A Tribute to My
Mom—
But Mostly a
Tribute to God
Honoring Jesus by
Honoring our Mothers
I
like my mom—really like her. Most of you
here at Safe Harbor Presbyterian have not gotten to meet her yet, so let me
take a few sentences to share a little bit about her. She raised my two sisters and me pretty much on her own.
She worked full-time as a teacher so she could have the same schedule as
her kids. She kept house, helped us with
our homework, disciplined my sisters
when they got in trouble, carted us
around to ball-games and friends’ houses,
she acted delighted when we showed her our art work and tended to us
when we were sick. She laughed with us
and cried for us; she
celebrated when we succeeded and lifted us when we fell. She talked to us and listened as well; she prayed and
began to show us about the beauty and love of her Savior. There are a thousand other things I could say
(and probably you could too about your own mother), but I’ll end with this. Even to this day I love to be with my mom, to
talk with her, to sit in her living-room and share what is going on with the
church or Susan or Hannah and Rachel or whatever else may come to mind. And she always cares—even after a lifetime of
giving she is always ready to give more.
So
if, like me, you have a great mother, what do you do with a verse like this,
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and
children, his brothers and sisters—yes even his own life—he cannot be my
disciple” (Luke 13:26)? These words
sound harsh. Are we really supposed to
hate our families?
We
know the answer must be “No.” Elsewhere
God commands us to honor our parents (Matthew 15:4); to love our wives (Ephesians
The
Gospel of Matthew gives us some help.
For here in a parallel passage, Jesus makes the same point in a slightly
different way: “Anyone who loves his
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew
But
let’s be honest—even though this is less harsh than the Lukan
verse, it is still harsh. Why must I
love Him more? Why is God so jealous?
The
answer as I see it is this: as wonderful
as my mom is, as delightful as she is to be around, as much as she has done for
me—there is Someone Greater. There is someone more wonderful, more
delightful, who has done more than I can ask or imagine—indeed it is the One
who made my mom. Every good gift that
she is and has given was given to her first by Him (“For from Him, through Him
and to Him are all things” Romans
So
love your mothers this Mother’s Day, but love them realizing that Christ is
even more wonderful. “He is wiser,
kinder, stronger [more gentle] than anyone you enjoy
spending time with. He is endlessly
interesting. He knows exactly what to
say at every moment to make his guests as glad as they can be. He overflows with love and infinite insight
into how to use that love to make his loved ones feel loved” (John Piper).
Happy
Mother’s Day,
James
__________________________________
©
James Calderazzo
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