Mothers and Their Influence

Today is the day that we honor our mothers. Our mothers are a very special group of people, and one that can have a great influence for good within the home, within society, and also within the church. It has once been remarked, “the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.”  A mother’s influence is not just seen in a child’s character and general course in life, but it also stays with that child, many times, for the rest of his or her life. Henry Beecher wrote, “What the mother sings to the cradle goes all the way down to the coffin” (Stearsman, Katrina. “Influence Exerted By Women.” Do You Understand the Biblical View of Man? Florida School of Preaching lectureship book, 2006. 493). This is seen in dramatic fashion when we read in our Bibles about the influence Rebekah had in the lives of both Jacob and Esau.

Rebekah’s influence as a mother is evident in reviewing her son Jacob’s behavior. She and Isaac bore twin sons, Esau and Jacob (Gen. 25:24-26). Isaac favored Esau, while Rebekah favored Jacob (Gen. 25:28). Esau was born first, and therefore entitle to the birthright and blessing from his father. Jacob took advantage of Esau’s intemperance when he was hungry and weak and convinced him to turn over his birthright (Gen. 25:29-34). There is no mention of Rebekah’s involvement in this action, yet it is possible that her favoritism toward Jacob may have encouraged this. There is a clear description of her involvement and influence on Jacob to take advantage of Isaac on his deathbed and fraudulently obtain Esau’s blessing. Genesis 27 depicts the events that took place. In old age and near blindness, Isaac called and requested Esau to hunt and prepare a delicious meal for him so that he could bless Esau before his death. Rebekah heard the request and relayed the information to Jacob. Genesis 27:8-10 recounts her deceptive influence. 

Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you. Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he may bless you before his death.

In sheer determination, Rebekah influences Jacob. He was fearful that the plan might be thwarted and Isaac would curse him rather than bless him. Rebeckah encouraged him to obey her as she was willing to take any curse that Jacob might receive. She used Esau’s clothing and goatskins to disguise Jacob, and she prepared food that Isaac loved. The deception was successful and Isaac gave Jacob the blessing that Esau was due. Her deception brought much strife among the bothers and their father. Rebekah sent Jacob away to spare him from Esau seeking to kill him (Gen. 27:43) (Stearsman 497-499).

            We can also see the great negative influence that a mother can have in the life of her child by the example of Herodias’ influence over her daughter.

Through the evil influence of Herodias, John the Baptizer was imprisoned and ultimately put to death. She first married Herod Philip, a private citizen, and then she left him fro marry his brother Herod Antipas. Herodias begrudged John the Baptizer because he reproved her unacceptable marriage. Matthew 14:3-4 states: ‘For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. Because john had said to him, ‘It is not lawful for you to have her.’’

Then, at a banquet celebrating King Herod’s birthday, Herodias’ daughter danced for him and his guests. He was so pleased by her dancing that he offered her anything that she wanted, up to half of his kingdom (Mk. 6:21-23; Mt. 14:6-7). The girl went to her mother, Herodias, and asked what she should request. Herodias prompted her to ask for the head of John the Baptizer. She followed her mother’s influence and requested his head on a platter (Mk. 6:24-25; Mt. 14:8f.). With grief, the king carried out her wish. (Stearsman 501-502).

The point of this lesson, though, is to focus on the positive influences that

mothers of the Bible have had on their children. There are a number of people in the Bible who owe a very great debt of gratitude to their mothers for the things that they have done for them and the great influence for the better that they had in their lives. They are: (1) to show that even though these mothers exerted tremendous influences for good in their child’s lives, they didn’t do anything beyond the abilities of almost any other mother. Being a great mother is not necessarily defined by being someone extraordinary, like an astronaut or something, but by the positive things she does for her children and the influence she has in their lives. (2) Because the mothers in our lesson this morning didn’t do anything beyond the abilities of any other mother, they can serve as examples for mothers today. (3) Just about every one of us can find something good that our mothers have done for us, and even though they may not have found the cure for cancer or something like that, because they are our mothers, they deserve a great deal of gratitude. 

Moses’ Mother Hid Her Baby,

And She Changed the Course of Two Great Nations

            Can you even imagine the Bible without Moses? What would that be like? There would be no burning bush to read about, no plagues in Egypt, and no great exodus of the people of Israel from the bondage of the Egyptians. I’m sure God would have found another way, and certainly, His will would have been done, but it would have been something other than what we find in our Bibles today. What about the parting of the Red Sea, or the Ten Commandments, or the wilderness wanderings? There would have been no Law of Moses, the first five books of our Bibles would not be there. That one life changed the course of two great nations, delivered the law to God’s people, and paved the way for the future Messiah. Had it not been for the actions of Moses’ mother when he was just a newborn, there would have been no Moses. Moses’ mother saved his life, and by doing so, indirectly freed her nation from slavery.

