The Story of the Gospel on Mother’s Day

Sunday is mother’s day. An appropriate day to celebrate the women in our life who’ve invested so much of themselves in molding us and our children into who we are today. Paul commends Timothy’s faith which mirrors the faith of his mother and grandmother (1 Timothy 1:5). We mustn’t underestimate the importance of mothers.

God accomplishes his purpose through ordinary means and I can say with confidence my faith would’ve been shipwrecked without the providence of God working through the love, admonition, and encouragement of my mom.

But we shouldn’t neglect Paul’s admonition: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15).

Mother’s day is a day to rejoice but it’s also a day to mourn for many. The story of the gospel swallows both the rejoicing and the mourning. Within that story, within our story we learn that we were created in the image of God--sons and daughters. The best of this world is a faint glimmer of the creativity bestowed upon us by God. The worst a grim reminder things are not the way they should be. The world is broken.

But the story doesn’t end there. I can’t sum up the next chapter in the story better than Sally Lloyd-Jones has in her deep and rich Jesus Storybook Bible:

“Papa! Father!” Jesus cried. And he fell to the ground. “Is there any other way to get your children back? To heal their hearts? To get rid of the poison?”

But Jesus knew--there was no other way. All the poison of sin was going to have to go into his own heart.

God was going to pour into Jesus’ heart all the sadness and brokenness in people’s hearts. He was going to pour into Jesus’ body all the sickness in people’s bodies. God was going to have to blame his son for everything that had gone wrong. It would crush Jesus.

But there was something else, something even more horrible. . . . He was going to lose his Father--and that, Jesus knew, would break his heart in two. (pp. 294-296)

Two major points about the redemption found in Jesus Christ. God knows the world is not the way it should be and he has started its full restoration--he’s begun to make all things new in Jesus.

He poured out on Jesus Christ the full weight of sin, brokenness, and death onto Jesus. He poured out the weight of your grief over your lost child. He poured out the weight of your abortion. He poured out the emptiness of your first mother’s day without her. He poured out the longings of the childless. He poured it all--your guilt, shame, sadness, brokenness, sins on one who knew no sin. He poured it all out because he loves you.

And by doing this. By covering Jesus with the blackness of this fallen world. He turned his back on his Son for you. God separated himself from his beloved Son on your behalf. Jesus knows what it means to separated from a parent. The Father knows what it is to lose a child. As our priest, Jesus knows our grief and sorrow. He knows it because we are now in Christ. And Christ is in us.

So for all the women who cannot rejoice this mother’s day--who mourn instead. Know I am mourning with you. Know that God mourns with you. We are his and he is ours. As the Church we are united to him and so we mourn together. But I urge you not to mourn without hope. Mourn knowing God will make all the sad things come untrue. He will mend hearts and make all creation new. Hope in God.