As we approach Mothers Day, I am very thankful for the moms that
have been in my life: my mom, grandma, sister, aunts, cousins, and friends. I
honor them all. However, I also honor women who could not conceive, never had
opportunity to try, do not have a desire for
children or choose not to have children for a variety of reasons.
children or choose not to have children for a variety of reasons.
I am one of those
women. Nevertheless, I am not without hope, and I do not despair.
Recently I had an opportunity to teach a class at my local
church on the topic “Fulfilled in Christ.” This study was a four-week journey
toward a new way to view our lives. We examined what it means to be family, and
what constitutes “normal” in modern society and in the life of a believer in
Christ.
In the class, we studied how scripture reveals a different way
to understand stages of the human life than is typically represented in society
and, oftentimes, the church. It is a "normal" assumption that individuals should follow a certain set of rules for the stages of life and are sometimes seen as atypical or not normal if they don't.
In the class, we studied that the church is meant to be a place of inclusion. The church was created and transformed by Jesus to be a family where everyone belongs. We also looked into the scriptures to find that the ultimate goal of life was not to create your family, but to be a family as God intended.
In the class, we studied that the church is meant to be a place of inclusion. The church was created and transformed by Jesus to be a family where everyone belongs. We also looked into the scriptures to find that the ultimate goal of life was not to create your family, but to be a family as God intended.
In Isaiah 54, we read that one particular revelation about the coming of
the Christ (the Messiah) was a new way to see motherhood. This passage speaks of the woman who cannot bear children:
The barren woman sings. She SINGS. In a world where having babies and preserving bloodlines was so very important, a woman who cannot have children is singing.
Why?
“Sing, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband”
The barren woman sings. She SINGS. In a world where having babies and preserving bloodlines was so very important, a woman who cannot have children is singing.
Why?
Eve would birth children (through pain) and begin the process of
tracing God’s desire to redeem relationship with his creation. The genealogies written throughout
the Bible served as a map to point to God’s plan. Throughout the Old Testament we read about the topics of bloodline, offspring, and the blessings that would come through them. The blessing to mankind would come through the offspring of Adam and Eve, Abraham, and Israel and would reveal God’s
sovereignty and grace upon humanity.
God was at work. He gave a promise to Abraham that his children would be greater than the sand and stars (Gen 22:17).
How was this going to happen?
God was at work. He gave a promise to Abraham that his children would be greater than the sand and stars (Gen 22:17).
How was this going to happen?
And what does this have to do with a barren woman?
Immediately
following the famous “Suffering Servant” passages (Isaiah 53) comes a promise to women who
feel like they are without value because they cannot do what women have done
since the time of Eve: bear children. Without offspring, women were cut off
from the people of God because their blessing was removed by their inability
to bear children. They had no inheritance because they had no offspring, no blessing.
However, with the coming of the Messiah, Isaiah prophesies that
the barren woman would sing. She sings because the Messiah has provided her an
ability 1) to have children in far greater number than she could ever have
biologically, and 2) to receive the coveted blessing, favor, and promise of God.
She was no longer cut-off, but was a part of the family. She was honored. She
was blessed. Therefore, she has not other response but to sing.
For
those who long for children of their own, this message may not bring comfort to
a heart that longs for a child. Many desire to adopt or foster, but life and
circumstances obstruct the ability to raise a child. Scriptures and prayers
bring promises from God held with great hope. Some see the hope fulfilled only
to lose the child through miscarriages, stillbirths, or way too young. Perhaps an
adoption was terminated at the last moment. No matter how a child a child
leaves a mother, the pain must be without comfort.
However,
with an accurate understanding of scripture, hope for a family can be found
through the fulfillment that came through Christ. If we can view family
through a biblical lens, we can see the role of the mother – and the entire family – in a way that brings hope and our own fulfillment. But it can only be seen through Jesus.
Jesus
was the fulfillment of all of our desires. All of the promises of scripture
point to Him. The physical bloodline from Eve flowed on a cross for us, and
provided the ability for it to include all of us as family. No one is left out. No one
is more or less because of the ability to have or not have children. Everyone
has an equal place at the table because all of us have the ability to carry on
a new bloodline to generations to come. It doesn’t come through biology. It
comes by the Spirit. It came because of Christ.
In Jesus' earthly life, he begins to interact with a new form of family: an eternal
one. Natural and temporal relationships (marriage, children, mother, father,
brothers) were no longer the focus because he brought an eternal family together! (Luke 14:26) Blessing
would now come because He allowed us entrance back into Eden.
Jesus does not diminish or undermine
traditional family values of house and home, marriage and children. His first miracle took place in attendance at a wedding! (John 2) However, Jesus does announce that Kingdom values require greater allegiance to Him than to
traditional family members. Remember his response when notified about his biological family? "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" (Matthew 12:48) Jesus family values required a bond together as family
even if they were not biological.
Jesus’ life and ministry focused on those who were abandoned in the traditional familial society: orphans, widows, foreigners, the sick, broken, hurting, poor,
hungry, and defiled. Why? Because his bloodline guaranteed that they had a place at
His table. Our table. These without even a name suddenly had an inheritance. They were part of the family. They were
enough.*
Not everyone will be able to comprehend this promise. We are human. We have desire. We just want to do what we were created to do. However, if we can grasp what Jesus did to society and how he turned family roles upside down, we may begin to think differently about a lot of things, not just motherhood.
The coming of Jesus allowed us entrance into a life of bringing hope to the world around us. If we can accept that His ways are good, perhaps our viewpoint on this very difficult subject of barrenness and infertility could also change.
We may not have the ability to bear children or raise them in our household. However, just like the barren woman of Isaiah 54, we can sing because our children will be, like Abraham's, as numerous as the stars.
As we open our hearts to a new form of family, God will show us how to accept one another for who we were created to be. Isaiah's prophecy continues in verses 14 & 15: "All your children will be taught by the Lord,and great will be their peace."
When we release our lives, hopes and desires to Him, he will be our ultimate fulfilment. And we will all have the ability to have spiritual children who will be taught by God and given His peace.
God’s
promises to us are true. So on this Mother's Day, may we recognize that the ability to have biological children does not make you a mother, Jesus does.
Everyone is welcome to the family table.
Everyone is welcome to the family table.
Sing,
barren woman, sing!
And we will sing with you.
*Special thanks to Barry Danylak and his research in “Redeeming Singleness: How the storyline of scripture affirms the single life,” (2010,Crossway Books, Illinois). I consider Barry a friend and his research inspires me to study and understand how everyone is fulfilled through Christ.
And we will sing with you.
*Special thanks to Barry Danylak and his research in “Redeeming Singleness: How the storyline of scripture affirms the single life,” (2010,Crossway Books, Illinois). I consider Barry a friend and his research inspires me to study and understand how everyone is fulfilled through Christ.
