Mother’s Day

For mother’s day this year I wanted to take a quick break from Mark in order to celebrate mothers. The text in Mark wasn’t really going to line up with anything motherish, so Moses and I decided to preach on the same text and compare notes. We are using the birth of the prophet Samuel as our text. Samuel was the prophet in the Old Testament that took the kingship away from King Saul and gave it to King David. He was God’s man, a great prophet who did hard work for God. His birth is recorded in 1 Samuel chapter 1, so that will be our text for today.

There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests to the Lord. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. And because the Lord had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Elkanah her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple. In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord. And she made a vow, saying, “O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

As she kept praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.”

“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

Eil answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. Early the next morning they arose and worshipped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

Let’s pray.

Since we’re looking at First Samuel this morning, I want to take a second to tell you who Samuel was, and why there are a couple of books in the Bible with his name on them. Samuel was the prophet chosen by God to help the people of Israel transition from the time of Judges to the time of Kings. It would be Samuel’s job as God’s mouthpiece and instrument to choose first Saul, and then to replace Saul with David. Much of First and Second Samuel detail the rise of David; his life before he was king, and the events during his reign. But Samuel, the books, begin with the special birth of Samuel, when God hears and responds to the cry of a desperate woman.

Before we get into the text, I want to give you a little history on the importance of having children in that society. In an agrarian society having children is hugely important. Children help with chores, children help feed the animals, they help raise the younger children. Tractors and other mechanical devices have helped to reduce the number of children needed to run a farm in this country, but for farmers all over the world a large number of children help to run the farms. Children were a necessity not only for the work they could do, but also because they were the next generation of family. The girl could be married off, usually for a dowry, and the guys were the delight of the parent’s eyes. Children were a sign of the blessing of God.

The opposite was true as well. To be barren was a sign of God’s rejection. For someone like Hannah, it would have been to miss out on life. A woman without children could be divorced easily, because they weren’t providing their husband with the children he needed to work the land, the children he needed to carry on his name and legacy. There is some speculation that the woman at the well in John 4 was at the well in the middle of the day, when no one else would have been there because she was childless. It is possible she had been divorced many times because she couldn’t have children, and at the end, when someone feels that cursed, they can just give up. The woman at the well hadn’t given up enough, though, to be curious about Jesus and the living water He offered her, and Hannah hadn’t given up seeking God’s blessing for her life either. She kept coming to the Temple, kept coming to the Lord in prayer. As we think about mothers this morning, let’s take a look at this passage.

Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. And because the Lord had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Elkanah her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

Even though her husband loved her, it wasn’t enough. Her husband even loved Hannah more than his other wife. She probably knew this, and used Hannah’s lack of children as a way to make herself feel better. She may not have been loved as much as Hannah, but at least she had children. This is a hard situation for Hannah; to bear the burden of God’s anger, or at least inattentiveness, and get that rubbed in by her rival. Even the love of her husband cannot ease all the pain.

There is no explanation as to why God closed Hannah’s womb and she couldn’t have children. It just was. That is how it is with us much of the time. When we experience tragedy, there often won’t be an explanation. Sometimes tragedies just happen; a car swerves across the double yellow, a train derails, a sickness comes to someone who has taken good care of their body. There often won’t be an explanation, at least one we can deal with. Someone’s carelessness can cause us to lose someone important to us, and there is no explanation that really helps. Hannah is facing a similar situation. The most important thing she can give to her husband, the most important thing she could have done was have children, and she can’t. There is no explanation, no apology from God. I wonder if there are some of us that could use an explanation. I wish there was a way to get an explanation; but faith is what we do with the unknown. Faith is turning to God in the times of trouble, faith is what we are called to; to let those mysteries remain in God’s control and in His hands.

What we do in the absence of an explanation defines who we are. We can either turn to God, or turn away. It has been my experience that people either go one way or another, or the third option, which is that they constantly seek an explanation, jumping from faith experience to faith experience, seeking an explanation. Their faith is like quicksilver; ever on the move seeking a new way to understand the mystery of life. Real faith is something different, it is throwing ourselves into God’s arms, and come what may, we are His and He is ours and the explanation is not always necessary. That seems to be Hannah’s response to her tragedy.

As she kept praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard.

