Mother, There Is No Other
Mark 7:24-30 and Acts 6:9-15
Mother’s Day – May 9, 2010
This week I was stuck for well over an hour trying to decide which hymns to include in our service today. What hymns do we Presbyterians sing that would be appropriate for a Mother’s Day Sunday service? Can you think of any songs that reveal and highlight God’s gifts that mothers bring into our lives?
On Father’s Day there is an easy choice: “This Is My Father’s World,” even though the “Father” represented in the song refers not to a human father, but to God.
But what about hymns for Mother’s Day? Scanning through our hymnal this week I couldn’t find one song in which God was referred in obviously maternal terms, or one that illuminated the necessary and vital role of women and mothers have in the world. The best I could do was to find hymns whose lyrics were written by women, two of whom were mothers themselves.
And I must say that I was a bit sad that I could not find hymns that refer to God in motherly ways. After all, when we refer to God as Father, we are not calling God a man. Rather, we are simply stating that God’s care and protection of the world can be described by traditionally masculine words—warrior, judge, priest, Father.
And if describing God as a Father is okay because it is metaphorical, then can’t it also be okay to describe God as Mother because God acts in traditionally maternal ways as well—as comforter, as the one who gave birth to us and the world, as lover, protector, as our Mother?
Part of the reason the maternal characteristics of God have been lost is because of the uniqueness the Bible. As scholar Elaine Pagels points out the God of the Old Testament—the God of Christians, Jews and Muslims—is monotheistic. Many other faiths around the world have multiple gods. They have male gods that have traditionally “manly” and “paternal” characteristics; and they have female gods that contain “womanly” and “maternal” characteristics.
But because the God of the Bible is One God, and there is no separate female deity to take on womanly characteristics, the female notions of God have been almost completely swallowed up by male ones in the Bible.
The reason it is important to understand the maternal ways in which God acts is because of how valuable mothers and women are in our lives and in our world. If we can describe God in motherly ways then perhaps we will more easily recognize how our own mothers act in Godlike ways.
Mothers gave birth to each and every one of us. Mothers helped raise us. Mothers gave us love and affection. Mothers fed and clothed us. Mothers instructed us. Mothers taught us right and wrong. Mothers helped teach us to know when to stop, when to go, when to think, when to play, how to navigate the world, how to choose friends, how to decide which career path to take, which colors clash, how to clean behind our ears, why going to school is important, how to get splinters out of our fingers.
And while not everyone grows up with the perfect mother, while some of us may have strained relationships with our mothers, while others of us may not even have known our mothers, we have all had God-given experiences of the maternal. Someone has cared for us as a loving mother cares for her children. Someone has protected, like a loving mother would. Someone—be it a grandmother, an aunt, a cousin, a stepmother, a friend, a neighbor, a church congregation—has played mother to us in our lives.
And these maternal figures are full to the brim of God’s good graces, of God’s love, of God’s care and concern. And what a blessing it is to have a God that acts in ways of loving mothers as well.
Even the biblical writers, who were prone to writing of God in masculine ways and who often preferred the rights of men over those of women, seem to have had a soft spot for their mothers. Their love for their mothers appears to creep in when they refer to God in amazingly feminine terms.
Hosea 13:8 describes God as a mother bear who fiercely protects her cubs: "Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and tear them asunder...”
In Deuteronomy 32:11-12 God is described as a mother eagle with these words: “Like the eagle that stirs up its nest, and hovers over its young, God spreads wings to catch you, and carries you on pinions.”
Isaiah speaks of God both as a comforting mother and as a woman in labor:
“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” [66:13]
“For a long time I have held my peace, I have kept myself still and restrained myself; now I [your God] will cry out like a woman in labor, I will gasp and pant.” [42:14]
Even Jesus gets into the act by comparing himself to a mother hen protecting her chicks: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” [Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34]
These are powerful maternal images! God as an angry, jealous mother bear protecting her young. God as a mother bird covering her young from the dangers of the world. God as a woman giving birth with cries of pains and joy.
The power and importance of mothers to the biblical writers is seen not only in passages that refer to God as a woman, but also in stories that show God working through women for good.
