100509 Mothers Day—Growing With Mary

• Mother’s Day is not every ones favorite day, especially when:
  • You are a mother and your child no longer calls you
  • You want to be a mother but are not able
  • Your mother may have passed away
  • You have a bad experience in relationship with your mother
  • You are a mother who has lost a child and this was always a special day to you.
• I want everyone to know that mother’s are very special people.
• A little laughter for the bones. You know you are a mom when…
  • You hide in the bathroom to be alone.
  • Your child throws up and you catch it.
  • Another mom’s child throws up and you keep on eating.
  • You find yourself cutting your husband’s sandwiches in unusual shapes.
• I want to look at the greatest mother of all time. Her name is Mary. Not only do I want to look at her life, but I want to pull from scripture key times in the life of Mary that reflect her interaction with Jesus.
  • Let do that this morning and see what we can glean from their relationship.
  • The greatest thing about motherhood is relationship. Take that from a mother and she withers.

1. A Mother’s Greatest Fear—My Child is Lost Luke 2:41-50
   1. Mary discovers that Jesus is not with them. Jesus is 12 years old. The family goes to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Passover. When the feast is over the family returns home only to find after a days journey that Jesus is not with them. Mary lost Jesus. Mary lost the Son of God. Ie. How do you tell God—I have miss placed your son.”
      1. Note Mary’s words to Jesus. Luke 2:47-48 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. 48 So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, "Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously." NKJV
         1. I do not know if Jesus had a middle name but I am sure if he did he was hearing it now.
         2. My mom would have turned to Is. 53 and said, “It says here that you are the Suffering Servant—do you want that suffering to start today?”
         3. I believe every mom and most dads have had that short experience of fear when we notice our children our missing. Mary had a three day experience.
      2. I sought you anxiously. Gr. Word for anxious- Odunao—to cause intense pain, to grieve hard. To be tormented. In Luke 16 it is the same word that is used of the man in hell who just a drop of water from Lazarus’ finger. It is not by accident that this word is used. Intense pain! The pain of this passage is all about relationship.
   2. God made mothers to be security providers. A mother’s love stands for that part of her which is concerned about safety and security. God put it in there. Moms this is one of the character traits that is essential for our children to grow up not only protected from what comes from the outside but also what comes from the inside. Mary had done a good job of this.
      1. Your desire for safety and protection instills in each son and daughter the confidence they need to survive and thrive. That nurturing not only protects from without but it also protects the heart within. It is foundational to a child’s well being.
      2. After all this is a dangerous world to live in and no matter how old we are the protective impulses our mothers had for us and instilled in us are with us forever.
      3. It will never leave you—that desire to protect. I have watched it in my wife as she raised our boys and I have seen it in mom own. “Hey mom, I am going to Bangladesh! Why do you want to do that for?” She understands my call but a mother wants her child safe no matter what age they are.
   3. Our boy is growing up. Transition now is taking place. This event begins to call Jesus beyond the boundaries of his mothers little world of security and into larger areas of concern—the development of his own life and calling.
      1. Mom’s this is challenging! Because you have to weigh their maturity, their intellect, and their giftedness as you begin to release them.
      2. Every time you give them freedom to become who God has called them to be your desire to protect them will kick in gear. Do not be ashamed of that—you are a mother.
         1. But your prayer life must increase.
         2. The promises of God’s word must rest on your tongue.
         3. Your grip, as protector, must slowly be release on their lives and we must trust Him.
         4. Mary had to release Jesus to step into the Father’s will. This early encounter was preparation for the day that she would have to let him go to pursue the Father’s will.
      3. If the mother gives life and sustains it, the father calls forth the potential that is there. These two forces that had so much to do with shaping Jesus’ personality are forces that interact on all of us.
2. A Mothers Greatest Impartation Jn 2:1-12
   1. There are many famous people who attribute to their mothers the reason for what they became.
      1. “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.” Abraham Lincoln
      2. “My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.” George Washington