Hannah takes her faith in God, her pain at her circumstance and goes to the Lord. She prays. She prays for a son, like the mother she would be, the mother she was created to be. There are so many things that can make us bitter; circumstances can seem to rule our lives. Hannah’s circumstance was ruling her life, but part of maturing in Christ is to not let, as much as possible, the circumstances of our lives rule. I struggle with this; I think we all do. If life has relatively few problems, then we’re doing fine; if life is full of problems then we aren’t doing fine. But, unlike Hannah, we need to, and I include myself in this admonishment, make the choice to let Christ and His love rule in our lives rather than our circumstances. This is one of the hardest things, it is what the Apostle Paul demonstrated when he was in jail, awaiting his execution and writing letters of hope to the churches. It is very hard to not let circumstances determine how we are feeling, our anger toward God. But just because it is hard, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make the attempt. The choice is always to either trust God, or not, despite our circumstances. Jesus trusted God, despite His circumstances all the way through to the cross. Even Jesus cried out to God in anguish, but that didn’t stop Him from His obedience. So when we are in anguish, like Hannah, we are in good company.

But most of the time, we aren’t like Paul, we aren’t like Christ; we are like Hannah, pouring out of frustrations and anger to God. In fact, Hannah starts to bargain with God. Abraham did this too in the Old Testament, bargaining with God about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses bargained with God about the destruction of the Israelites after they had made the golden calf while Moses was getting the 10 commandments. I suspect from these interactions, God appreciates a good bargaining session. What it means is that there is relationship between us and Him, and we acknowledge He is in control. Given those factors, I think it is fine to bargain with God. Sometimes we get what we want, but God always gets what He wants. It is like a little child bargaining with a mother. There is the love relationship that is the foundation of the bargaining, there is the same sort of power with love that a mother has, that God has for us. A mother will get her way, and God will get His. God doesn’t bargain using threats; God wants to deal with us out of a position of deep love. When we remember that; when we think of a mother’s love, and know that God loves us even more than that, the problems we have come into a different light. We can take our complaints to someone who loves us, rather than someone who is mad at us, or enjoys our painful situations.

The bargain Hannah makes is essentially this: if God blesses her with a son, she will dedicate his life to God. Sometimes desperation moves us into the place where God can use us, where we are finally willing to submit ourselves to God’s will. Being desperate is not a fun thing, but it is a place where God can use us. When we have exhausted ourselves trying to live life on our own terms, and we finally come to God to see His plans for our lives, we often need to get to that point before we are willing to try God’s way. We should be seeking God’s way first, but we don’t. We try it our way several times before we get desperate enough. Hannah is desperate. She wants a son; she wants a child to love, she wants to be a mother. She is willing to be desperate, willing to finally submit herself to God in order to become a mom. Would that people in our society who hold motherhood in such high esteem.

Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.”

Eil answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

Thus came about the Lord’s will. Samuel would lead the people through a crucial time in their existence, the transition from judges ruling the people to a Godly king, David. It was all because of the faithful and desperate prayers of his mother, who loved him before he was born. Samuel is the result of a faithful mother praying, I hope our children can say that as well. We all need to be praying for the children of our church; praying for their development in Jesus, praying for the teachers here, praying for the mothers and fathers of each child here. These are our kids, they are your kids.

Being a mother is a special calling…it is full of joy and trying times. Being a mom is wanting to kill and hug your child, often at the same time. Being a mom means worrying about your child. Being a mom means living in grace and offering it to our kids. Being a mom means being in control of the family, at least that’s what mom tells me. In so many good ways being a mom reflects God to the family. But with all that, there certainly are opportunities for mom’s baser inclinations to shine through. Because, as it turns out, moms are human too.

I like to celebrate mother’s day for the same reasons I like to celebrate people in general; because people show in their lives the grace and gifts of God. Moms get many opportunities to show grace and their gifts, but the key is always Christ. The more moms reflect Christ to their kids and husbands, the better they are at being moms and more generally, people. It is true of all of us; whether we are moms or not, whether we are fathers or not, that the more we reflect Christ the more we are living as we are supposed to. I would ask you to celebrate mother’s day by thanking the moms for the ways they reflect Jesus to us, and I would desire for us all that we reflect Christ to the people and world around us in everything we do; His love, His grace, His peace and power, His forgiveness and passion for God’s ways.

Amen