Luke 2:41-52 “Mary, Jesus’ Mom”

In another church in another part of the galaxy on Mother’s Day the preacher droned on and on for more than the usual sermon time. The men had prepared a brunch for the ladies, and so the eggs and waffles and pancakes got cold as he continued to preach for a whole hour longer than normal. Finally with a loud “amen” he stopped his diatribe. Afterwards the head deacon came up to the pastor to ask him why it was that he had chosen that day, of all days, to preach such a long message. The preacher replied, “For Mom’s Day, I gave you all my ‘maxi-Mom’ sermon!” “Maxi-MOM!”

Of course for our sermon series on women in the Bible, we must on Mother’s Day look at the quintessential mother of our faith. After all, where would Jesus be without His mother? Where would we be? For one thing, Christmas would be a lot different! It would just be Santa Claus, reindeer, and decorated trees–none of which has to do with Jesus or Mary for that matter.

Now, you may have noticed in your own study of the Bible, that as we read the different gospels, that Mother Mary seems to take on a greater significance in Matthew and Luke then in Mark and John. You may be wondering why that is? You may have also noted that Mother Mary seems much more important to our Catholic and Orthodox brothers and sisters of the faith than our congregational and evangelical ones.

Yes, Catholics venerate (they do not ‘worship’ but rather show great honor to) Mother Mary. In my opinion, this comes down to whom you call upon to intercede for you in prayer. When our Catholic brothers and sisters “pray to Mary,” they are asking Mary to lift their prayers to God. The reason for this is in fact biblical. In the old testament and throughout European history, you would note that there was a king and a queen (the first wife of the king) but that the Queen Mother would have a lot of power as well–maybe more than the actual queen. So, if you wanted to bring a point of discussion to the king, you might think to whisper something into the queen mother’s ear!

Protestants, the likes of us, have the understanding that we have a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior, so that we do not need intercession to reach God. Of course, every Catholic or Orthodox would also agree to this very point: Yes, one can just pray to God!

The way I see it, when other Christians raise the names of saints of old in their prayers, they are remembering the stories of the early ministry of Jesus Christ and the church and relating them back to their own stories of life. So, when they read, for instance, a letter from Paul to Timothy, they know the full backstory of the text. They know who Timothy was. They know who Paul was. They know their story. The stories are alive to them.

Likewise, the story of Mother Mary is so much more alive in other Christian traditions! Yes, I agree and support the notion of praying directly to God, but I see great value in knowing the lives of the Saints as they relate to the Story of Jesus–the full Gospel. Too many times in conversations with protestants I find myself filling in the backstory of one of the Disciples for them; thereafter the whole story becomes more alive. That is why we like watching the series “The Chosen.” Just imagine if you already had that whole back story!

So, to be sure, Matthew and Luke share the story of the pregnancy of Mother Mary because they are the later Gospels. John and Mark are earlier. The first generation of Christians in the early church knew Mother Mary! She actually worked with Timothy in Ephesus to start the church there. If you wanted to hear Mary’s story, you could just go talk to Mary. In fact, that is what the Gospel writer Luke did. That is how we have the whole birth narrative today.

The story of the birth of Jesus, and hence Mary’s role, became super important to the early church when a few theological thinkers began to question whether Jesus was ever actually fully human. Some people started saying that he was just “spirit” and never fully human. I do not want to get into that whole argument, which is part of the Arian movement within the early church. But, the main issue was “if Jesus was not human, then he did not die on the Cross. If he did not die, then he was not resurrected.” So, the fact that Mary gave birth to Jesus is really critical to the Resurrection.

Why did Jesus not just “pop in” like Mary Poppins? Being born is the most important thing about living a real life. That is right: mothers make life. They make real people. Jesus was human and died on the Cross because of Mary! That was not just about giving birth, but about raising him too. That is why we read that part of Luke where we see Mary scolding Jesus!

I want you to notice in the text that Mary calls Jesus “child.” How old is Jesus? It says in our text that he is 12 years old. By the standards of the time, Jesus is all but a man. At age 13, a boy is considered a man. The parents do not call him “young man.” They call him “child.” I believe that this is meant to remind Jesus of his obligation to his parents and that he really is still young. He can still be in trouble with Mom!

Was Mary a good mom to Jesus? After all, she left him behind and did not notice he was missing for a full day! I have to point out that the family of Jesus was traveling in a “group of travelers.” That is how our bible translates the word “synodia” from the Greek. Some bibles actually say “company.” This is a synod, a communion of pilgrims, that make this journey together on a regular basis. They had done this the Passover before, and before that one. You have done this year after year without anybody getting lost. The people are looking out for each other. That is just like the kids going off with other adults to be in Sunday School with us here today. That is not a problem.

I remember an incident that happened here almost twenty years ago when a couple of youths disappeared after church. It turned out that they had found some money just lying around in a plate on the altar and decided to run down to JoJo’s Shave Ice. Yup. Of course you are going to have words with the youth! That is part of good parenting! Mothers are going to scold their children.

Another instance that portrays the relationship between Jesus and Mary so wonderfully is found in John 2, “The Wedding at Cana.” At the wedding there is not enough wine, so Mary asks Jesus to do a little miracle and turn water into wine. At first Jesus protests that it is not his time to do miracles yet, but his mother convinces Him that there is no time like the present to have a nice miracle from God. This is in fact the first miracle of Jesus that we have in the Bible. If you are Muslim, and reading the Koran, then you will know that Jesus did do some miracles before this in his growing up years. So, this is really just for us Bible readers as the first miracle.

This is what mother’s do. They expect miracles from their children! The first miracle is that a mother’s child is never supposed to grow old. I think if my mother were still alive today, her seeing her son this old would send her to her grave! And, no matter what, mothers are never disappointed with their children. Or, I probably disappointed my Mom a lot, but she never let on that she was disappointed in me.

So, Mother Mary saw her first son convicted to crucifixion for the crime of blasphemy. She was there at the Cross with him the whole time. John 19:25-26 names Mary the Mother of Jesus at the foot of the Cross, watching Jesus suffer and die. I cannot imagine what that must have been like for her. But, I do know that she was there loving on through his last breath. That is what mother’s do.

How many times have I been called over to KVMH neonatal because a child is stillborn?! Every time, the mother is holding the lifeless child and not wanting to let go. Every time I think of Mary at the Cross of Jesus and how much she sacrificed in order that we might all know eternal life.

What happened to Mother Mary after the Cross and Resurrection. In the Gospel of John, Chapter 19, we read that John is called to care for her. Then, in the Book of Acts we see in Chapter 1 that she is there worshiping with the other disciples of Jesus. She just fits in with the other disciples. Then, as I mentioned before, church tradition tells us that she continued to do ministry with Timothy in Ephesus. It was in fact Saint John who delivered her there to minister with Timothy and built her a house. Her house in Ephesus is now a pilgrimage site, by the way. One of the ladies in our afternoon Bible Study at Puakea has actually visited there1

It is also Saint John that is eventually visited by an angel and given a revelation that we call today the Book of Revelation–the last book of the Bible. In Revelation 12: 1, 5-6 we read that Mary is crowned as Queen of Angels. She wears a crown that has twelve stars. When you get to heaven, you will know her! Jesus will be on the throne of course, as we read in Revelation 20, but Mary will be there too. The mother is not going to leave her Son, her Savior! Not when there is so much work to do with the angels always in heaven!

Thank you Mother Mary for bearing Jesus into the world, giving him life and being there throughout his life on this planet and into the life everlasting.

Amen.