Proverbs 31:10-31

Proverbs 31:10-31

“Thanks, Mom! ”

May 11, 2008

Mother’s Day/Pentecost

Today is one of those “mixed bag” days that ministers just love! It’s 2 important days in 1 – Mother’s Day – and Pentecost.

Ministers – myself included – find it difficult to decide which emphasis for this day is the most important – Pentecost – with the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and the beginning of what we know as the Christian Church – or Mother’s Day – the day we honor and give special recognition to our mothers. At one point in my ministry – when I was younger and not as wise – I might have opted for the emphasis of Pentecost – believing that the “birth of the Church” that we celebrate on Pentecost to be more important than Mother’s Day.

Well – I am older now – and while I am just a tad wiser I am wise enough to know that there will be Pentecost next year – and I can emphasize it then – and – while there will also be Mother’s Day next year – they won’t fall on the same Sunday. This year, I need to emphasize Mother’s Day. The fact that Mom is here today has nothing to do with that decision. If you believe that, I have some great ocean front property you might be interested in!

But – maybe as I emphasize Mother’s Day I can slip a little of the Spirit in there somewhere.

Our passage for today comes from Proverbs 31: 10-31. Listen to the world of God.

Read Scripture

I heard about a woman – who obviously was of keen mind and understanding heart – who gazed at Whistler’s portrait of his mother.

“It is a remarkable painting of a very lovely lady,” murmured the viewer, “but there is too much peace and calm to be the likeness of a real mother.”

To be sure, serenity and tranquility are desirable qualities of motherhood, yet some may feel that there is also too much work – too much discord – and too much of the character of a referee for there to be the quality of peaceful sweetness offered in the famous painting known we know as “Whistler’s Mother.”

Sure – some mothers have it easy. Just ask Mom – she’ll tell you what an easy job it was to raise her children – that is until I came along! Then things got difficult!

Pearl S. Buck’s novel The Good Earth gives a dramatic portrayal of the birth pangs of China emerging from feudalism into a more modern nation. The key figure in the book is a lowly village woman — O-lan. O-lan is a plain, unassuming kitchen slave, who becomes the wife of Wang Lung, a peasant farmer. In faithfulness, patience, and absolute devotion, she follows the rising star of her husband. During the changing experiences of poverty and wealth, starvation and prosperity, O-lan is the anchor of the home. She is the skillful one who keeps everything together. She is the stabilizing factor in family.

Perhaps nowhere do we get a more vivid and realistic picture of the true status of womanhood than in the Old Testament. The woman in Proverbs represents the ideal. The idealized picture we have in our text, Proverbs 31:10-31, may not represent the average wife and mother in Israel at the time, but it does capture the imagination and remind us of what all a mother can do – and many times needs to do – to keep her family together.

Perhaps you can recognize your own mother in the picture given to us of this woman. I know that I can mine. The woman Proverbs describes here is a remarkable person – and presents an ideal of motherhood that we have never outgrown.

In studying this passage this week I have come to realize that it is written in the form of an acrostic poem — in which each of the twenty-two verses begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in alphabetical order. I think the writer may be using this device to indicate that that he is dealing exhaustively with the subject in an orderly fashion — in other words, he thinks he is trying to say everything he can think of to say about the virtues of a worthy woman.

Let us take a moment to recall some of her characteristics.

First, she is a faithful and supportive wife to her husband:

” Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value. ” (vs. 11)

That’s where the tribute begins, and obviously that is her first priority. But, she is also a career woman also — and the mother of children. However her career and her children do not come before the obligations of her marriage – but they are actually a part of it. Her career – and her raising of her children – actually complement her relationship to her husband. These are some of the things that cause her husband to have confidence in her – and are some of the reasons her husband lacks nothing of value.

I believe that this woman Proverbs describes for us here has learned that a stable and loving marriage is basic to success and happiness in those other areas. She knows that marriage fulfills her as a person and that the first essential of motherhood is to create for the children the environment of a loyal and loving home.

She is faithful and supportive to her husband.

Yet — even so, the marriage does not claim all of her time.

She is too gifted for that.

She is certainly a picture of what we might call – in many ways – a modern woman.

Secondly — she is a businesswoman. She has an interest in real estate and is also a dress designer and manufacturer.

“She considers a field and buys it…. She makes linen garments and sells them.”

There is nothing old-fashioned about this mother in ancient Israel! She is a person in her own right. Her life has significance quite apart from her relationship to her husband and children. And her family respects her for it.

She is faithful and supportive to her husband.

She is a business woman.

