Jesus’ Mother and Brothers (Matthew 12:46-50)
46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
(Galatians 5:22-23)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
This will be a particularly short devotional thought this morning. Mother’s Day tends to be a day that stirs up a ton of emotion – some good, some ill – some guilt, some humility – it all depends on what kind of mother we have (had), and/or what kind of mother we are (could be). But time and again the thing that stands out from stories about mothers is one word:
Selfless.
This rings so true with what Jesus shares in Matthew 12 – that “whoever does the will of my Father in heave is my brother and sister and mother.” – This is the same Jesus who says, “Greater love has no one than this – that he lay down his life for his friends”
Selfless.
Laying down one’s life is intentionally setting aside personal desires and gians in order to better the lives of those around you. Mothers go a step further by investing this energy into the lives of the children they are surrounded by. Whether by birth or adoption (church family included!) – our mothers are amazing!
A few quick thoughts about being selfless. 1) Selfless mothers don’t draw attention to it – they don’t need credit for having set things aside, they just do it. 2) Selfless mothers often don’t realize how selfless they are! They don’t run around singing Disney inspired songs while doing work, but accomplish great things without ever drawing attention to it. 3) Selfless mothers inspire selfless children (and families) – the act of Selflessness will rub off into the lives of those around. Although – I suspect this happens primarily in the presence of the rest of the Fruits of the Spirit.
Selflessness is Love. The laying down of one’s life is a living act of constant selflessness. But that love is accompanied by joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Each of these increases in measure with practice. And the amount that is found/felt today will become that much more tomorrow. Don’t place an artificial “level” that you should be at – just accept that where you are today is where you are – and that tomorrow that will increase (it really will) with the simple act of making an attempt. We didn’t become unloving or unjoyful overnight – that also took practice – so becoming these things will take a daily reminder and maybe everyday for the rest of our lives! Great! It’s so much better than being miserable.
With that said – and if you have opportunity – now go! If possible, find your mother today – stay at home order or not – and return some of that selflessness she showed you (if possible!). And if not your mother by birth, then by all means – reach out to one of your mothers-by-church (whoever does the will of my Father) and let them know how much they are loved!
I’ll leave you with this story I found:
A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived two hundred miles away.
As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing.
He asked her what was wrong and she replied, “I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother.
But I only have seventy-five cents, and a rose costs two dollars.”
The man smiled and said, “Come on in with me. I’ll buy you a rose.”
He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother’s flowers.
As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home.
She said, “Yes, please! You can take me to my mother.”
She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.
The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order, picked up a bouquet and drove the two hundred miles to his mother’s house.
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