      3. I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life.  ~Abraham Lincoln
   2. John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." NKJV
      1. In John 2:1-ff we find the account of Jesus changing the water into wine. I love watching Mary as she seeks to solve the problem of no more wine at the wedding feast.
      2. “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Mary knew who her son was! Mary knew what was in His heart—after all she helped put it in there. A life time of imparting into the Son of God the Word of God, and the Spirit of the Word. I learned so much about life from my mother. I agree with George Washington, “moral, intellectual, physical education I received from her.”
      3. Now she appeals to who he is—his character and heart. It is as if she is saying watch this: “He has such a heart for people He can’t pass this opportunity up.”
      4. Mary believed in her son! Mary had sown into His heart. Mary knew he would act with accuracy.
      5. Moms, you have a great opportunity to impart into your children a heart that will make Jesus famous! Every child, no matter their age, needs to know they have a parent who believes in them. It is amazing how God designed mothers to impart that to their children. The greatest desire to impart comes from a heart that is in relationship.
   3. Jesus honors his mother and he saves a family embarrassment. Both are issues of the heart.
3. A Mothers Greatest Challenge
   1. Redefined Relationship. Matthew 12:46-50 While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. 47 Then one said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You." 48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" 49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother." NKJV mk 3:32
   2. Mary has a choice at this point. She can choose to take on a spirit of rejection or she can let her son progress towards his calling.
   3. This happens to all mothers at some time.
      1. Maybe your son is getting married. A fresh reality in our home.
      2. Maybe your son is stepping into his calling.
      3. These two movements alone call for a redefining of the understanding of and boundaries of relationship.
      4. Meeting and making that change is a great challenge. It is not so much a change in relationship as it is in how one relates.
   4. When Jesus says, “These are my mother, brothers, and sisters” He totally jolts Mary. According to Marks record, Mary and Jesus brothers come to get him and take him home because he is ‘mad’. Mary now has to face the fact that Jesus is not just her son, He is the Son of God. This changes her relationship with him. She must now see Him in a different light. In her heart he will always be the baby who nursed from her breast but in reality He was the Son of God, her Savior in the making.
      1. You could mistake this for rejection.
      2. You could mistake this as unloving.
      3. Jesus was simply saying, “It is time to update who we are.”
   5. Jesus understand this truth as well. He understood that at times the pursuit of God meant severing family ties.10:28-30
      1. challenge is this: these changes affect relationship.
4. A Mother’s Greatest Emptiness
   1. Mary is facing now the death of her son. No greater emptiness will a mother face than the passing of a child. I have heard is too many times from a parent, “A child is not to die before a parent.” That is a heart filled with the pain of loss, a relationship ended. John 19:25-27 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" 27 Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. NKJV
   2. A mother’s greatest emptiness is—I am alone.
      1. A cross was where all thistalk about ‘His Father’s business’ had gotten Him.
      2. Mary’sheart ended up as the angel had predicted, pierced through bythe sword of suffering.
      3. Mary’s heart was alone. Don’t let your mothers go there, she was made for relationship-especially with her family.
   3. Jesus acknowledges this and he says, vs. 26 “Woman, behold (look, see) your son!”
      1. He knew that mothers are wired for relationship.
      2. He wanted her heart held until she could be with Him once again.

• The good news today. It is all about relationship.
  • If you have a strained relationship—you can take steps to make it better.
  • If you have a good relationship, make it great.
  • If you have lost a child through Jesus Christ and Him alone you can meet again.
• Sons and daughters—if you are with your moms today, make it count. If you are not and you can call, make that call. Make them special. If your mother is no longer with your family, make her memories live-honor her by remembering. Honor her by sharing.
• Three of todays points are closely connected to separation=which brings to a mother internal pain.
  • Mothers this will help you to understand some of those feeling that you have or will experience.
  • Children—let this help you understand your moms today. Learn to see her heart.