When I began trying to preach the Gospel, there was no one stronger with words of encouragement than my mother. Encouragement gives motivation to try again and again to achieve. It provides motivation even now fifty years removed.
God planned this role. To Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). Eve is so named because she is the mother of all living human beings (Genesis 3:20). Later, Abraham would seek a wife for Isaac (Genesis 28:53) during the patriarchal age by sending a servant to first see honor shown to Rebekah’s mother.
Even later in the Mosaic age, the wise man Solomon included the deep respect and love that King Lemuel held for his mother (Proverbs 31:10ff). The Law listed the mother first and the father next (Leviticus 19:3) in the son showing great respect for them and ‘whosoever strikes his mother or father’ (an act of resentment and anger Exodus 21:15) would be stoned to death. Later in this text (verse 19), the cursing of mother is prohibited. Whether words or deeds are used, the sincere respect and due appreciation for mom is held high in Scripture. The son is taught to heed the ‘law of one’s mother’ (Proverbs 1:8; 6:20). The value of motherhood is shown by obeying her.
Jesus taught the Pharisees of His day that by a process called “Corban” (Mark 7:10-12), they had neglected their responsibilities to aging parents due to a legality that had been invented to keep their money from being used for the parents.
Paul wrote of the honor to be held for parents (Ephesians 6:1) in this Christian age. Such honor is held as the “first commandment with promise.” By looking at the 10 Commandments of Exodus 20, we see the top four commands deal with man’s relationship to God. Then, the first of the next six deals with man’s relationship with man by pointing to the first human beings we know as we grow up here on earth: father and mother. Upon the request of Jesus’ earthly mother, He performed His first miracle in Cana (John 2). Their relationship was hallowed by service.
One of the saddest thoughts for me deals with my mother’s service and how she loved the work of the Lord going on where I preached for over thirty-two years; yet, when she came to live in my town, she suffered strokes, which incapacitated her, and she could not serve. What a good worker she would have been. However, others actually served my worthy mom who was declining in health daily. She was laid to rest March 30, 2002, yet she still influences me. Coach Bear Bryant of the University of Alabama cut a phone commercial in his later years, which caused a tremendous increase in phone calls with these words, “Sure wish I could call my mother.” Wonder why?
