God, and to His Word.
The fifth commandment speaks to each and every one of us! I believe Mother’s Day (and Father’s Day) belong in the church. They should be renamed Fifth Commandment Sunday, pressing us to remember Eph.6:2 … [this] first commandment with a promise), 3 that it may go well with [us] and that [we] may [enjoy a life filled with the rich and abiding presence of the Lord, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians.
Our theme verse this morning captures the essence of what happens in obedience to this commandment when the royal son in the book of Proverbs embraces the instruction in wisdom that he’s been receiving. 23:25 [He causes his] father and mother to be glad; [he causes] her who bore [him] to rejoice. You can almost hear the father in many a movie scene cuffing his son on the back of the head and growling: Make your mother proud, knowing it’s he himself who wants to be pleased. But that image is earthy. The previous verse actually expresses this [father’s] heart quite vividly: 24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. So, my son: 25 Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you to rejoice.
Honor mother and father for God’s sake, not their own sakes. Then, regardless of whether they are worthy of it, both they and you will be most blessed by the honor you extend! And not only that, you will learn by this intentional obedience how to honor every other authority you’ll be under in your lifetime, regardless of whether it is worthy of your honor. You’ll even learn how honor government as an institution of God! And wouldn’t that be a valuable lesson to learn in these days?
So, this is our calling this Mother’s Day morning, as you’re uniquely surrounded by family, or not. Honor your father and mother (Exo.20:12). Let her who bore you rejoice (Pro.23:25). And in so doing honor the Lord who has not only called you but enabled you to do it to the praise of His glory as the Father of us all, especially of those who believe.