Mary’s encounter with Gabriel
Luke 1:30-35
30 The angel told her,
“Don’t be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God.
31 You will become pregnant, give birth to a son,
and name him Jesus.
32 He will be a great man
and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him
the throne of his ancestor David.
33 Your son will be king of Jacob’s people forever,
and his kingdom will never end.”
34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this be? I’m a virgin.”
35 The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy child developing inside you will be called the Son of God.
The Crucifixion of Christ
John 19:23-27
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”
So this is what the soldiers did.
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Across the years Mother’s Day became a time when Christian women asked their adult children to attend church with them. Churches gave gifts to the oldest and youngest mothers as well as the mother who had the most guests with her. After church, the mothers were then rushed off to dinner. This put much pressure on the pastor to get with it and dismiss before the other churches got out. Grandma walked out with a planter or a framed chalk drawing from the last revival where the evangelist was a chalk artist. Every mother stopped by a table to pick up a petunia to plant in her garden. After time they changed the criteria to win the grand prize for Mother’s Day to things like; 1. Who has a child that came to visit from the furthest distance. 2. Is there a mother here with twins or who is the oldest mother who still rides a bicycle. Then the church was filled with confusion because Grandma Swartz came with twenty-eight guests didn’t get the prize toaster. The ramifications for changing the Mother’s Day Rules almost split the church. In other words, Mother’s Day is IMPORTANT. Then there was the era that if your mother was living you wore a pink or red carnation corsage / boutonnières but if your mother was deceased then it changed to white carnations. So many rules and regulations but the underlying factor was this day was very special. Then there were songs to sing like:
M-O-T-H-E-R
“M” is for the million things she gave me,
“O” means only that she’s growing old,
“T” is for the tears she shed to save me,
“H” is for her heart of purest gold;
“E” is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
“R” means right, and right she’ll always be,
Put them all together, they spell “MOTHER,”
A word that means the world to me.
“The modern holiday of Mother’s Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. St Andrew’s Methodist Church now holds the International Mother’s Day Shrine.”- Wikipedia
“In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating Mother’s Day, held on the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers.” – Wikipedia
Mother’s Day has become a special day. But during my forty-eight years in ministry I learned it is an extremely sensitive day too. We are not equal at all. Some people came from backgrounds far from rewarding experiences with mom. Every year we read horrible reports of what some women did. But I prefer to think about the millions of moms who have gone the second or third mile to provide and prepare their children for life. The majority of mothers baked cakes, prepared good food and scrubbed children’s dirty bodies then rocked their babies to sleep. Yet in every Mother’s Day service at church you have some women there who lost their children in death or due to war. Some moms are not good cooks or didn’t know how to keep a clean house nor took time to play with the children. Some could not read a story to them, because they never learned to read. I could go on and on discussing the virtues and failures. I have seen many women who never carried a child in their womb but they loved and treated children to ice cream or cup cakes and trained their nieces and nephews. Women have ached because they could not conceive but welcomed adopted and foster children into their homes, changing those lives forever.
There are many couples who make a choice not to have children. That is okay and often those people share in caring for other children.
In the beginning you read scriptures about Mary, the Mother of God and then of Jesus at his crucifixion.
The Old Testament is a history of God bringing together and scattering the Jewish people. You read about their struggles of faithfulness and failures. The New Testament is about the coming of Messiah, his impact on the Jewish people and his death. It also deals with the sending of the disciples to all nations and the opening of the Kingdom of God for everyone.
Sandwiched into all of this is a young, somewhat unknown girl, probably 14-15 years of age, who we know as Mary. She was chosen by God to bring to us His Son, Jesus.
Can you imagine taking a young teenager to carry out a complicated mission like this? Especially by asking her to be unmarried and pregnant! That was quite common across our history because a man often took a woman to be his wife, but waited quite a long time for the traveling preacher to ride into their area and legally marry them.
Just listen to the television program Paternity Court and you suddenly realize we have, in many ways, returned to pagan and lascivious living. Proclaiming the idea of marriage then children can bring strange stares in some circles as outdated. Unfortunately the “shame” of bearing a child out of wedlock always rested with the young women.
Now let me say I like what the Gospel according to Dear Abby (Pauline Phillips) said a long time ago, “There is no such thing as an
illegitimate child, only illegitimate parents.”
I also realize the fact that hormones rage and people respond. The church has not won a blue ribbon in the way we responded to young women caught with nine months of carrying a child while the father-to-be goes whistling on down the street…. but that is another sermon.
I very much respect the couples who recognize their genuine love for each other, marry and go on to have a wonderful marriage blessed by God. To these people, who will soon have a family, they move forward serving Christ through his church.
