So I realize that in order to catch up, I am going to have to post more than once a week. I hope to be able to do that this week. For now, I wanted to share with you some thoughts on motherhood as an act of faith. I know it's a few weeks late in relation to Mother's Day, but perhaps that's a good thing.
I'll be honest, I struggled a lot trying to figure out what to preach on Mother's Day. In my discussions with people who have been here a while, I learned that sometimes they had gotten a "Mother's Day" sermon, and sometimes they hadn't. This being my first time preaching regularly, it was also the first time I had been confronted with the question; "how do we use a time like Mother's Day to reflect on faith?"
My mind went to Jesus' mother, Mary, the most famous of all mothers. What can Mary's story teach us about faith?
As we study what is often referred to as "the Annunciation", or Mary's receiving of the news that she will give birth to Jesus, it is hard not to compare and contrast her reaction to that of Zechariah on hearing the news of John the Baptist's impending birth. The two scenes come so close together that it's hard not to think that a comparison is called for, but while the scenes are close in proximity in Luke's narrative, they are also worlds apart when it comes to Zechariah and Mary's relative reactions. If we had to wager a guess, we would expect Zechariah's reaction to be one of faith, especially taking into consideration his role as a priest at the Temple. Indeed, it is in the holiest of spaces at the Temple where Zechariah receives the news that his wife, Elizabeth, will give birth to John the Baptist. And yet, we see that his response is one of disbelief, a far cry from the faith we would expect from a priest in service to God.
Cut to Nazareth, where a very different figure receives very similar news. While the messenger is the same, in this instance the recipient of the news is a teenage girl rather than a Temple priest, and an unmarried teenage girl to boot. So imagine our surprise when on hearing the news from Gabriel, including how exactly everything would happen, Mary responds with one of the simplest and yet most faithful statements ever spoken: "Behold, I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." Despite the fact that the news would cause Mary a lot more difficulty than it would cause Zechariah, we see her much more willing to embrace her role in God's plan. I have no doubt that she had to be thinking of the nine months that she would spend literally sharing her body with another living being. Perhaps of greater concern would be the social repercussions when she, a teenage girl yet to be married, turned up pregnant.
I think all of these things crossed Mary's mind, even as she uttered the words that cast her as a key player in the greatest drama in history. It teaches us several things of great importance. The first is that faith can be found in the most unexpected of places, even when it is found wanting in the very place we go expecting to find it. Secondly, motherhood in and of itself is an act of faith. At a time when women, specifically mothers, are under increasing pressure to have careers of their own, I think we can learn something about the value of intentionally entering into motherhood from Mary. It is true that God isn't in need of any more women to give birth to the Messiah, but that doesn't diminish the potential of each child to one day make a lasting impact on the community around them. Mary raised Jesus with the expectation that He would play an indispensable role in God's plan. While our children might not grow up to redeem humankind, that shouldn't preclude us from expecting that each one of them will play an important role in spreading the good news of what Mary's child accomplished in His death, burial, and resurrection. If we raise them properly, it will be a message carried not only on their lips but also in their hearts, born out in their actions for the world to see. Finally, we learn from the example of Mary that our role in God's plan will most assuredly cost us something. For Mary, it cost her the pain of childbirth, and the respect of her community. It is easy to forget that Mary was probably the recipient of judgmental stares and hushed whispering for quite some time after Jesus' birth. By saying yes to God, Mary was agreeing to endure all these things so that she would have the honor of giving birth to and nurturing the world's Savior. Do we, with the faith of Mary, say yes when God asks us to play a part in His divine plan? Do we, like Mary, willingly accept the cost of proclaiming the gospel, both in word and deed, to those around us? Can we with sincerity of heart say: ""Behold, I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."?
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