Thirdly — she is a teacher. Much of the teaching activity in that time took place in the home. The mother supervised the upbringing of the children. In this ideal little classroom:

She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue. (vs. 26)

She is faithful and supportive to her husband.

She is a business woman.

She is a teacher

Fourth — she has interests that take her into the community — where her influence is felt for good. She functions as a member of society with a keen sense of responsibility. She is sensitive, outgoing, and generous, not a selfish woman with no thought of people less fortunate than her own family.

She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy (vs. 20)

One needs only to place this poem against the background of many other sayings about women in the collection of Proverbs to discover that such a woman shines forth with exceptional splendor. The writer paints a picture of the woman as the leading character in her family drama, the focus of the family, the strength of her household. Her husband is a strong person too—a public figure and a leader in society.

It is a full-time job for this woman to keep up with all of her activities as she holds the home together. She manages all of the practical affairs with industry and efficiency.

For all of these reasons, therefore, she is a person greatly admired and beloved by all. Her husband praises her. The writer of Proverbs declares her to be of surpassing excellence, more precious than jewels. Her children,

“rise up and call her blessed.”

Indeed, the picture the author of Proverbs gives us here comes very close to a woman in toady’s world – who is able to balance family, job, and so many other responsibilities. It is this woman who can make a distinctive contribution to society, while at the same time giving her family the love and support that they need.

But if Proverbs does not rise completely to the standard of our modern era in which women are playing a major role in families and in the world of business – and yes – of politics — we should remember that in the interval between the writing of Proverbs and our own time, the world has been profoundly affected by the teaching of Jesus.

We might ask ourselves where Jesus got his respect for women, which is evident throughout the gospel narratives. Of course, it came from God – for God holds all people equal – but I think it also came from His own earthly family, and his own mother!

Those of you who have been to the Holy Land may have visited the Grotto of the Annunciation in Nazareth, where, tradition says, Mary received the news that she was to be Christ’s mother. When you see the caves that the people of those times called home, you sense that the real miracle is that God chose this humble village maiden for such an awesome responsibility, and that she accepted and fulfilled the exalted role of mother of our Savior with perfect obedience and love. When you visit these surroundings, you realize that the Holy Family lived in the most crude and perilous conditions. Mary brought Jesus up in the tiny village of Nazareth (then not more than three hundred to five hundred folk), guided him through childhood, and loved him, even when she could feel him growing away from her.

It must have hurt Mary when Jesus left home and the family business, but her love followed him in his new career. She appears from time to time in the Gospels during Jesus’ active ministry. She was there at the end, even when his friends deserted him, suffering as only a mother can suffer in the tragedy of her child.

Mary gives the Christian community a good example of motherhood.

There is no substitute for a loving, caring, Christian mother.

There is no substitute for a mother loving, Christian mother. She can be an angel of God to her children and husband, and the instrument of God’s purpose and guidance and love and support.

The truth is that nobody can take a mother’s place in the life of her family. She bears children in her body, ushers them into the world, feeds them at her breast, makes a home for them, rears them, gives them goals, teaches them ideals, fires their ambitions, loves them, helps them, suffers with them, and stands by them. They have every reason to rise up and call her blessed. She is still the focal point of the family drama.

But – how does a mother do it all?

That’s where to Spirit of God comes in. (I said I would slip the Spirit in here somewhere!) When a person gives their life to following God, they also give their life to living in the ways of God – and when a person gives their life to living in God’s ways, they are strengthened by God to living in His ways. They begin to show what Paul calls “the fruit of the Spirit” – those things Paul lists in Galations 5:22-23:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control

These are qualities of a Christian mother.

Loving – joyous – patient – kind – good – faithful – gentle

Sure – there are other qualities at times – and these Spirit – filled qualities are not the only ones you’ll find in a Christian mother – for even the most spiritual mother has times when she will feel exasperated – overwhelmed – overworked – and will show qualities that are not quite from the Spirit of God! But – when you look at all they do and all that’s expected – who can blame them? God understands – and God forgives. We need to understand and forgive also.

So, dear mothers – on this your designated day — we salute you and thank you.

But – we are not trying to repay your love — but let me suggest that we try to pass it on – share some of the burden – and take on some of the qualities this wife and mother in Proverbs exemplifies for us.

You see — if in Christ there is no male or female, then, spiritually speaking, motherhood is not confined to biological mothers, or even to women alone. The ideal of fulfilling oneself in service to others is a fine ideal for everyone.

Mothers feed hungry children. Why shouldn’t we all?

Mothers conserve human life. Mothers humanize a forbidding world. Why should we all not do that?

A loving, caring, Christian mother is indeed an example for us all.

A mother’s love is indeed a gift from God.

Thanks Mom.

Amen.