Why I Didn't Preach On Mothers On Mother's Day

For the past forty three weeks I have been preaching through the gospel of Matthew. This past Sunday our journey brought us to Matthew 15:21-28.

Matthew 15:21-28 [21] And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. [22] And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” [23] But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” [24] He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” [25] But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” [26] And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” [27] She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” [28] Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

When I read this passage I had this fleeting thought, "This would make a great passage for a Mother's Day sermon. Here we find a great example of a godly mother." In a flash, that went through my mind followed by these thoughts:

1. Christ is the focal point of all Scripture. Every passage of scripture is like a spoke on a wheel with the hub being Christ.

2. While the mother mentioned is a key figure in the story, putting the emphasis on her is like putting the emphasis on the little boy who gave his lunch so that Jesus could feed the multitudes. The account is turned upside down and instead of Christ being the "hero" who gives grace, the "hero" becomes the secondary figure.

3. While the mother in this account does seem to provide a good model to follow, preaching the text in this way turns the account into "Law" and not "Gospel." The focus becomes "what must I do" versus "what has God done for me." Knowing that faith is a gift of God, even Jesus' response that commends her faith should be understood in a way that reminds us that the kind of faith that GOD GIVES has a certain quality and substance about it. Thus, the glory in the passage goes not to the woman but to the God who gives great faith that we may receive deliverance from our great enemy. Grace, grace, grace.

4. Honoring mothers is what scripture commands us to do. A quick glance at the Ten Commandments reveals that this is to be the normal part of our life. And to obey God in this matter is to also give worship to Him. Our daily lives are acts of worship to God. And there is nothing wrong with putting emphasis on mothers in a Christ-centered way if that is what the text leads us to say, but we shouldn't mangle the text to fit the social calendar.

5. Special services are often misleading. Every Sunday is special Sunday because Christ should be supremely exalted. And I think we do a disservice to our congregation when we make special days. People can sometimes think that some Sundays are more important than others when that is not the case. And then they'll show up on Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother's Day, Ground Hog Day, Super Bowl Sunday, Back To School Day. We ought to be getting our people hooked on Christ, not special Sundays. Now obviously there are moments in a worship service that may be less regular than others: like the installation of an elder, corporate church discipline, etc., but even these should be seen as a normal part of the church life and related to the gospel of the glory of Christ. The church is not Israel in that it is commanded to observe all sorts of memorial services, festivals, new moons and jubilees.

6. Jumping on the bandwagon with the rest of society really commercializes the church. The world will see no difference in what we do on Sundays if we're just doing the same thing they're doing. How about we show them what really matters and why we really gather on Sunday. Not only that but as I said early, we should be honoring our wives and mothers all the time. Yesterday I took my wife out to eat with our little girl, then we went to Home Depot to get some trees. Then we came home and worked in the yard. I told my wife, "You know, I'm sorry today wasn't extra spectacular. We just kinda did the norm." She said, "You guys treat me special all the time. That's what really matters." And she's right. To honor your mother or wife only on Mother's Day is actually a disgrace. The world makes a big commotion out of days like this. Shouldn't Christians be doing this all the time, thus separating themselves from the crowd in order to display the glory of God?

7. Lastly, I didn't preach on mothers for Mother's Day because I didn't want our women getting a false sense of flattery because the service was about them. I would rather have them built up in Christ...I would rather have them see the greatness of Christ...I would rather have them reminded of the gospel...than to create a fleeting sense of sentiment in order to make them feel special. John Piper has an illustration that says you don't go to the Grand Canyon to have others tell you how great you are...you go there to see how great the Grand Canyon is. And on Sunday I had an object that was greater than the Grand Canyon and helping our people to see the vastness, greatness, beauty, splendor, awesomeness, glory and immensity of this object would bring them more delight than had I tried to make much of mothers. That object was Christ.

I love my mother. I love my wife. I love my daughter, too. The Bible commends godly and faithful mothers throughout. But I do love my Savior more--although imperfectly. His saving grace is what makes our godly mothers so worthy of honor. So let's honor Him above all.