The first chapter of Luke records a song/prayer from the mouth of a young girl, a virgin from Nazareth which was a small, insignificant town in Galilee that didn't even merit one mention in the Old Testament. Most scholars believe the girl to be in her early teens. No doubt, she was from the lower rungs of the social ladder, and she had virtually no say in the affairs of her life. Yet, God chooses this insignificant girl in the middle of nowhere to be the mother of the Messiah. Before the chapter is over, she breaks out into song, praising the God who lifts up the humble (including her) and brings down the proud. This is a song of social subversion, a God who makes justice in an unjust world.
Just three chapters later, in Luke 4, Jesus is preaching his first public sermon. No surprise that Nazareth is the setting. Jesus reads a passage from Isaiah 61, a text which speaks of God's renewal movement in Jerusalem and beyond. The poor will be lifted up, prisoners will be released, the blind will see, and the oppressed will be liberated. Jesus states, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing," and he goes on to state that the scripture is not just fulfilled for Israel, but also Israel's enemies. Again, this kind of message turned the prevailing social structures and popular theologies on their heads. In his first address, Jesus announces a Kingdom which turns the world as we know it on its head.
While Jesus could have gotten this idea from his study of the Hebrew Bible, I believe it might have originated from somewhere else. Perhaps Jesus' first inclinations of God were transmuted before he was even conscious of it. I imagine Mary, nursing Jesus in her rocking chair in Nazareth, and singing a simple song about an amazing God who turns the world upside down. I imagine that song getting in Jesus' blood as much as Mary's milk did. And by the time Jesus is an adult, Mary's song continues to sound through him. When I read Jesus' sermon in Nazareth, I hear echoes of Mary's song from the same place.
I've come to believe that most of our views of God are more caught than taught. They have more to do with intuition than formal training. They arise more from observing attitudes and behaviors than reading books or taking classes. If this is the case, then I am hard pressed to think of a more important role in the world than that of mothers, who shape children in their most malleable stages.
And so, on this mother's day eve, I would like to thank my mother, who in her words and actions, taught me to love the Scriptures. She didn't just read for information, but transformation. She didn't try to make them relevant to her life- she made her life relevant to them. From my earliest days, I remember her praying from places deep within her soul to places deep with God's being. Truly, deep called to deep. Always, ALWAYS, she sought to serve rather than be served. In times of conflict, she was the peacemaker, oftentimes absorbing pain and hurt that wasn't hers to begin with. In all this, she loved my brother and me unconditionally. While I have spent the last 12 years of my life studying religious matters, I can see that no class has shaped me more than observing my own mother.
I would also like to thank my wife, who is a wonderful mother to two incredible boys. In many ways, she is their safe place. When they are afraid, they want their mother. When they are hurt, they want their mother. When they are happy and want to share it, they want their mother. She knows them better than any other. She teaches them to see God in the little things, and she teaches them that loving God and others is the big thing. She teaches them to consider others before themselves. In her life, she exhibits joy and treasures relationships. Even in their worst moments, Paxton and Truett never question the love of their mother.
And so, I would like to praise all the mothers out there, the normal women in the middle of nowhere performing the most mundane chores. I would like to thank those whose songs of faith will echo in the lives of their children for years to come. More specifically, I would like to honor my mother, Gina, and my wife, Rebecca, whose songs I can't help but sing.
Happy Mother's Day!!!
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