April 28, 2021
Mother’s day reminds me of the word of God from the prophet Isaiah: “thus says the Lord: . . . as a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.”
-Isaiah 66:12,13
The words of Jesus also come to mind: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.”
-Luke 13:34
Much of our Biblical writings and Christian history use masculine metaphors for God, such as father and king. Most of the time, Christian language has referred to God using he/him/his pronouns, even as we acknowledge that God transcends classifications of gender, race, or nationality.
Language is always a metaphor for reality, and our language about God seeks to be true to our understanding. Knowing that God is more than any single image, we turn to multiple images: God is a rock, our fortress, our friend, our father, and our mother. Referring to God as “she” can be powerful and meaningful. Knowing God as “she who is,” to quote the theologian Elizabeth Johnson, is a true way of knowing God.
In the Bible we find the image of God as our mother alongside the image of God as our father. Isaiah gives people the hope of a God who comforts them as a mother comforting her children. When Jesus prepared to enter Jerusalem, he mourned for all that had been done to the children of God, and longed to be the mother who gathers her young ones in an embrace, safe from harm.
On this Mother’s Day, that calls attention to our earthly mothers, let us also draw near to God as a child draws near to its mother. Let us give thanks to God, for she is the one who gives us life, who comforts us in her embrace, and gathers us under the shelter of her wings.
Peace,
