“As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you;
and ye shall be comforted in
Jerusalem.” (Isa. 66:13)
I suppose that it’s not
going to be hard to guess what our topic of consideration will be today.
You’re right, our mothers. Every year, since 1914, the second Sunday of
May has been the national day of recognition of mothers. For any detail
fanatics out there, President Wilson signed Public Resolution 25 that year
which established Mother’s Day in the U.S.
I don’t think that I’ve
done this for many years, so let me give you a short background narrative of
today’s celebration. Mother’s Day owes its existence to a woman named
Anna May Jarvis who was born in 1864 and was the daughter of a minister.
When she was 42 years old, her mother passed away with her death occurring on
the second Sunday of May, 1906.
After the death of her
mother, Anna became obsessed with the desire to see her mother, and all mothers
throughout the world, honored annually with a special day of recognition.
The movement began slowly, starting at the church where her mother had been a
Sunday School teacher. This inaugural event was on May 10, 1908.
Three years later, the
state of West Virginia made Mother’s Day a statewide observance. Then, in
1914, President Wilson signed the resolution making it a nationwide
observance. Even though happy about her success at getting mothers
officially recognized, she became unhappy over the commercialization of the
day. So much so that she quit her job at the age of 50 to devote all of
her time and energy to opposing the profiteering by merchants of the
occasion. She devoted the remaining 34 years of her life doing
this. If she was upset by it back then, I shudder to think of what she’d
think about it today.
Anna finally became too
old and feeble to wage her battle against the merchandising of Mother’s Day and
was placed in a sanitarium in Pennsylvania where she died, blind, deaf and
penniless, in 1948. Because of her efforts, a special day of recognition
was appointed for all mothers, but there is an ironic turn to our story
here. Anna May Jarvis was never married, thus was never a mother herself.
Somehow that just seems sad to me.
Well, that’s the
background, so now let me say this. In reality, we should honor our
mothers every day of the year and not just one day that the government tells us
to. I know that many of our mothers are no longer with us, mine included,
but spiritually they are. Isn’t it a wonderful thing that God has blessed
us with having a memory that allows us to do that?
You know, we men
sometimes get to thinking about how important our jobs are and about what great
service we render to society but, in all honesty, a mother not only has the
greatest job but she also renders a greater service to mankind by her efforts
in bringing up children. And, I have to admit that, in most cases, she
bears the hardest burdens.
Yes, mothers have a
tremendous responsibility as most of the child-rearing falls on their
shoulders. In considering that responsibility, let’s note what Solomon
says about it: “Train up a
child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Prov.
22:6) Of course, that includes both genders of children.
Walter S. Lander, a
writer/philosopher back in the 1800's once said something that we all recognize
as truth. He said,
“Children are what the mothers are.” When we see and hear many
accounts in the news about mothers doing terrible things to and with their
children, do you think this might go a long way towards explaining what a mess
our society seems to be heading for these days. I certainly do.
Another person once
said, “The mother’s face and
voice is the first conscious objects that an infant soul is aware of and that
she stands in the place of God to the child.” How true that is when
you think about that soul has just come from the presence of the Lord.
Prov. 1:8 tells us to “not forsake the law of thy mother”
and Lev. 19:3 commands that all men “respect
(fear)” their mother. Let me tell you that my mother
commanded great fear and respect with us kids, especially when she was armed
with a peach tree switch.
Dorothy Canfield Fisher
once said, “A mother is not a
person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary.”
Yes, mothers go through a lot of trials and tribulations in the raising
children to responsible adulthood, but you know what? They probably wouldn’t
trade motherhood for anything else.
Probably the greatest
trial a mother faces is having to see a child go off to war and face the
terrible situations those times bring. Mothers, standing by while their
children are involved in deadly conflicts, all the while seeing in the news
that some other mother’s child was killed and knowing that this could be
her. A poet by the name of Joaquin Miller penned a poem entitled “The
Bravest Battle” and one of its verses goes like this:
“The bravest battle that was ever fought;
shall I tell you where and when?
On the maps of the world you will find it not;
it was fought by the mothers of men.”
I can’t close a message
about mothers without going to one of the most poignant scenes in the
Bible. In John 19:25 we find ten words that speak volumes to our
hearts. Perhaps only a mother can truly grasp this picture. Here
are those ten words: “Now
there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother.” What a scene
to try and comprehend.
But also notice His last
instruction to a disciple before He died. In John 19:26-27 we see Jesus
saying to his mother to “behold”
John as her son, and for John to “behold”
Mary as his mother. I find it no small thing that His last conscious
thought before saying “I
thirst” and “It is
finished” was the care and keeping of His mother.
That brings us back to
the passage with which we began this message, the words of Isaiah 66:13.
Our “Comforter in Jerusalem”
is that same Jesus whom His mother watched being crucified for the sins of the
world that terrible day on Calvary’s cross.
Respectfully submitted,
Ron Covey
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