            The Pharaoh at the time didn’t like how many Israelites there were, because he was afraid that if an enemy attacked, the Israelites might fight with the enemy. His solution was to kill all the male children that were born. But, the Bible says of Moses’ mom,

And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch; and she put the child therein, and laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. (Ex. 2:2-3)

            What happened after that?

And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river-side; and she saw the ark among the flags, and sent her handmaid to fetch it. And she opened it, and saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maiden went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said, Because I drew him out of the water. (Ex. 2:4-10)

            “And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and works” (Acts 7:22).

            The temptation for you an me might be to say, “yeah, but she didn’t really do all that much, she just hid her baby for three months and then left him out in the river.” But, I think we can appreciate just how big of a deal that was for her to do that when we consider how drastically different things would have been if she had not done that. The influence o what she did was so great that the effects of it are still recognizable today, about 3,500 years latter!

            For a mother to protect the life of her child may be something that we just tend to take for granted because we can’t imagine a mother doing anything different, but unfortunately, just as I’m sure not every male, Hebrew, child was hidden back there in Egypt as Moses was, not every mother protects the life of her child today as we might. How many babies have been killed or left outside to die of exposure because around the world just because their parents did not have enough money to feed another mouth? How many babies have been killed because they were born the wrong sex and less desirable than the other? How many babies have been found in dumpsters and things who have been abandoned by their mothers because they didn’t want them for whatever reason? How many thousands of babies are aborted each and every year in this country and around the world? Protecting the lives of our children may seem like such a small thing, and something that can be so easily taken for granted, but it is huge in the eyes of God, and it is huge in the lives of those children, guaranteed! Moses and the entire Israelite nation where thankful for what his mother did, I’m sure. That fact that we are all here today means that we have that to be thankful to our mothers for also. 

Timothy’s Mother and Grandmother Passed Their Faith on to Him,

Which Lead to the Conversion of Many

            It is always a good thing when a child is brought up in the ways of God, but little did Eunice know how many people young Timothy would convert to the Lord when he got a little bit older and became a convert and companion of the apostle Paul. He became a very influential evangelistic force in the early church! He was considered by Paul to be his child in the faith (1 Ti. 1:2). In Philippians 2:19-22 it says,

But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man likeminded, who will care truly for your state. For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a child serveth a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the gospel.

Timothy’s name appears in 10 New Testament books, not counting the two epistles written specifically to him. Brethren from Rome, throughout Macedonia and Asia Minor knew him, and even in Jerusalem (Acts 20:4-21:1f)!

            Now that we have considered who Timothy was, who might we attribute it to? Paul? Sure. Timothy himself? Sure, they both had something to do with it, but look at what Paul said in Second Timothy 1:5, “having been reminded of the unfeigned faith that is in thee; which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and, I am persuaded, in thee also.” His faith was a genuine and sincere faith that was first in his grandmother Lois, then in his mother Eunice, and then, finally, in him also. He had known the Scriptures from the time that he was a child (2 Ti. 3:15). His mother and grandmother both had a great influence in his life and by passing their faith on to him, but that influence didn’t stop with Timothy, having been cultivated by Paul, it went on to influence and convert every person that Timothy would later influence and convert because it could be traced all the way back to his grandmother Lois! She probably had no idea what kind of impact her passing on her faith would later have, but there were many, including Timothy, that owed her a great deal of gratitude because she did.

            Usually, no one has greater influence in a child’s life than his parents, or whoever is filling that role in a child’s life. Before a child learns deception, he or she will believe just about anything. Their minds are like little sponges, just soaking up everything they hear. The best thing their little minds could be soaking up is the example of faith, love, and trust in God that they see in the example of their parents on a daily basis. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Pr. 22:6).

King Lemuel’s Mother Taught Him Practical Lessons

About Living and Finding a Mate

            How much mischief and trouble would be avoided if kids would just listen to their mothers! In Proverbs 31 we read of an oracle, or prophecy that King Lemuel was taught by his mother: “The words of king Lemuel; the oracle which his mother taught him.” But, it puts me in mind of a saying that I learned when I was a kid. It said, “red on yellow kills a fellow, red on black, friend of Jack.” There are two kinds of snakes that look very similar, in Florida. In fact, the one pretends to be the other as a means of defense. One is very poisonous and the other is not. The only difference you can see between these two snakes, without opening their mouths and checking for fangs, which is something I wouldn’t recommend trying, is to look at the at the sequence of colored rings around their bodies. They are the same colors, but in a different order. If you look at the one and the red is next to the yellow, then you know that it is the poisonous one, but if the red is next to the black, then you know that it is not poisonous. If you knew the little saying, and you are a little boy who likes to play with whatever he finds crawling along the ground, then it could save your life. Proverbs 31 is longer, but the same general principal applies. King Lemuel would have done well to listen to this saying, which he apparently did.

