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Mother’s Day Homily
May 10, 2020, today is Mother’s Day. This is the day that the Lord has made. Come, let us rejoice together and be glad in it.
Of all the important days that we celebrate right through the year, Mother’s Day stands out as a day by itself. It is said that, next to Christmas, Mother’s Day leads the rest of other important occasions when it comes to the sell and circulation of cards. By way of paying my humble tribute to our dear mothers, I wish to share a brief thought from the word of God, based on Matthew 20: 20-28. In this passage we find a story about a mother who goes to Jesus and requests for a favor for two of her sons who are already his disciples. Her request is that each of her two sons be given a prominent seat, one at his right and another at his left, in the soon-to-be-established kingdom. By asking Jesus for the moon, don’t you think she has bitten off more than she can chew? Depending on the perspective from which one looks at this story, we can say she is either selfish or she is selfless. I want to look at this story from the perspective of a mother and see her as a typical example of what a loving mother would do in similar situation for her children.
Before we proceed any further, in order to understand the magnitude of her intention and action, let me remind you that this story should be interpreted in the context of Jesus preparing the disciples for his final journey to Jerusalem. Listen carefully. This is from Matthew 20: 17-19. As Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him. “When we get to Jerusalem,” he said, “the son of man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, whipped and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” This is the situation during which the mother of Zebedee’s children goes to Jesus. Listed here are the basic characteristics of a loving mother.
Matthew introduces this woman in question as “the mother of Zebedee’s children.” Whichever culture you might claim to belong to, don’t you think this is a very strange way to introduce a smart and independent woman? I would go a step further and say that an introduction such as this is not fair. If someone asks you who Indira Gandhi is, you don’t say she is the wife of Feroze Gandhi or the mother of Feroze Gandhi’s children. You’ll definitely say, “Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India.” As a matter of fact, she doesn’t need her husband or her children as necessary adjectives to describe her to the world who she is and what she is capable of.
In our society, when a woman is married to a man, many changes take place in her life. From the first day of her marriage, a woman loses half of her name. Gradually, in the end, the remaining half of her name is overlooked and she is conveniently identified as Mrs. So-and-so or simply as the wife of Mr. So-and-so and sometimes as the mother of so-and-so. This is one of the reasons why we don’t know the names of many of our mothers even in our own small villages. When we can easily recite the names of almost all the fathers with comfortable ease, why don’t we care to know our mothers and their names? We should put to an end the culture of submerging the identity of our mothers in the ocean of patriarchal indulgence.
The Bible does not give us enough detail about Zebedee and so we cannot say for sure what type of person he is. A man of few words, obviously he is not the spokesperson of the family. For instance, he says nothing and does nothing when two of his children decide to leave him alone in the boat and follow Jesus. Again today it appears that Zebedee is not anywhere in the picture. In his place it is his wife who is ahead and the sons are behind her. We don’t know what has happened to the father and where he is, but the two brothers are fortunate to have a mother who is capable of seeking an audience with Jesus on their behalf.
This nameless mother who knows that Jesus is headed for Jerusalem has a clear sense of foresight. The itinerary of Jesus to Jerusalem this time is preplanned and his disciples are well informed about it. Everyone in the inner circle of the group knows that this particular visit of Jesus is going to be a different one altogether. If something needs to be done for her children, she knows this is the time. It is now or never. She takes advantage of her husband’s apparent silence and laidback kind of attitude and takes the lead in this situation. She seems to know that it’s about time she “Strike the iron while it is hot.” In the ancient world, where she comes from, what she has done is revolutionary and unheard-of. This only goes to explain what a loving mother can do for her children in any given circumstance.
Many of the wars in the world are the result of unsuccessful negotiation between two or more parties. Often these negotiators are men. Someone has aptly said, “If all the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more war.” How true! The most successful negotiators are women. This is an inborn quality universally acknowledged by everyone. The reason why children go to the fathers through their mothers for their request goes to explain this truth. Knowing that men are not easily approachable, even Satan could not go anywhere near the man in the garden so he had to reroute his approach through the woman.
It is hard to refuse the humble request of a mother on her knees. Jesus himself could not turn down the request of his mother in a wedding at Cana when the supply had run out. If there is one human trait that separates men and women, it is in this area of negotiation that men and women are poles apart.
The confident mother who is leading her sons on the way a while ago is now down on her knees, something which many men find it hard to do. Every child’s memory of his mother is different, but one thing that all the children of different families have in common is the consistent and perpetual prayer of their mothers. It is the fervent prayer of a mother that even a wayward child remembers long after his mother is no more.
When Jesus asks her what her request is, in no uncertain term, she says, “In your kingdom, will you let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one at your right and the other at your left?” Her one line request was clear and poignant ̶ an exclusive license for her sons to sit next to Jesus. Such was her supplication that it leaves no more room for the other disciples to place their request to Jesus. She did this at the cost of losing her own reputation and her self-respect, knowing full well what the immediate repercussion from the other disciples would be like.
Call it a backdoor appointment or a daylight robbery; come what may, she is all set to receive the bullet for her children. Making an all out effort on behalf of her children, in order to secure a respectable position in the ministry of Jesus, she exposes herself to the firing range of the other disciples. As expected, her interference in the official matter of the group is strongly resented by the other ten disciples. The misunderstanding arising out of her outrageous horse-trading becomes so serious that Jesus had to ultimately intervene and diffuse the tension.
There is no limit to what a mother can do for her children. Foregoing the comfort and pleasure of life, forfeiting even her own happiness, how often our mothers walk the extra mile to ensure that we get the best of what life has to offer. Our mothers are the finest example of what a living sacrifice is all about. Pope Paul VI once said, “Every mother is like Moses. She does not enter the Promised Land. She prepares a world she will not see.”
Some among us are privileged to have mothers who are still with us, others are not. In any case, we all can do something to show how much we appreciate and love our mothers. If you are fortunate to have your mother who is still alive; tell her how much you love her. Because you mean the world to her, these words will make her day. If she is not there anymore, go find someone and tell how much your mother means to you.
This mother’s day, if we cannot do many things to make our mothers happy, we all can do one thing. Let us ask around a few mothers and commit their names to our memory. There is no other better day than today for us to taste the sweetness of their names on our lips, as we talk to God on their behalf.
Happy Mother’s Day! God bless all the mothers!
Rev. Rümatho Nyusou