Thoughts About Mothers

Photo by Zoe Schaeffer on Unsplash

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exod. 20:12, ESV). Ten percent of the Ten Commandments deals with children’s attitude toward parents. Family is society’s foundation, and disrespectful children make a dysfunctional family, which—if it’s the norm—makes a godly society impossible. Dishonoring parents inevitably translates into dishonoring our Father in heaven, which explains why God takes it so seriously. “‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen’” (Deut. 27:16). America appoints each second Sunday in May to honor mothers, and it is appropriate we should.

Adam “called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living” (Gen. 3:20). When first presented with her, Adam called her “Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:23). So, regarding her origin, she is called “Woman.” Regarding her role, she is named “Eve.” Tragically, this “mother of all living” is inextricably tied in Scripture to man’s fall. In fact, we know so little about her other than how she got here, and her involvement in sin’s premier on earth. None of us would want to be remembered chiefly for our worst mistake. But, Scripture does not shy away from the role she played in helping create the dire need we have to be saved from sin, and so we remember Eve as the first person deceived by Satan. We can hope she served the Lord for years afterward, though she lived them (like us) in need of a Savior who would eventually descend from her. Interesting, that after being expelled from the garden, on the occasion of the births of two of their first three sons, Scripture records God-honoring comments from Eve, without giving us anything Adam said (Gen. 4:1, 25). She is great-grandmother of us all. We don’t know how long she lived, when or where she died, or hardly any stories she could tell. Assuming she’s in glory, there, hopefully, we’ll be able to know her much better through eternity, where her association with sin will be forever a thing of the past. And if, as we hope, she is in heaven—can you imagine it? Aside from Adam, every single person she sees there will be one of her children! I imagine she’ll want to get to know all her offspring.

Down the stream of time, there’s Mrs. Noah. Let’s call her “mother of all living 2.0”. Before the Flood broke, she entered the ark with her husband, their three sons and three daughters-in-law (Gen. 7:7). Imagine being one of only eight people on the planet who survived. That is elite company (1 Pet. 3:20). If the ancient world were like today, she’d be pursued for a book deal, movie rights, speaking tour, podcast interviews, etc. What ratings she could draw with her firsthand experience of a disaster so deadly God himself promised never to do it again. Despite her significance to all people, we don’t even know her name. Not a single word she said is recorded. Yet, like Eve before her, Mrs. Noah is great-grandmother to all of us.

Beyond those two women, humanity’s family tree forks into all the branches that lead to everyone ever born (or who will be). Though people have largely failed in their duty, God’s design is that faith be perpetuated in each new generation. Instead of having to seek and find the Lord from scratch, children should grow up in homes saturated with Jesus and his truth (Eph. 6:4). Growing up to embrace the gospel should be a most natural thing. Instead, it is very much an exception, rather than the rule, given the world’s overwhelming godlessness. But, there are examples giving us glimmers of what’s possible. Timothy was, perhaps, Paul’s dearest co-worker. The apostle writes to him that “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well” (2 Tim. 1:5). When the Bible gives genealogy, it usually lists only fathers’ names. But, Timothy’s genealogy is irrelevant. His anonymous father was Greek, his mother was Jewish, and now none of that even mattered (Gal. 3:28-29). All that mattered was his connection to Christ, by way of the gospel, which made him a son of Abraham. And, what helped instill faith in Timothy was the faith he first saw in his mother, and his grandmother—both of whose names are given. If you had a mother, or a grandmother, who walked in the footsteps of Christ, and if it rubbed off on you, get on your knees and be grateful to God, who blessed you with a mother so honorable, for “a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” (Prov. 31:30).