MODELS OF MOTHERHOOD

Sermon Notes, May 12, 2013

Rev. Gary Smith

 

Pastor Gary’s Mother’s Day sermon was titled “Models of Motherhood.”  In this day of child abuse, murder and abandonment, we sometimes wonder, Is motherhood doomed to extinction?  The Bible, however, gives us models of motherhood.

Hannah is one.  She was the wife of Elkanah, who favored her over his other wife, Peninnah, but she had no children.  In those days if a woman was unable to produce a male heir, it was seen as a curse.  She wanted a son. Peninnah ridiculed her, bringing animosity.  In 1 Samuel 1, Hannah was praying.  She made a vow to give her son to the Lord if He would give her a son. (v.9)  Eli, the priest, thought she was drunk as she was praying. (Just as people thought the disciples were drunk when the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost.)  Hannah’s prayer was simple: “Remember me.”  We see in verse 16 that she kept on praying.  When God answered her prayer, she called her son Samuel, from the Hebrew words shemah and elohin meaning heard of the Lord.

Ruth is another model.  She was loyal to her mother-in-law, Naomi.  Naomi, her husband and sons were Israelites who had moved to Moab during a famine.  While they were there, her two sons married Moabite women.  Then Naomi’s husband died, and so did her two sons.  There was nothing left for her in Moab, so Ruth told her two daughters-in-law to go back home to their fathers’ houses so they could go on with their lives.  Orpah did just that, but Ruth stayed with her mother-in-law, saying “Your God will be my God.” So they went back to Bethlehem, and they scrounged for a living, gleaning as the fields were harvested to obtain grain.  There was a custom in those days that if a man died before producing heirs, a “kinsman redeemer” was to act as husband to his widow on his behalf to provide heirs in his name.  Boaz did that, eventually marrying Ruth for himself, and one of their descendents was King David, an ancestor of Jesus.  This story is told in the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament.

Mary Magdalene is mentioned in Luke 8; we read that Jesus had cast out seven demons from her.  In gratitude, she supported Jesus and his followers; she was part of Jesus’ entourage.  She was present at the cross, at his burial, and she was the first one he spoke with after his resurrection.  She was not a mother, but she showed motherly love to Jesus.

At the end of the sermon, a modern-day mother, Samantha Marie Brown, came to the front with her husband, Kenny, to dedicate their baby girl, Aleah, to God.  They were surrounded by family, friends, and a church who pledged to help them raise her in the nurture and admonition of God.