It is Mother's Day and the wind left open notes from the Bible to a page this morning where I had written “I am a Jealous God.. Honour thy Father and Mother.” I was reading also “Cursed be he that sets light by his Father or Mother.” Deut 27:16. Why and how do we honour?
The reverse of honouring, is those who dishonour, or those who despise. It is a Biblical principle that a nation honour its Fathers and Mothers. For Israel honouring brought blessing and a failure to honour them brought a curse. A national Mothers' Day is only one day in a year, but it brings a national blessing.
Mothers: the first blessing with promise
The National curse of those who despise their parents is second in a set of curses upon Israel, where the first and most important national curse of Israel was that of those who worship images secretly. This curse was put in place as it warned the nation at its beginning that Yahweh Elohim (He who will be the Mighty Ones) of Israel was watching at all times, all things, even those things done in secret.
To honour is the opposite of despising, of not esteeming, of thinking a person is vile, a thing of no value. Honour is to prize, to fix a high value upon, to highly esteem and to revere. Honour is a kind of worship. Graven and molten images were incredibly valuable, not only in the material of gold or silver but in the workmanship. Our Creator most hates that we would highly esteem valuable things we might make ourselves. However a Mother is to be prized, to be revered. More than that, the 2nd National curse showed the whole nation of Israel that it was to be tested, as to how they felt about their Father and Mother, in their hearts. The fourth commandment was:
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. (Exodus 20:12)
The Apostle Paul draws this out,
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou may live long on the earth. (Ephesians 6:1-3)
The curse and blessing is not about loving a Mother, it is about placing a high value a Mother and it is fearing and obeying a Mother. When Children obey their Mother, no less than the Creator looks down and blesses them to give them a good and long life. We would want both a good and a long life.
Mother as Teacher
Beyond obedience, the proverbs contain a key section of the advice of a mother as teacher to the young.
The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. (Proverbs 31:1)
Solomon's song mentions many times his mother in honour and says she was a teacher.
I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: (Song 8:2)
Jeremiah speaks of the formative teaching of his mother,
Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! (Jeremiah 15:10)
The Apostle Paul speaks of the role of mothers over two generations in teaching Timothy faith,
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.(2 Tim 1:5)
We may compare the honour of Mothers to the honour we are to give to the old.
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD. (Lev 19:32)
The Father and Mother have the same guiding role as the elderly: that of teaching the next generation. We value the life experience of the aged, and our parents because we stand in awe, fear, reverence and highly esteem God. Love is natural, to learn to fear, reverence and honour is not. The old are weak and easily despised. Many may speak of the 'vulnerable and old' and that we should love the old, but do they also say we must honour and listen to them? Many young today rarely meet an old person, as they are hidden away in 'nursing homes'. How many would sit at the feet to learn, and rise up to honour them? There is a special role for the older mothers, with experience.
The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. (Titus 2:3-5)
A proud generation forgets learning from Mothers
A generation may love those that have cared for them, but by their selfish actions do they, in effect, 'curse' their parents?
There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men. (Proverbs 30:11-14)
The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. (Proverbs 30:17)
Many seek only honour, respect of esteem of their peers.
How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? (John 5:44)
The matter of respect and honour is being eroded by attitudes of a society that may give lip service to love its mothers, but that in practice doesn't honour its mothers or teachers.
Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. (Romans 13:7)
Through Mothers Approaching the Holy
The connection of honour to fearing a Father and Mother, to the fear of God, goes further, as it is connected to holiness.
Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy. Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. (Lev 19:2-3)
If we honour our mothers seeking the right ways of the God of Israel we will be blessed, and we are, in this blessing, honoured by God.
Mother's Day always falls on a Sunday. On that day we remember the death and resurrection of our Lord. Our Lord was subject to his parents though he had to do his Heavenly Father's will (Luke 2:49). One of the last things he did before dying was to arrange for the disciple he most loved to stand in his place to look after his mother.
When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. (John 19:26-27)
Our Lord's mother was also likely his teacher in youth, as Solomon's mother was. Simeon ignored Joseph and spoke to directly to Mary the advice that was to be passed to Christ.
Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. (Luke 2:34-35)
Mary was a remarkable woman of faith. However as our Lord grew to be a young man of twelve hearing the Word from his Father, he became also his mother's teacher.
He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them (his parents): but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. (Luke 2:51)
That our Lord's actions in relationship to his mother were not all about an emotional love, but honour, is shown by our Lord who also said.
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26)
and
If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. (John 12:26)
Fundamentally the whole of creation is set up to be a chain of learnt faith found in experience, passed on and taught from the older to the younger through respect and honour, reverence and fear of our Creator, from one generation to the next. A Mother in Israel was a teacher of righteousness,
One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. (Psalm 145:4-5)
