This year, as it happens, the church holiday of Pentecost and our cultural holiday of Mothers Day, happen to fall on the same day. There is no deep spiritual significance to this, but it is suggestive of a few things that we ought to consider. Mothers Day is one day a year on which we honor the sacrifices and love of our mothers. Pentecost is the anniversary of the Day on which the Church was given her wedding garment, established as the bride of Christ, and honored as the mother of all who believe.
The Bible teaches us that the structure of the family is important, and that it is to be used by us to establish certain patterns of behavior that are important in our relationship to Jesus Christ and to His Church. Honor your father and mother is the first commandment with a promise, that our lives might go well with us in the earth, and it is a command that is urged upon us within the Church. In the book of Galatians, Paul tells us that the Church is our mother, and of course, how you think of and treat your human mother will be a powerful indicator of what kind of church member you will be. Your treatment of your mother reveals a lot. It is a powerful statement of how you believe mothers are to be treated. If you are record stinker in the home, the chances are good that you will be the same in the Church. If you were a record stinker growing up, years ago, and you have never gone back to put that right, that same attitude will carry over to the Church. For some of you, what better gift could your long-suffering mother receive for Mothers Day than a sincere, heart-felt apology? You were, after all, that way for years.
But to return the celebration of Pentecost, we want to place ourselves rightly in the analogies of Scripture. We sometimes limit our understanding by adopting one scriptural picture to the exclusion of all others. For example, we think of God the Father as our Father in heaven, which is right and proper. That is what we are taught to do. But Isaiah also calls the Son the one who will be called everlasting Father, and He is also the last Adam—a father of a new race.
And, as the father of a new race, He of course has taken a bride, which is the Christian Church. We collectively are the bride of Christ. None of us individually are the bride of Christ, and we ought not to think of ourselves that way. Individually, the picture ought to be that of children. Christ is our Father, the Church our Mother, and we, individually, are the children.
As you honor your mothers today, as you ought to do, remember also to honor your Mother, the one whom Jesus determined to love forever. If He, the eternal Son of God, has honored her so highly, what should our attitude be? These things are all interrelated. As we honor the Church, we will grow in our understanding of how we are to honor our human mothers. As we honor our human mothers rightly, we will grow in our understanding of what our relationship to the Church should be.