A Mother’s Love
Sacrifices
There is
a famous story that happened many, many years ago in a county a long ways away. Two women each had a son on the same day in
the same place. And as they were
sleeping that night in the same room, each with her child by her side, one of
the women rolled over and accidentally smothered her new born baby in its
sleep. And so she got up, placed the
dead baby near the other woman, and took the living child back to her bed. The next morning the other mother realized
that the dead baby next to her was not her own son and she accused the first
mother of what she had done. Because
both of them wanted the living child and because neither of them could prove
without a doubt that the boy was their own, they took their case before the
king himself. The king at that time was
a man named Solomon, the son of David, a man who the Bible says was the wisest
person ever to live on the face of this earth.
And so in order to make a fair judgment, King Solomon ordered that the
living child be cut in two and half of the boy handed to each of the
women. The real mother, “filled with
compassion for her son, said to the king, ‘Please, my lord, give her the living
baby! Don’t kill him!’ But the other woman said, ‘Neither I nor you
shall have him. Cut him in two! (1 Kings
3:26)’” In this way Solomon found out
who the true mother was and she received back her son alive.
This story
is written in the pages of Scripture to give an example of Solomon’s great
wisdom. But this true account also
underscores a timeless truth: a mother’s love runs deep. The mother in this story loved her son so
much that she was willing to sacrifice her happiness, her responsibility, and
her joy in this life in order to save his.
She was ready to give up her own son to another woman, with the
possibility that he would never know who his biological mother ever was, just
so that he would not die. That is love. That is a sacrificial love. That is a mother’s love. And there is no other love on this earth that
can quite compare.
Mother’s Day / Confirmation Day
We bring
up this topic on this particular morning because today is Mother’s Day, of
course. And if you have a mother still
around and you forgot that today is Mother’s Day, then you’re in trouble… Because Mother’s Day has become the official
day on the calendar when people show their appreciation for their mothers and
the love that they have shown to them throughout the years. Flowers, cards, phone calls, Sunday brunches,
and gifts of various kinds are given to mothers across the nation on the second
Sunday in May each year as a way of saying “Thank you. I realize the sacrifices you have made for
me. I have come to understand the love
you have always shown to me. And I want
you to know that I love you too.”
Mother’s Day is a good day because it’s important to show your mother -
at least for a moment! - how much you appreciate what she has done for you
throughout your life.
But
today also happens to be Confirmation Day this year as well. And so Reanna and Dylan, this is not just a
day for your mothers this time around, but it’s a day for you too. May 13th, 2012 is the date on
which you will be officially welcomed as adult members of this congregation, an
event that gives you an opportunity to confess your faith in what Scripture
clearly says. Today is a special day! And I don’t know if your respective mothers
could ever ask for a better Mother’s Day gift.
Because
they have helped train you all these years.
They have prayed for you and have watched over you and have occasionally
forced you to go to church at those times you didn’t want to. Your mothers have cared for your faith and
have been concerned about your spiritual solidity and have even worried about
what your relationship with the Lord will look like in the next few years. Your mothers watched you grow - not only
physically but spiritually. Your mothers
have tried to protect your trust in Christ from the evils of this world. Your mothers have looked forward to the day
when their child could stand beside them at the altar of their Lord and share
the Lord’s Supper with them. And, of
course, your fathers can be included in all of this as well, but it’s not
Father’s Day until next month, so they’ll just have to wait… There is no doubt that your mothers have
loved you with the love of a Christian.
But even the love of a Christian mother is nothing compared to the love
of your Lord.
Listen
closely to these words from the prophet Isaiah as the Lord compares his love
with the love of a mother. [They] said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the
Lord has forgotten me.” [But this is what the LORD says,] “Can a mother forget
the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget
you! See, I have engraved you on the
palms of my hands.” The love your
mother has for you may run deep; but the depth of love your Lord has for you no
mother can match.
Love Abused
Because
some mothers in this world aren’t good mothers at all, are they? You hear of some mothers abandoning their own
babies at birth, others who habitually ignore their children, still others who abuse
their sons and daughters in various ways.
But even the good mothers, even those mothers who are Christians don’t
always display the proper kind of love for the little ones they have brought
into this world. And you know that very
well, don’t you, Reanna and Dylan!
Sometimes your mothers can be moody and cranky and unpleasant. Sometimes they can be mean and selfish and
unforgiving. Even the best mother isn’t
the perfect mother. And so especially on
a day like today the Lord reassures you, “Can
a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she
has borne? Though she may forget, I will
not forget you!” Your mother may
love you more than anyone else on this earth ever will. But the Lord’s love for you is more than your
mother’s love. It’s stronger than your
mother’s love. It’s more dependable than
your mother’s love. And it’s probably
more abused than your mother’s love too.
