The Origin of Mother’s Day
Let’s talk about the history of Mother’s Day. This holiday has not been with us since the beginning of time (contrary to popular opinion!). However, the concept of honoring mothers can be traced all the way back to Greco-Roman culture where festivals were held to honor the “mother goddesses.” The early Christians took this pagan celebration (as they did with others), and created an early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday,” which became part of the church calendar. In other words, Christians began Mother’s Day!
In the United States, Julia Ward Howe, an early abolitionist during the Civil War, advocated for a “Mother’s Peace Day” in 1873. She also famously wrote, “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” However, it was Ann Reeves Jarvis, the founder of the “Mother’s Day Work Clubs,” who was responsible for creating the national Mother’s Day in 1908. It became an official U.S. Holiday in 1914 (Just in time for WW1!). She hated the commercialization of Mother’s Day would be appalled by all the flowers, cards and chocolates generated by the holiday! (NOTE: Men—that is not an out or excuse to forget the card!)
The point is this: throughout history, people have recognized the significance, the impact, and the indispensability of mothers. The reason we purchase and give Mother’s Day cards is to show your mom how important she is in your life. It is record of her good work, love and sacrifice—because she loves you! Most moms would do anything for their kids.
How To Be Courageously Faithful
In the Gospel of Luke, women are given prominent roles in the narrative. There are so many women of faith in Luke who teach us how to live for and trust God. I will just list few: (1) Mary and Elizabeth in Luke 1-2. (2) Anna in Luke 2. (3) Mary/Martha (4) Numerous widows. (5) The women at the tomb! In the ancient world, all of these women would have been discounted and over looked—but Jesus raises them up to change the world. Mother’s day is a day to celebrate women who are changing the world in their ordinary spheres of influence! Do you want to be a world changer today? How do we do it?
First, the women of Luke’s Gospel teach us how to be courageously faithful. I must say, that is an invaluable character trait in 21st Century America. Luke’s Gospel begins with women—their contributions explode off the page in chapters 1-2. Mary (Jesus’ mother), Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s Mother), and the wise prophetess Anna are all featured in the first two chapters and call us to courage.
I want to show you how this changed the world. Historian Rodney Stark wrote a famous book entitled: The Rise of Christianity. He wrote this before he was a Christian. Chapter 6 is all about how women were a catalyst for the Gospel spreading in the ancient world. It laid the foundation for today. Why? (1) In a pagan culture that devalued women and considered them property—Christianity reversed that! (2) In a pagan culture rampant with abortion and infanticide—the Christians kept and raised their children. Mothers led the charge. (3) When women converted to Christianity—they were often very passionate about their faith. So passionate and articulate, that their husbands also converted.
Never forsake your influence and calling. You can help Christianity Rise even today! Every generation can show us how to be courageously faithful.
How to Give Sacrificially
I want to jump ahead to a section we have not covered yet: Luke 21. We won’t have time to cover this passage when we get there, so I’ll give it appropriate attention today. This is story of the Widow’s Mite, which contrasts the section right before in chapter 20. There, Jesus is confronting the “scribes” attention seeking motivations. The scribes, the seeming religious people, are a big show, Jesus says. He contrasts this with a poor women who shows us how to give. It begins this way:
Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. (Luke 21:1-2, ESV)
Widows in the ancient world were very poor. You could identify them by their dress, so it was obvious her stature. She gives two small coins, perhaps equivalent to some today putting in two pennies. The reason for the specific gift makes no difference for this story. Instead, Jesus makes this observation:
And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. (Luke 21:3, ESV)
This would have been a shocking statement. How could these two small coins possibly have been worth more than what the rich people put in? It would be like some tithing $20,000/month compared to someone giving $2.00. Less zeros behind the two. How could she possibly have out in more than them? Jesus explains:
For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 21:4, ESV)
This is an important piece to the story. “She gave all she had to live on.” Those two pennies may not have been much but it was all she had. The NT does this often with giving—it encourages people to give extravagantly and not settle for a small portion of their income. Even though the rich gave a lot more, it was a small percentage of their wealth.
To further drive the point home, because this widow gave all she had, she now has nothing left and has a “beggar’s” status. What does this story teach us? Why does Jesus use this as an illustration?
If you look back at v. 3, Jesus uses the phrase, “Truly, I tell you …” I want you to circle that. Every time Jesus uses that in Luke, it introduces an example of discipleship. In Luke 9:27, before Jesus tells us to take up our cross, he uses this phrase. In Luke 12:44, Jesus uses these words to introduce a call to be ready for the master’s return. Here, Jesus is saying that this widow, this poor widow whom no one respects or pays attention to—her sacrificial giving shows that she knows what it means to be my disciple.
The widow shows us how to give sacrificially.
How to Focus on Future Glory
Let’s skip ahead again to Luke 24. The Gospel writer once again platforms women in the most unlikely way: at the tomb of Jesus. So notice this: the Gospel opens with women hearing about Jesus’s birth … and it closes with them witnessing his resurrection and re-birth. So very cool! Why? I think Jesus knew that the women would be amazing evangelists. And Luke includes this part of the story because he knew it would make it more believable. It would make no sense to include women in the resurrection narrative because women were not considered creditable sources. It would make no sense to uses them—which is why the resurrection had to be true!
So here is the scene. We have some unexpected witnesses—the women. They are coming to tend to Jesus body, a burial custom. But as they approach they see the stone is rolled away … and the body is gone. And then … just like back in Luke 1 with Mary … an angel appears! Like Mary in Luke 1, these women are also scared. Like Gabriel—these angels deliver a life altering, world-changing message … to the women.
“He is not here … but has risen!”
Death has been defeated—the kingdom is here! And then they recall all they hints that Luke has dropped in the course of this narrative—the Son of Man must be crucified … and rise. Look at Luke 24:8-9.
And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. (Luke 24:1-9, ESV)
What do you notice? Just like Mary “treasured” the words of the angel in Luke 1, here the women “remembered” the words of the angels. At Jesus birth … and his resurrection … the good news of the Gospel, the message for the ages that has changed our lives as we know it … it comes to the women first. Why? Look at what they did next? It says they “returned … and told everyone.” Maybe God knew that these women would be the best storytellers.
Why is this significant? They carried the message about God’s faithfulness in redemption to their generation and beyond. What did that require? Moms who show us how to be courageously faithful. Moms who model sacrificial giving. And moms who know that the story ends with future glory.
Those moms are world changers.
