Sermon Tone Analysis

While we love celebrating Mother’s Day, for some people it can be a difficult time.

There may be mothers-in-waiting in the audience—women who have experienced infertility or miscarriages or who are still praying for God to bless them with a godly husband and family.

Some may be grieving the loss of a mother or a child.

And some may be feeling as if they’re failing at motherhood altogether.

The film Hook is a story about a grown-up, burned-out Peter Pan whose children have been kidnapped by his old archenemy, Captain Hook.

Near the end of the film, Peter has Hook right in his sights and is about to take his revenge, but his daughter, Maggie, stays his hand, saying that the captain is “just a mean ol’ man without a mommy.”

Maggie’s words echo a theme found throughout every Peter Pan story—that somehow all the heartache in the world can be fixed by a mother’s love.

In the weeks leading up to the second Sunday of May, we’re surrounded by flowery cards filled with sappy sentiments about how wonderful our mothers are.

SO this morning I want to look at some things that mothers are and if I can presume this morning, to imagine what some mothers may be feeling and experiencing.

In church, we’re often pointed to the example of “the Proverbs 31 woman,”

This woman gets up early, stays up late, and somehow manages to perfectly balance self- care, motherhood, and a career.

This mother has it going on, and ladies let me tell you….you’ve got it going on.

I was talking to someone the other day and they were asking me about all the things that I do at work and at church and in the community, and they asked if I had a secret to keeping everything organized and remembering everything.

I told them absolutely yes, but it’s not something you can duplicate….her

name is Dana, she’s my wife and you can’t have her.

Ladies, and mothers in particular.

Let me speak for all of the men and say that we are in awe of all that you do every single day for your families, for your spouses, for the church.

You do SO much work each and every day, not asking for thanks, but just seeking to take what is in existence, and make it the best that it can be.

But let’s be honest, no matter what things look like on the outside, there’s often a different feeling beneath the surface.

Ladies, how many of you feel like you consistently have to all together and meet that bar of the Proverbs 31 woman?

So how then should we view ourselves, and more importantly, how does God view ladies who perhaps don’t have it all figured out?

What is his heart toward the mothers who are praying for children who have walked away from the faith?

Does he hear the moms who are grieving children taken from life too soon, or the women who long to be mothers but whose time has not yet come?

The answer: he sees them as his daughters, and he loves them just as much as the mothers who—externally at least—appear to have it all together.

As we look through Scripture, we find examples of mothers who are exalted: Mary the mother of Jesus,

and Timothy’s mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5).

We also find examples of mothers with struggles: Sarah and Elizabeth, mothers who longed for children well into their golden years before their prayers were answered (see Genesis 21; Luke 1).

We see stories of mothers celebrating, grieving, and doing whatever they can to keep their children alive in the midst of tyrannical decrees and famine (see Exodus 1:1–2:10; 1 Kings 17).

When we turn to the book of Ruth, we find a family (and a nation) in crisis.

Not only was there a famine affecting the entire region, but the people of Israel had forgotten God and the work he did for Israel when he brought them out of Egypt into the land of promise (Judges 2:10).

While we don’t know much about Naomi’s family before their move to Moab, it’s safe to assume she did her best to care for them.

But when she went with her husband in search of food, she didn’t just leave her hometown—she left her community and any relationships that meant something in her life.

In the following ten years, Naomi would meet grief after grief as the family she’d spent her life nurturing slipped through her fingers, one after another.

Before we reach the end of the first chapter, we find Naomi with her widowed and childless daughters-in-law, scavenging for food in a field owned by another man (v. 6).

And then there was Hannah: a woman who was daily reminded that she’d failed to live up to her society’s belief that a woman’s sole purpose was to bear and raise children—particularly, sons.

Family dynamics aside, instead of finding compassion from someone who was privy to her innermost grief, she was mocked (1 Samuel 1:6).

Instead of finding support from her husband, she was made to feel guilty for not being content (v.

8).

And instead of finding understanding when she entered the house of the Lord, she was accused of living a life of sin (vv.

12–14).

In sharing these stories, God doesn’t just give us examples of mistakes to avoid or disasters to prepare for; rather, he uses them to show that he cares for mothers, no matter how frantic, frazzled, embittered, or desperate they seem.

And in showing his care, he invites the rest of us to come alongside these struggling women to help lighten their burdens and release them from unnecessary or unwarranted shame.

Consider this: While some might look at Naomi’s family fleeing Israel during the famine as a lack of faith, Ruth would never have made her bold confession (Ruth 1:16–18)

if she hadn’t witnessed examples of their faith in some way during her brief marriage.

Nor would she have trusted in Naomi’s God if she hadn’t seen evidence of him at work in Naomi’s life before and after the death of Naomi’s husband and sons.

Also consider: Although Hannah was deemed a failed, sinful woman by her culture’s standards, her faith in God never wavered.

Instead, she allowed him to use her grief to draw her into a deeper place of trust, one where she could entrust the life of her long-prayed-for son to his safekeeping.

And when she brought three-year-old Samuel before the Lord, she brought a boy who had witnessed his mother’s faith and who shared her passion for the Lord a hundredfold (1 Samuel 1:24–28).

In his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul told husbands to make it a priority to show their love to their wives.

If you’re a married man, look for areas where your wife is struggling to find balance in her life, and find ways to support her. Offer to take the kids and give her some time to care of herself.

Encourage her to pursue creative endeavors that bring her joy.

Pray for her, that she will see herself as God sees her: precious and beloved and worth sacrificing everything for (Ephesians 5:25).

Kids and teens, remember that even though Jesus was by all rights superior to Mary and Joseph, he still trusted them and did as they asked of him.

He did this because of his love for his heavenly Father and because of his love for them (Luke 2:48–51).

How can you honor your mom today, as Jesus did with Mary?

And finally, as the apostle Paul writes in Colossians 3:12–16,

as members of the body of Christ, it is our privilege and responsibility to support the women in our lives as mothers and as sisters in Christ.

If you know of a mother (or a mother-in- waiting) who is struggling, look for ways you can befriend her in a supportive manner rather than simply offering kind words and promises of prayer (or criticism!).

When we become known for our care and our support of those in our midst, we become a safe place where others can come to share their needs and ask for help.