Mother’s Wisdom

Transcribed from the sermon preached May 10, 2009

 The Reverend Max Lynn, Pastor

Scripture Readings: Wisdom 7:7-30, John 19:23-30

Today we are looking at the Mother of things, and the Mother of Jesus. For Wisdom, the Mother of all, we are borrowing scripture from our Catholic church. Martin Luther left this book out, believing the Jewish canon a better choice. This chapter of the Wisdom of Solomon shows us personified Wisdom, Sophia in Greek, Mother of all good things, fashioner of all things, the breath of the power of God. In our Protestant canon, we find personified wisdom in Job, Psalms, Proverbs and in the gospels of John and Matthew.

          At times Sophia is depicted as a superior creature; but at other times she transcends the created order and creates and saves. There are differing interpretations of Sophia. Some scholars have argued that she is the cosmic order personified, the meaning implanted in creation. Others have called her God’s discerning intelligence. Still others have called Wisdom a spirit mediator between the created order and the transcendent God.

          Elizabeth Johnson, in She Who Is, argues that for Jewish monotheism, there is no other but the one God, and, as seen in this Wisdom literature, Sophia is the acting God: “These [descriptions] are ways of asserting the one, transcendent God’s nearness to the world in such a way that divine transcendence is not compromised. Consequently, to say that Sophia is the fashioner of all things, that she delivered Israel from a nation of oppressors, or that her gifts are justice and life is to speak of the transcendent God’s relation to the world, of God’s nearness, activity and summons. Accordingly, the Wisdom of God in Jewish thought is simply God. Sophia’s activity is the activity of God.

          Jesus then, in the New Testament, becomes this Wisdom embodied, incarnate. Paul says in the Corinthians, “the Gospel is a stumbling block for the Jews, folly to the Greeks, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the Wisdom of God.”

          Here in the Wisdom of Solomon, chapter 7:22-23 we find 21 attributes or three groups of the perfect number seven. {22} For wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.
For in her there is a spirit that is intelligent, holy,
Unique, manifold, subtle,
mobile, clear, unpolluted,
distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,
irresistible,
[23] beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,
all-powerful, overseeing all,
and penetrating through all spirits
that are intelligent and pure and most subtle.

On this Mother’s Day, may we honor and dedicate our lives to the Mother of all Creation, the fashioner of all things, the one who gives birth to wisdom.

          Our other reading for the day is this sweet image of Mary, Jesus and the beloved disciple. In John’s Gospel, Jesus is clearly in charge. He knows from the beginning who he is and where he is headed. In fact, the first time Mary enters the story is at the wedding at Cana. Mary spots that the wedding is running out of wine and drops a hint to her son that he should do something about it. “Woman,” he says, “What concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His hour may not have come but Jesus does what his mother suggests and provides more wine for the wedding party.

          Now, here on the cross, his hour has come. This time it is the wine of his blood that is running out, and once again Mary is there, being the mother she is. Thankfully, she is not alone. Her sister is there, and so is Mary Magdalene and Mary the wife of Clopas. The beloved disciple is there with her; Barbara Brown Taylor points out, this is a “man who is never named in John’s Gospel, although he appears at least five times. Jesus’ love for him is the only thing that matters, apparently. That is his only identity: that Jesus loves him. We don’t even know why.”

          Taylor, the great storyteller goes on: “Although they are near enough to hear him, he does not seem to see them at first. There is a lot going on. The soldiers are dividing up his clothes into four piles: robe, prayer shawl, belt, sandals. Passers-by are straining to make out the sign over his head while the chief priests are arguing that Pilate should change what it says.”

          “But finally Jesus does see them, and when he does, he speaks. First he looks at this mother. ‘Woman,’ he says – the same thing he called her before at the wedding –‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he looks at the disciple standing beside her and says to him, ‘Here is your mother.’ Since his hands are not free, he has to do a lot of work with his eyes, indicating which woman and which man. When he is through, the adoption is final. From that hour, John says, the beloved disciple took Jesus’ mother into his own home.”

          Taylor goes on: “When the beloved disciple takes Mary home, and when the other disciples come crawling out from under their rock, they will find themselves in the presence of someone whose contact with the Holy Spirit has been far more intimate than theirs. She has seen things they have only heard about. She has felt things inside of her that they cannot even imagine. Perhaps that is why she stayed put by her son while they fled. Perhaps that is what allowed her to look into the ruined face that no one but her (and her new son) could bear to see.”

          One gets the sense that John tells this story for the benefit of his readers: Jesus does not feel forsaken in John’s Gospel, but what about those he apparently leaves behind? There are lonely disciples and lonely mothers who have lost Jesus, but have also lost others close to them.

          I think specifically today of those mothers who grieve the loss of their husband or children. Francis Ann lost her daughter to breast cancer yesterday. Joseph is not mentioned at all in John’s Gospel. Perhaps he died even before Jesus started his ministry. So Mary is to be without a husband and a son. Haven’t we seen divine Wisdom, the Spirit of God in those women, mothers and wives who have hung in there during tough times after all the apparent faithful have fled. And can’t some of us sympathize with Jesus, with the desire that even though we are stuck, unable to do much, we would love for our mother to be cared for.

          I think of Feliciana’s sister Dinora who lives in Georgia. When her father was diagnosed with cancer, her mother Soila had come to the city to take care of her husband. There to be the helper, Soila was struck by a car. With her mother and father critically injured and ill, Dinora was stuck here in the U.S., hoping and praying others would take care for her mother. We pray that the God whose wisdom and love knows no borders will care for Dinora and Felciana who grieve the loss of their mother, but also their father who tries to recover without his life partner, the mother of his children. We pray for all those children, who like Jesus, hope God will find a way to care for our mothers.

          And since we are in church under the influence of divine wisdom and grace, perhaps we should take the time to pray and ask God’s blessing on those mothers we have been separated from… For many men, I mean the mother of their children, or their ex-wives or girl friends. We may think it is almost all her fault, but we want the wisdom and light of God for them, for the mother of our children. Even as we may be jealous, wisdom tells us that being a single mother is difficult, and a good partner is not only good for her but for our children too. We know that anger and resentment, the shame of broken relationship is only temporary, while the love of God is eternal. Wisdom takes us beyond our immediate emotions to pray for eternal goodness.

          Goodness and Wisdom for our enemies is goodness and Wisdom for us. To the degree our enemy is renewed by the Wisdom of God, they will no longer be our enemies. And so we pray today for the mother of our enemies, that their children would order their lives by the wisdom of God, that they would know the peace and love of Sophia.

          And we pray for ourselves, mothers and children of mothers. Forgive us God for when we have not been wise, when we have not been there when we wish or think we should have. Mother God, Christ on the cross, we pray, love us even as we have abandoned you and our children. Even as we have been unable to bear children, give us the love and joy of caring for others as if we were their mother. Regardless of who we are with, may we be comforted and strengthened by your presence. Renew our faith and life, that we would reach out to one another in need, creating family where there is none, mending relationship where there is brokenness.

          But thank you Sophia, for all the good times, for your Spirit and wisdom in our mothers, in those who have loved us like mothers. We give you thanks for chicken soup when we were sick, and forced naps when we were tired and grumpy, back scratches and hugs, singing and parties. We thank you for all the joy and love we know because of our mothers, because of you, Mother of all life.