Another Mother’s Day celebration has come and gone. Mother’s Day can bring forth a cavalcade of emotions, from the mourning of mothers who passed on, mothers experiencing empty nest, those striving to raise children in this rather chaotic world, and new mothers sharing the joy of childbirth. The women who dream and long to become a mother along with those who suffered the loss of a child. The mothers who fall far short of the responsibilities of motherhood, and those forced to become mothers because of immorality of others, through rape and incest.
Many of us celebrated the mothers in our lives, with family get-togethers, but how much thought was given to the mother of Christ, and her suffering. In 1984 Mark Lowery wrote the lyrics to Mary Did You Know, a song that quickly reached the hearts of many. When asked what compelled him to pen the lyrics he said “I just tried to put into words the unfathomable. I started thinking of the questions I would have for her if I were to sit down & have coffee with Mary. You know, “What was it like raising God?” “What did you know?” “What didn’t you know?”
Although none of the questions in the lyrics were answered, it spurned us to contemplate Mary and her mindset as the mother of Christ. The lyrics questioned if Mary knew her child would one day walk on water. That one day he would save our sons and daughters. That this child of hers came to deliver mankind from the burden of sin which would, in the end, demand a blood sacrifice. The lyrics further question if she contemplated when she kissed her child, she kissed the face of God.
But, imagine if you will the anguish she suffered not as a young teen-age mother of Christ, but as a mother in her late forties, watching her son, as he is beaten and then flogged, his skin and flesh ripped from his back, and arms. The immense pain she felt as she watched him walking, carrying either the patibulum, (the cross-arm) or the full cross, dragging it’s immense weight through the streets of Jerusalem, The heaviness in her heart knowing he was innocent yet watching as he was mocked, spit upon, and stoned as he made his way to Golgotha.
Many religions might dismiss her role other than to acknowledge she gave birth to Christ, but little thought is given to her as a mother, watching as her child is tortured and then killed in what is believed to be the worst type of death imaginable.
Reflecting back on our childhood, some might remark on how difficult we made it for our mothers, and how we might have changed some of our choices, had we the knowledge we now possess. Perhaps thought and appreciation might be offered to all mothers we encounter.
Yes, Mother’s Day has come and passed, but we as humans possessing moral integrity and the love and compassion for the women who played a predominant role in our lives, need to keep these women in our thoughts daily, with thankfulness and committing to help them and tend to their needs as they did unselfishly for us throughout our lives.
SA Lawrence Author 