Over-Bearing, Never-Ending Moms

1 Corinthians 13

 

 

          It’s been an official U.S. holiday since 1911. Last year, over twenty one billion dollars were spent on it. Today, the second Sunday in May, is Mother’s Day. A lot of flowers and candy has been bought. A lot of meals will be prepared in restaurants to honor Mom. Mother’s day is a great commercial success. It’s good for our economy. But whether it’s a commercial success or not, it’s a good idea. Mothers are well---Mothers! It’s hard to explain, but easy to understand the importance to us of our Mothers.

          I searched around for appropriate Scripture for this day. There is, of course, the famous Proverbs 31 passage that describes a hard-working, always unselfish woman.  And there is the Fourth Commandment, which mandates children to honor their parents, that their own days on the earth might be long in number. But what passage for Mother’s Day? What passage for the social institution whose job description defies a short definition? How do we thank, even talk about, mothers? The subject is at once too big, too wide, too deep, too important, for just some textbook definition.  How do you thank a mother?  I think I know what my mom might say if she were here. I think she might say: “Act like my son.”

          Some things don’t need interpretation. Such is the case with 1 Corinthians 13.  It may be the prettiest piece of prose in the Bible, certainly the best that Paul wrote. It is sublime, so good that no one would want to change a word. Its meaning, however, still requires context to mine that which Paul was trying to say.

          Paul was writing to the church in Corinth. It was a group of proud people who were pretty sure they had cornered the market on spirituality. Chapter twelve talks about spiritual gifts, what they are, where they come from; how all gifts come from the Spirit. Then Paul talks about the church as the body of Christ: one Spirit from whom the body emanates; one multi-membered body of Christ projecting in all directions. None is capable of function without the others. Such is the Church. It emanates from the Spirit and functions as the body of Christ.

          The Corinthians were proud. They had folks who were speaking in tongues. They had wisdom. They had knowledge. They were high Christians. When it came to spirituality, they had it going on. But when Paul looked at the set of facts of which the Corinthians were boasting, he held a strikingly opposing view. For the Corinthians, the presence of spirituality was found in “speaking in tongues” and having wisdom and knowledge. Paul saw this as nothing more than pride. Paul looked beyond the trappings of spirituality to the behavior of the Corinthians and found them sadly wanting. All through this letter, Paul has been talking to the church about its behavior. In chapter 8, there is the reference to a brother being destroyed by the so-called “knowledge” of other members. In chapter 1, their so-called “wisdom” is leading to quarrels and rivalry. Paul says that such faith is based on pride and works rather than a faith based on ethics and the gospel itself.

          Paul says it this way. If I do this or that or the other, but don’t do it for the glory of God, then I don’t have love. This is an empty. works-based spirituality. If you speak with eloquence, if you know everything, if you give your money, if you teach, sacrifice, whatever you do, it’s all just a bunch of noise if it doesn’t come from your love of Jesus. Theologian Gordon Fee says that “to ‘have love’ means to be toward others the way God in Christ has been toward us.”

          What is love? Paul gives us the answer by telling us what it is and what it isn’t. Love is patient and kind. It doesn’t envy or boast; it isn’t proud; it doesn’t dishonor others. Love isn’t self-seeking or easily angered, nor does it keep score or delight in evil. Love rejoices in the truth. Love protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres. When does love do these things? Always. Fifteen verbs that give us the essence of Christian behavior.  Condense them into a mixture and call it love, but never characterize it as just a feeling, for love does. Love is a way to behave, a way to live.

          It has often been said that in this paragraph full of what love is, that Paul best captures what the life of Jesus is. It is a life full of that behavior. Notice we are saying behavior, not virtues. Yes, this kind of love is virtuous, but to leave it at that is to put it on a shelf like a trophy. That is not love. Love does. Love acts. Love lives in and defines the real spirituality of us.

          If only we had someone who modeled that kind of love for us today. Yes, this passage may well capture the life and ministry of Jesus, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a living, breathing, tangible example of that kind of sacrificial, selfless love in our midst. If only we had that…

          We do, of course. Most of us do not have to hesitate to know of such a person. It’s Mom. Mom is patient and kind. Mom doesn’t envy or boast, except about us. Mom doesn’t get mad easily. Mom doesn’t act selfish or smart. Mom protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres. And Mom is always – always there.  That’s a God thing, don’t you think? Maybe that’s the biggest reason God made Moms. Sometimes they can act an awful lot like Jesus.

          They’re everywhere, these Moms. They are over-bearing, in the sense that they just keep on bearing whatever it takes to keep us safe.  They are never-ending in what they do for us. The day for them starts long before they wake us up, and doesn’t end for them when they tuck us in bed. Their prayer life usually starts and ends with us. They give, bear, believe and hope because they start and end with love.   

          There is nothing normal about what a mother does for her children, except that it is repeated daily around the world by almost all mothers.  The fact that there are a few exceptions takes nothing away from the overwhelming number of mothers who make personal sacrifice and perseverance look like normal. But it isn’t. Don’t be fooled by the numbers. What mothers do as a matter of course is nothing short of supernatural.

          Like so many other biblical passages, the target of the writer, in this case Paul, is usually somewhat narrow. But when God takes aim, sometimes over history, that target becomes wide. Paul talked then to the church at Corinth. We read now of a church that needs to be rooted in the love and care of the Spirit. And today, we celebrate the mothers of our lives who have brought the love of Christ to bear in our lives. What can we give them in return? We can act like the sons and daughters they raised us to be.