            In Proverbs 31 we find that verses 3 through 9 teach him about riotous living, strong drink, and being a righteous judge, verses 10 through 29 teach him what to look for in a virtuous woman, and verses 30 and 31 teach about the frailty of beauty. Here we are thousands of years later, and these same principles are still true today. Fast living still destroys lives. People still do foolish things when they’ve been drinking. We should still treat people fairly today. A virtuous woman is still a rare jewel.

            Children would not be commanded to obey their parents if it wasn’t that parents were supposed to be teaching their children what is good and right. Of course, he does say how they are to obey them, though—“in the Lord.” If parents want a child to do those things that are contrary to what is right in the eyes of God, that doesn’t count. But, assuming that they are teaching them what is right, Paul says, “Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be will with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth” (Eph. 6:1-3).

             So far, we have seen that a mother can have a very big impact on her child and his or her life for both good and bad. Positively, we have looked at three examples from the Bible. We saw that Moses’ mother hid him, and by doing so, she not only saved his life, but also changed the course of history for two great nations. We saw the influence that the faith of Lois and Eunice had on Timothy and how that faith spread through him to untold numbers that he then influenced with the gospel. Then we looked at the wisdom passed down to King Lemuel by his mother. There is one more mother that I would like to mention this morning, and she seems to have the qualities of the three we’ve looked at so far all raped up in one person. That mother is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Now, we don’t worship Mary or pray to her, or anything like that, but at the same time, she was a very special person. There must have been something special about Mary or God would not have chosen her to be the mother of Jesus.

God Chose Mary to Be the Mother of Jesus

            Of all the young women that God could have chosen to use to bring the Christ into the world, he chose Mary above all the rest. Now, we can take the prophecies and things and say, “well, yeah, but because of the prophecies He had to be born from the seed of David, in the city of David, and into the tribe of Judah, etc.” In other words, there wasn’t a great deal of selection when you narrow it down to who would have been able to fulfill all the prophecies. But I think that might be looking at things a little bit backwards. The future isn’t changed to fit the prophecy, but the prophecy is given based upon future events (if it is a predictive prophecy). In other words, God looked down through the centuries and saw Mary there in Bethlehem with Joseph and He said, “she is going to bring the Son of God into the world,” and then He made that known to man through the prophets. His selection was directed by the counsel of His own will and He may have seen that she was the one through whom He could accomplish His purposes, but He still chose her above all women.

            One of the things that I thought about when I was dating and looking for someone that I thought I might like to marry, there were certain qualities that I was looking for. One of the things that I considered was, “if we have kids one day, will this person be the kind of mother that I would want to have for my children?” That is very important. I can’t help but think that God did the same kind of thing. What would have happened if Jesus had been born to a heathen mother? That would have been disastrous! When the angel came to Mary to tell her what was going to happen, notice what he told her:

And he came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee. But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this might be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. (Lk. 1:28-30)

If Mary was good enough to be the mother of Jesus, then there might be some things that other mothers can learn from her.

            The mother of Moses protected his life and he grew up to be the son of Pharaoh’s daughter! We saw in that the need for a mother to protect the life of her child and the great influence that can have. That is exactly the same quality we find in Mary, isn’t it? When King Herod found out that he had been tricked by the wise men he had all the male children of Bethlehem, two years of age and younger, killed. But, Joseph had been warned by and angel and he, with Mary and the child, fled in the night to Egypt (Mt. 3:13-18). Then, if we fast-forward to the end of Jesus’ life there on the cross, where do we find Mary? She is still longing for the life of her child, even while he is a grown man. There He was hanging on that cross, and the Bible says, 

These things therefore the soldiers did. But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold, thy mother! And from that hour the disciple took her unto his own home. (Jn. 19:25-27)

            Eunice was a woman of faith in God, and she handed that down to Timothy. Mary also was a woman of faith in God and, even though He was Deity, she continued in that faith with Jesus.

And when eight days were fulfilled for circumcising him, his name was called JESUS, which was so called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they brought him up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord), and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons….And when they had accomplished all things that were according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. (Lk. 2:21-24; Lk. 2:39)

And his parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up after the custom of the feast. (Lk. 2:41-42)

            Finally, we saw with King Lemuel’s mother, her concern for teaching and giving direction to her son. Even though Jesus was Deity, Mary still scolded Him and gave Him motherly direction.

And when they saw him, they were astonished; and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing….And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and he was subject unto them: and his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. (Lk. 2:48, 51)

And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. (Jn. 2:3-5)

Jesus then did as His mother had requested of Him.

Conclusion

            What did any of the mothers in our lesson this morning do than any other mother can’t do? What they did was not super-human or anything, and yet what they did will be remembered for as long as this world remains. These women changed the world through the influence they had as mothers of their children. What an example these mothers set for mothers today! It is not necessary to be a super-mom, just a mother who loves and protects the life of her children, who directs and guides them in what’s right by passing her wisdom on to them, and who instills in them a faith in God.