I was shocked when in third grade my best school friend, Ricky, said to me, “Thanks for
for being my friend but if you knew that I was a “bas**rd boy” you wouldn’t like me!” Not having any understanding of what he meant, at prayer time before going to bed, I asked my dad what he meant. My kind and somewhat shy dad swallowed hard and went on to say his mother was not married when he was born. Since that meant absolute nothing to me, we continued being best friends until he moved away.
Years later I thought about the terrible pain inflicted on my little friend by his family. I wept for him and so many others.
The truth is Mary could have been stoned but Joseph, knowing he had not been with her, obeyed God and took Mary as his wife.
We ring bells and rejoice during the Christmas season, yet underneath the story of shepherds, wise men and angels is the story of Jesus coming to us. It is interesting how many Christians turn away from a virgin birth because it is impossible in our human understanding. I remember coming to the place after being challenged to say, “I am leaving that up to God. If God so ordained it, so be it!
The second set of scriptures takes us to the cross. Mary, the mother of Jesus, stands close by. She is witnessing everything! The most hideous scene is being played out before her eyes. I have ministered to broken parents whose child was dying. It is one of the darkest places I have have ever had to go in ministry!!! There are words that are supposed to bring comfort but in many cases there is no comfort, just deep excruciating pain. People have walked away from the church and belief in God because of such a loss. There are no words to describe this trauma. Years later, the days of being with their dying chid, still haunts them like it was last week.
Jesus was thirty-three years of age when he was slandered, beaten and crucified. But to Mary, this was her son, her child and her baby. To witness these hours and acts of evil had to be mind disturbing. Mary saw her perfect son who at times was not so perfect. Now before you get upset remember that at twelve Jesus stayed in the temple as the traveling group returned home. When his parents found him missing they quickly returned to Jerusalem to look for him. Have you ever gotten separated from your child. Panic, fear and many thoughts fill your mind while looking for them. Jesus’ parents found him as we found our missing children. From the moment of fear, we turn to relief when we embrace our lost child. Then we becoming threatening, angry parent as we pull our loving child close to us firmly explaining what will happen “IF THEY EVER PULL A STUNT LIKE THAT AGAIN!”
Now Mary looked on the dying face of Jesus. She saw his pain. She witnessed blood gushing out of his body. She knew what was still to come but in no way could she have prepared herself for this moment. We do not know when her husband, Joseph, died. Mary was roughly forty-seven years of age when Jesus died. First her husband and now her son.
There all know of those cases when people turn to crime and murder. They don’t think how their actions will affect others. Coming before them, you have a weeping, angry mother who cannot fathom how her child turned into a cruel monster. Pull away all of the descriptive words in life and you still end up with MOTHER. The woman who who carried this pre-criminal child in their womb. She washed dirty faces and saw toothless smiles. She heard sobs and outbursts of joy. She remembers story time and kisses on boo-boos…. mother’s are just always mothers. They remember stitches, high fevers, first dance, military days and the wedding. They remember their child’s look after the win of a football game or they well recall that night their son was in jail due to a fight for a DUI.
Mary stood broken, weeping at the foot of the cross. Her son was being executed by the government between two thieves. Perhaps her mind raced to the moment when she took Jesus aside at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, pulled on his robe and said, “Son, the “Fulana-do-tals,” (Portuguese slang for “whoever they are”) over there are out of wine. Jesus responded, “My time has not come”….. but he followed through and preformed his first miracle of turning water in wine! Just because his mother asked.
After three short years in his ministry and disciple training he was dying. In the moment he sees John the Beloved and his Mother. He says, “26….. “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, Here is your mother. From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”
In the final moments of human life, Jesus, stops to make sure his mother is cared for. Jesus set a Gold Standard of love that day. He saw his widow, saddened mother and TOOK CARE OF HER! Not just in the moment he died but for the rest of her life.
Many, like me, have bid farewell to our mothers. We will never forget that moment for it feels like a huge part of us has been severed.
If your mother is deceased, you look forward to being reunited in heaven. If she still lives, take time to love her in the best ways you can. Mothers sometimes live miles from us. There is joy (in most cases) to call and check on them and know they are doing well. Surprisingly one day you will discover that your mother is old and frail. Scripture tells us to honor our parents but it also says that parents should not provoke their children to anger.
That is another completely different sermon. As in other teaching, there is a fine balance between healthy living and destroyed relationships. Develop good relationships with others. Celebrate life, love and freedom in Christ! Do whatever needs to be done to maintain a positive relationship with your mother, father and your siblings. Each one is a precious gift from God. When links are broken, and that happens, turn them over to God and rejoice in those you hold most important to you.
Some of the last words I heard my mother, Thelma Paschal Romey, whisper were “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus”
Shortly thereafter she went to be with the Lord. The closing song , “I Call Him Lord” was sung at her funeral by Rev. Earl Roustio, the man who preformed Shirley and my wedding. He still survives at 90 and still sings. This version is by Mark Lowry and others.