Our story from Mark describes the Syro-phoenician woman challenging Jesus to heal her sick child. The loving mother was a Gentile. She was a foreigner. She should not be approaching Jesus or challenging his decision not to heal her child. Yet she does. Like the God who acts like a mother bear protecting her cubs, the Syro-phoenician woman does whatever she can to make sure her daughter is cared for—even if that means confronting Jesus. This is a passage of power and passion, of fierce love and loyalty. Whereas the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees are repeatedly silenced by Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, the Syrophoenician woman will be heard and she will be listened to. She knows that protecting her child is God’s will and God’s way and she will not be silenced.
This story reminds me of an experience I had in the sixth grade at Tupelo Middle School. The cafeteria in the school had a stoplight mounted to the wall with noise activated lights. A shining green light meant that the noise level was appropriate. A yellow light meant that the students were talking too loudly. A red light meant that there would be no talking for five minutes. If a student was caught talking when the red light came on, they were placed on the wall and had to clean the cafeteria after lunch. If they were put on the wall three times, the student received a paddling from the principal, Mr. Stone, the most intimidating principal I could possibly imagine—tall, strong, a shaved bald head, the very image of pain.
At one point during the school year I was put on the wall three times over the course of a week or so and I knew that the next day I had to go and see Mr. Stone. I guess my mom could see the nervousness in my face when I came home from school because she fairly quickly asked me what was wrong. I didn’t want to disappoint her with my bad behavior so I tried not to tell her what had happened. But like all good mothers, she eventually got the truth out. And she was furious.
But, fortunately she was not angry with me, like I expected her to be. Oh sure she was upset that I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. But she also knew I was just a sixth-grader who liked his friends and that the punishment of paddling for talking during lunchtime was way over the top. So like an angry bear protecting her cub, like a mother hen covering her brood from danger, the next day my mom marched down to the principal’s office and gave Mr. Stone the what for, letting him know that he was not to lay a hand on her child! If memory serves me correctly, she didn’t even let me go into the principal’s office with her. Perhaps she didn’t want me to hear the words she was planning on saying! Needless to say I never received that paddling.
And though, as any sixth grader probably would be, I was a little embarrassed that my mom had to take up for me like that (especially in public!), I was also overwhelmed with the joy of having someone so protective, so loving, so willing to fight for me and defend me when I couldn’t do it for myself.
Perhaps it is thinking of this story that allows me so easily to visualize God as Mother because if God protects us and loves us in the same way my mother protected and loved me when I was in trouble in the 6th grade, then what a blessing it is to be able to call God our Mother. What a protector to have! What power can be called forth! How generous and kind and loving this maternal God is!
There is something unique about mothers and maternal figures that causes even the boldest and toughest of humans to speak with affection and tenderness. Mothers have a way to sooth the soul, to calm the parts of us that are tense with emotion, to tame the beasts that stir our spirits.
I’d like to leave you this morning with a song from a man who I never, ever thought I would quote in a sermon. A man decked out in gold chains. A man with a six-inch mohawk. A man wears nothing but muscle shirts and workout shorts. A man who is perhaps the most intimidating man of all time. A man whose name is simply Mr. T. How many of you remember this 1980’s TV and wrestling star? If you know Mr. T you will understand how unexpected of these words of affection are. Because even though Mr. T’s exterior is muscle-bound, his insides melt with love for his mother. I wish you could see Mr. T’s rap video, because I will never be able to do it justice. The song is called “Treat Your Mother Right” and is found on Mr. T’s inspirational video for kids, Be Somebody, Or Be Somebody’s Fool. Here goes…
Mother
There is no other
Like Mother
So treat Her right
Mother
I always Love Her
My Mother
So treat Her right
M is for the moan, and the miserable groan
from the pain that She felt when I was born
O is for the oven with it's burnin' heat
where She stood makin' sure I had something to eat
T is for the time that She stayed up at night
and took my temperature when I wasn't feelin' right
H is for the hard earned money She spent
to keep clothes on my back and try to pay da' rent
E is every wrinkle I put on Her face
and every worry that I caused when I stayed out late
The last letter R is that She taught me Respect
and for the room up in Heaven that I know She'll get.
Mother
There is no other
Like Mother
So treat Her right
If Mr. T has a soft spot for his mother, surely we do to. On this Mother’s Day may you find time to think of the great things your mothers and maternal figures have brought into your lives. May you call your mother, may you have lunch with your mother, may you search your memories for the moments of tenderness and affection that you and your mother share. And may you consider the ways in which in which God can be seen in the very best of your mother’s love. Amen.