Reanna,
Dylan, how many times would you say you have abused your mother’s love
throughout your life? Taken advantage of
your mother’s love? Disrespected your
mother’s love? Pushed your mother’s love
to the limit? If you’re like any other
eighth grader, then you have probably abused the love your mother has shown to
you more often than you can count.
But what
about the Lord’s love? How many times
have you abused the love he has shown to you?
Because every time you have ignored your mother you have abused God’s
love. And every time you have disobeyed
your father you have abused God’s love.
And every time you have made fun of your brother or sister you have
abused God’s love. And every time you
have been selfish or nasty or mean or lazy or deceitful you have abused God’s
love for you.
But it
wouldn’t be right just to pick on you, would it? Every single person in this room (and every
single person outside of this room, for that matter) would have to admit the
same thing: we have all abused the Lord’s love.
We have taken advantage of it; we have disrespected it; we have pushed
it to the limit. He has been so patient
with us and so compassionate towards us and so considerate of us throughout our
lives; and yet there are still times when we do whatever we feel like doing
without any regard for our Lord and there are still times when we keep falling
into the same sins over and over again no matter how many times we promised not
to and there are still times when what he says in his Word isn’t as important to
us as what we feel like at the moment. There
is no doubt: we abuse his love. We test it. We stretch it. And we will continue to stretch that love for
as long as we live! We know ourselves
well enough to realize that we will continue to push that envelope as far as it
will go!
Love
Overwhelming
And what
does that do to his love? When we constantly
misuse the love that he has shown to us, how does that affect his love for
us? Not at all, actually. His love for us doesn’t change no matter what
we do. A mother’s love might change a
little. A mother’s love for her child
might vary depending on how loveable that child is at the moment. But not the love of the Lord. His love for you is unchangeable; it does not
vary; it never goes up or down. The
Lord’s love for you is steady and consistent, always reliable and never
fickle. The Lord never stops loving
you. He can’t stop loving you because that’s who he is: He is the God of
love. He may punish you, he may be
disappointed in you, he may be furious with you because of what you do at
times; but he will never stop loving you.
That’s something important to remember for those of you about to be confirmed. Because you are about to promise to remain
faithful to your Lord even to the point of death. And so in the coming years, even if you
forget him, he will never forget you.
Even if you are forgotten by everyone else around you, he will never
forget you. Even if you your own mother
would forget you and turn her back on you, your Lord never will.
When you
enter high school next year things will change - and not always for the good,
but the Lord will be your constant. When
you make new friends in the near future they will occasionally let you down,
but the Lord will be castle. When you
struggle with your school work, with your family, with your life, the Lord will
still be your rock. There is no other
place you will be able to go. There is
no other love on which you will be able to rely. And you can always count on that because of
the promise he gives you: “I will not
forget you! See, I have engraved you on
the palms of my hands.”
Love Engraved
A
popular gift for mothers and grandmothers on Mother’s Day is a silver bracelet
or a necklace that has a pendant representing each child or grandchild hanging
off of the chain. And many times these
pieces of jewelry are engraved with the names of the children. An engraving gives that gift a more personal
touch: those names are always in front of the person wearing it so that they
can see them and think about them all the time.
And an engraving certainly provides a feeling of permanence as
well. Once an engraving is etched on
it’s hard to get it off.
Reanna,
Dylan, and everyone else here whom God considers his own child, the Lord
himself says to you, “I will not forget
you! See, I have engraved you on the
palms of my hands.” Your name has
been engraved on the palms of your Savior’s hands with an iron stake. A nail that produced a lot of blood and a
whole bunch of pain and some pretty severe holes. And those holes are still there. And every time he looks at them he thinks of
you - all of the sacrifices he made to save you, all of the torture he went through
to forgive you, all of the hatred he had to endure to secure you. Will he forget you now? Will he forget you now after going through all
of that? Will he forget you
tomorrow? Will he forget you next
month? Will he forget you next
year? Will he forget you when you hurt,
when you cry, when you lose, when you die?
As long as that “engraving” remains on his hands, so you will remain in
his heart. And he will love you. He will love you with a love that is like no
other: more than the love of a mother, more than the love of a father, more
than the love of a spouse, a friend, or a child; more than the love you have
for yourself. His love is deeper, and
wider, and broader than any other love. And
so whether you are being confirmed today or not, his love is yours and it will
never fade away.
Amen.
“May the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy
Spirit be with you all.” - 2 Cor. 13:14
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