Someone once said, “Sooner or later, we all quote our mothers!” True, isn’t it! My mom used to say, “If you fall out of that tree and break your legs, don’t come running to me!” HA! Amen, mom! And moms are slick, sliding things in that make sense but may not be necessarily true…, like this one. “Just tell me the truth, I promise I won’t get mad.” Your mom ever try that one on you? I have a few wooden spoon scars from that trap! HA! Funny stuff that highlights an indiscriminate and undeniable fact that the importance and influence of your mom or you as a mom cannot be overstated.

The Bible has several examples of moms. Examples of wisdom, of regret, of loss and of triumph. The Creator of the idea and mentality and the role and the attributes of mom are put on display by the very character of God throughout the Word. His love. His patience. His unconditional care for us. That God so loved the world that He gave His only son…, just like the mom who loved her son so much, that rather that seeing him destroyed, she gave him into the arms of her enemy… You’ll find that story in 1 Kings 3.

Where did that mom get a heart like that? That she so loved so much that she gave her only son even into the hands of her enemy so that there would be no more loss of life? So that he would be ok… It’s like God Himself was consulted and He said to her, “Well, you know what I would do…” Or perhaps better, perhaps He said, “Well, you know what I will do….”

There is one mother in the Bible that I’d like to focus in on briefly today. One that is almost entirely avoided on our side of the Body of Christ and one that is almost entirely worshipped on another side of the Body of Christ…, both sides do err. Though her persona has been inappropriately and unbiblically elevated and exalted, the Mary, the mother of Jesus was a remarkable woman and mom.

Mary was not the divine, serene, angelic or mystical being so often portrayed in medieval artwork. Instead, Mary was in many ways like everyone else. She was a sinner who needed a Savior and anticipated His arrival. Yet she was a very special lady, greatly blessed by God, who endured extraordinary testing and operated in arguably peak form. Just fathom for a moment, this was the mother of Jesus Christ. She was the only person that was at both the birth and the death of Jesus. Being the mother of Jesus Christ was unique, but her being a mother, that attribute was not unique. And her mothering, the kind of woman she was, truly remarkable, good to encourage, inspire and challenge all of us, and especially moms.

·    I think for me the most intriguing attribute of this mom was that she must have been an incredible manager. Incredibly fair in the face of inequality! Raising Jesus in a house full of other children must’ve been intensely difficult to manage in order not to damage the other children! She must have done a fabulous job though because John 7:5 tells us that not even His brothers believed He was the Christ! How did she do it!? She must have been fabulously fair even in the face of great unfairness!

·    Let’s talk about grit. This mom fielded an impossible personal and family scenario! She dealt unimaginably well with God interrupting her story to bring about His! Mary is first introduced in the Bible as “A virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph” (Luke 1:26-27). Mary’s betrothal to Joseph was more than a modern engagement. According to William Barclay, betrothal “was absolutely binding. It lasted for one year. During that year, the couple were known as husband and wife, although they had not the rights of husband and wife. It could not be terminated in any other way than by divorce.”

·    For Mary to be pregnant, while betrothed, and not be her husband’s child would devastate her life… She faced ridicule, social ostracism and scorn from others. One can imagine the gossip and sideways glances she must have endured. And guys, there’s no doubt that her relationship with Joseph struggled and could not have been ever the same even after he accepted what she and Gabriel told him. At one point we read in Matthew 1:18-19 that Joseph had determined to privately divorce her. This lady stayed the course…, awe-inspiring grit, courage, faith and ultimately motherly, loving care for her Son…

·    Let’s talk more about her courage. The courage to face what she was dealing with. Having this Child not of Joseph and yet while betrothed, she could face criminal charges. She had zero assurances, no signs, no promises, no guarantees that Joseph wouldn’t turn on her, and yet she shares the truth with him. She risked shame, abandonment, abuse and possibly even death and yet she faces those risks with courage.

·    Let’s go back to the news to reveal another attribute. In Luke 1:30-33 we read, “Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

·    Her response to the news revealed her humility. How many of you after hearing that you are highly favored by God and selected by God…, how many of you would have said, “I knew it! Good choice God!” HA! Not Mary. Her response was in essence, “Are you sure!?” AND, check the scriptures, all the follow-up communication from God about all this didn’t come to Mary directly but came to Mary, THROUGH Joseph, and yet we never see in the Bible her upset or put out by that at all.

·    Let’s touch on wisdom. She had built positive, uplifting, supportive relationships that proved to be ride or die in the moment of testing. Her relative Elizabeth is described in Luke 1:6 as “Righteous before God, walking all the commandments.” Elizabeth brought encouragement and support when Mary needed it most, why? Because Mary was wise in selecting Godly people to yoke with.

·    She wasn’t independent. She wasn’t self-sufficient. She probably wouldn’t characterize herself as a strong woman, and she didn’t need or desire any of that. She was far wiser than that. Luke 1:46, “Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior!” Mary had the wisdom to know that she was a person of need and dependance…, something the enemy would like to keep us all numb to so that we isolate and stay in a form of arrested development.

·    Just one more. Mary was, like many moms, entirely remarkable. Savy, managerial, tenacious, strong and steady in the face of adversity of difficulty. Courageous. Humble. Wise. Dependent. How? Where’d it all come from? Final attribute, perhaps the secret to her success. She was a person of personal first but also public worship. Scholar conclude that when she was pregnant with Jesus that she was a very young lady. Probably not even mid-teens, and yet she knew the Word and leaned on the Word in her time of need…, to the point that her greatest time of need became her time of greatest rejoicing.

·    Mary’s song or Mary’s prayer, Luke 1:46-55 captures and quotes Old Testament references no less than 15 distinct times! And somehow Luke records it word-for-word years later? Definitely out loud, definitely shared, definitely public. Mary greeted Gabriel calling herself the maidservant of the Lord and it was her that made herself that servant! The secret to her success.

·    Just like you moms. Just like this mom. So many things to honor you for today and everyday…, and…, one last encouragement as we close…, I’m thankful for all the moms I have that aren’t my mom. You don’t have to be someone’s biological mom to care for them as your child and you don’t have to be someone’s biological child to care for them as your parent. Jesus looked upon Mary and said of John, “Woman, behold your son.” And then turning to John, He added, “Behold your mother.”

·    Savy, managerial, tenacious, strong and steady in the face of adversity of difficulty. Courageous. Humble. Wise. Dependent. A person of great personal faith and worship. Moms highlighted today, but all the things I’d like to even take hold of even for myself!