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*Thrust Statement:  God wants mothers who are devoted to Him to teach their children the things of God.*
* *
*Scripture Reading: Luke 2:21-40; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; 2 Kings 4:8-26*
 
            Today is a day in which countless thousands remember their mothers.
One of the sweetest memories that anyone can have is the memory of a good mother.
Many of you can remember her tucking you in bed, kissing you goodnight, preparing your meals, kneeling by your bedside and praying with you, reading Bible stories to you as she prepared you for bed, and ministering to you through a night of sickness.
This message focuses on three pericopes (*Luke 2:21-40; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; 2 Kings 4:8-26*).
The first story is about the parents of Jesus taking Him to the temple for circumcision according to the Law of Moses.
The second Scripture reference is about Timothy’s mother and grandmother.
The third story is about the Shunammite woman and her encounter with Elisha.
The major focus of the message surrounds three questions asked by Elisha to the mother.
!! *Jesus Presented in the Temple*
* *
*            *Even though one* *does not know the age of Jesus’ mother, nevertheless, one readily observes that she was a woman in whom God found delight.
Luke writes: “The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored!
The Lord is with you’” (*Luke 1:28*) [All Scripture citations are from/ the New International Version/ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), unless stated otherwise.].
Again, he records for the “most excellent Theophilus” (*Luke 1:3*) another insightful remark from the angel Gabriel (*Luke 1:26*): “But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God’” (*Luke 1:30*).
Why did God find such favor with this young woman?
Surely she must have been a very faithful follower of the teachings of Moses and the prophets.
One such example, which illustrates her desire to follow the instructions from the Lord is found in her taking Jesus on the eighth day to be circumcised according to the Law of Moses (*Luke 2:21-24*).
The angel Gabriel revealed to Mary that one of her relatives, Elizabeth, was pregnant.
Again, one meets a family that is devoted to God.
Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah, also officiated in the Temple as a priest of God (*Luke* *1:8-10*).
Upon Mary’s entrance into the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Luke says that the baby—John the Baptist—leaped in Elizabeth’s womb (*Luke 1:40*).
Following this episode, one reads about Mary’s song in which she extols the greatness and wonder of it all (*1:46-55*).
The one thing that moves one with awe relates to the words that Mary pulls together in order to express the mercy of God upon her and Elizabeth: “His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation” (*Luke 1:50*).
This insightful comment lays bare the devotion that Mary and Elizabeth had for their Lord.
Although the parents of Jesus lived in Galilee during his childhood, still they would go to Jerusalem every year to the Feast of the Passover (*Luke 2:41*).
This trip from Galilee to Jerusalem is about sixty miles.
Yet this distance did not keep them from making this long trip to observe the Feast of the Passover.
Surely, the parents of Jesus followed the words of Moses to the children of Israel:
 
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
a 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
7 Impress them on your children.
Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
(*Deuteronomy 6:4-9*)
 
            It is reasonable to assume that Mary as well as Joseph followed the instructions given by Moses to Jesus and their other children—James, Joseph, Simon, Judas, and His sisters (*Matthew 13:55-56*).
Luke also records that following the baptism of Jesus and His temptation by Satan that He went to Nazareth where He had been brought up and had taught in their synagogues (*Luke 4:14-15*).
The significant thing about this scenario is the statement: “and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom” (*Luke 4:16*).
Surely, Jesus attended the synagogues as a small child.
Both Joseph and Mary would have taught Jesus about the things of God as commanded by Moses.
As one peruses the lives of Mary and Elizabeth, one conjectures about how the mothers of today would measure up to the devotion exhibited by these two women.
What kind of a mother are you?
Is your spiritual life such that you create within your children a desire for the holy?
Do you take your children to church?
Do you read the Word of God to them?
Do you teach them to love the Lord God with all their hearts and with all their minds and with all their souls?
Do you impress the things of God upon your children?
Do you talk about the things of God when you sit in your homes?
Do you talk about the things of God when you drive down the road?
Do you talk about the things of God when you lie down at night and when you awake the next morning?
Where is God in your life and the in the lives of your children?
Do you, too, desire to be a godly mother in the raising of your children?
 
!! *Timothy’s Mother and Grandmother*
* *
            In Paul’s last letter (*2 Timothy*) to Timothy, he reminds him to remember the words taught him by his mother and grandmother from infancy.
Paul writes:
 
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
(*2 Timothy 3:14-15*)
 
Paul credits the faith that Timothy possesses as having a direct association with his grandmother and mother.
Paul begins this Epistle with the following comments: “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (*2 Timothy 1:5*).
Are you a grandmother?
Are you a mother?
If so, can your children or grandchildren say that you are a woman of faith in Christ Jesus?
Paul’s words to Titus are also appropriate for this Mother’s Day.
Listen to Paul as he instructs Titus about older women and their responsibilities in teaching younger women:
 
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.
4 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
(*Titus 2:3-5*)
 
            Again, one must ask: What kind of mother are you?
Do you love your husband and children?
Are you like Lois, the grandmother of Timothy?
Are you like Eunice, the mother of Timothy?
How do you respond to the following three questions asked by Elisha, a prophet of God: “Are you all right?
Is your husband all right?
Is your child all right?’”
(*2 Kings 4:26*).
The /New Kings James/ renders the Hebrew this way: “/Is it/ well with you? /Is it/ well with your husband?
/Is it/ well with the child?’”
These three questions should be answered by every mother.
If one were to condense these three questions into one question, perhaps, the summary would be: “Is it well with your family?”
 
!! *Elisha: Is It Well With Your Family?*
* *
            As one reads and rereads the story of the Shunammite’s son and Elisha, one discovers a story that is full of meaning for every mother and father living today (*2 Kings 4:37*).
Hopefully, a careful reading and reflection upon this story will bring home to mothers a true concern for their children.
Even though this message is primarily focused upon mothers, nevertheless, one can draw conclusions that should awaken every father’s attention, too; that is to say, the three questions asked by Elisha to the Shunammite woman: “Is it well with you?
Is it well with your husband?
Is it well with the child?
(*2 Kings 4:26*).
Do you mothers and fathers spend time with your children?
Frequently, mothers and fathers labor under the stress of the workplace and do not have time for their children, even in the evenings or their day off.
Frequently small children wish to share their experiences with their mothers and with their fathers when they return home, but the response by many parents is: “Not now, honey, I’m busy, go watch television.”
But “not now” never comes around.
If not “now,” when?
If parents fail to communicate when their children are small, it will be too late when children come in as teenagers with “glassy eyes” from drugs or alcohol.
Perhaps, at this late date in their lives, you respond by saying, “We need to sit down and talk.”
But the time is too late.
Love has passed you and the child by.
There are many encounters in life that can break one’s heart, but there is nothing that can break one’s heart like the loss of a child.
Parents can lose their children due to broken relationships.
Christian mothers and fathers can lose their children by failure to build strength of character by spending time with them.
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