I didn't preach today, so I'm posting a reflection I gave several years ago on Motherhood. Happy Mothers Day Mom, Jessica, Momma and to all Mothers!
“Woman, there is your
son.” “There is your mother.” (John 19: 25-27)
My first reaction to these words arose from the lawyer within me – in these simple words, Jesus is getting his affairs in order. But what affairs did Jesus have to get in order? He didn't have wealth or property, a home or livestock. He had none of the trappings of wealth of his time. He gave all of that up when he entered his ministry. He didn’t even have the clothes on his back anymore. The soldiers who would crucify him had just divided those up among themselves. Yet, we can’t say that Jesus had nothing because we learn in these simple words that there, standing below Him, was His mother – the mother who loved Him. For in humbling Himself to share in our humanity, Jesus received a very special human gift – a mother.
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| Photo by Jessica Jenney |
This poignant moment reveals to us in Jesus and Mary something that we ourselves can understand – a very deep, yet human emotion – the love between a mother and a child. For Jesus and Mary, this love developed over some 33 years of the blessings, the happiness, the fears and the sadness that they shared together. We share these very same experiences with our mothers and with our children. We aren't perfect, and our relationships aren't always ideal. Sometimes we may feel that we aren't loved, and sometimes we may feel that we don't love enough. But we still understand this special relationship between a mother and a child that's expressed so simply and meaningfully in these words. Whether we feel that we live up to it or not, we still understand it.
While Jesus, no doubt, brought great joy to Mary, He wasn't necessarily an easy child. Mary and Joseph fled their home to a foreign land to protect Him when they feared for His safety. He strayed from his parents at a very young age, causing them considerable heartache. Upon hearing that Mary had come to see Him after He had left home to begin His ministry, His response was to ask, “Who is my Mother?” At the Wedding at Cana, He initially rebuked His mother’s request to spare the bridegroom embarrassment when they ran out of wine. But even Jesus couldn't ignore His mother. He did as she asked, without her having to ask a second time. Despite these difficult moments, as He hang beaten, scourged, stripped naked, nailed to a cross, humiliated and scorned by the very people He came to save, there she stood, loving her son. How often have we upset our mothers only to find that our mothers were still there for us when we were at our worst?
A mother’s love is profound and simple at the same time. It expresses itself in the extraordinary challenges we face in our lives, but most deeply in ordinary day-to-day life experiences. The Bible tells us of the great and extraordinary events that Jesus and Mary shared together. But even though the Bible doesn't tell us, we know that Mary performed the chores of childcare every day for Jesus just because she was His mother. Did you ever consider that the Blessed Virgin Mary changed the Son of God’s diapers? Now that’s a chore that proves that God has a sense of humor. We also know that Mary and Jesus must have shared ordinary day-to-day experiences that were special to them, as mother and son, experiences that although small, contributed to that special love they shared as mother and child.
I am blessed to have witnessed and received this special love from several women in my life. I remember my Grandma Meyer letting my brother and me pick out any toy we wanted when we visited her during the summer, and the letter she wrote me two days before she died to thank me for a birthday card – I still have that letter. I remember hearing my Grandma Gallo shriek at the sight of worms just to make us laugh, and sitting with her on her gold couch under an itchy wool blanket drinking Tom Collins Mix (just the Mix for us, though I can’t vouch for what may have been in hers). I see the sacrifice that my wife Jessica continues to make having given up a career she worked hard to build in order to stay at home with our daughters, and I remember the time that she insisted on staying in the Emergency Room with our daughter Annie while she received stitches, even though Jessica grows faint at the sight of blood (she didn't faint). I’ve seen my mother-in-law’s tears over the son she lost almost 20 years ago, and the telephone conversations she has with Jessica almost every day, just because. I think of countless laughs with my Aunt Anne, my Aunt Carol, who treats me like her own son, and my Aunt Bette, who encouraged me to run for President and always told Jessica and me that we were among her favorite people. And, of course, I think of my mother - I remember my mother reading to me, and teaching me to make pork chops. I remember her volunteering in the Band Parents Association, even though that really wasn’t her thing. I remember her sitting in the audience with proud tears in her eyes at every graduation and awards ceremony. And I will never forget how she recently told me that I have never disappointed her. I know that’s not true. But it is testament to a mother’s love that she at least temporarily forgot my many shortcomings.
In the third of the seven last words, Jesus commends His mother to the care of the unnamed disciple whom He loves. Though the disciple is believed to be John, Jesus is really entrusting His mother to our care. For Jesus knew that we would understand the depth of the love He had for His mother, developed through the ordinary and extraordinary events of human life. And Jesus knew that we would understand the need to cherish this very special gift from God. I firmly believe that a mother’s love for her child is the closest earthly example we have to God’s love for us. Mary is the patroness of that love. For God so loved the world that He gave His only son – and so did Mary.
So in honor of Mary, in honor of our mothers, grandmothers, the mothers of our children, and all of the mothers who have touched our lives, let us pray together:
Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with you.
Blessed art thou among women, and
Blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners
Now, and at the hour of our death. Amen
