Mother's Day just came and went in the blink of an eye. I was privileged to spend the weekend with my lovely mother who, at this point in my life, is more popular among my friends than I am – what a pity. I will admit, she always has more interesting life stories to tell than I do.
Usually, when I run out of story-telling material, I dig up something from her past to dazzle my friends with. If she knew some of the stories I've told she would probably disown me. It's a good thing I'm five hours away.
During my weekend at home, I started to chew on the fourth commandment a little bit. "Honor your father and mother." In my short 21 years of life, I've seen this commandment used in a myriad of ways:
"Son, can you go let the dogs in?"
"But Mom, I just started watching the new "House of Cards" series!"
"You know what the Lord says, 'Honor your father and your mother."
Although said in a joking manner, it is used in rather an iron-fisted, demanding way.
The Ten Commandments are seen by today's society as some washed up rule book from more than 4,000 years ago. At face value, they seem very demanding and have what appears to be little to no benefit for the individual.
For Christians, these 10 brief sentences are a distant memory of Sunday Schools past that have really no significance in their lives today. After all, Christians are all about the Gospel, right? The Good News that draws people in from their brokenness, their heartache, to something so sweet and comforting.
The Ten Commandments just don't make the cut in the comfort department. Do not murder? Do not commit adultery? Do not misuse the name of God? Yikes, sounds a little discomforting to me. What if I told you that the Ten Commandments are Good News. After all, everything can be said two ways – a demanding way and a loving way.
In discussing the fourth commandment, I think it is very easy to stress the "what" of the commandment. What do I have to do in order to honor them? It's like pulling teeth. Rarely, though, does anyone take the time to ask why. Why should we honor our father, mother and anyone else in authority? It's simple really because it's good for us and God tell us to.
My mom's great. I can easily argue she's the best mom in the world. I also am certain I could get a number of people to agree. She's great because she has taken care of me. She's molded me into the individual I am today. She's taught me to love Jesus and love others through her actions.
She has shown me that although people may drive you absolutely crazy, you can always find a little slice of Jesus in them if you just peel back some of their rough exterior.
My mom is kind of like the Church, you know, our spiritual mother. She also takes care of us. She nourishes us with Christ's gifts of His Body and Blood. She teaches us through the Word to love Christ and love people. She's taught us how to forgive. So, we honor her. We give the Church her due diligence.
The Church, though, is made up of a lot of sinners. In this day and age, people are so against the Church. In reality, they're against the people who make up the Church, the people who have done them wrong, the people who have hurt them.
Here's a reality check, folks: Christians aren't perfect. We're going to screw up. We're going to hold onto teachings that go against the world. Forgive us when we screw up. Respect the opinions we have.
My mom's great, but she's made mistakes, too. The best part? I've forgiven her just like she has forgiven me. Sometimes her opinion goes against the grain of mine, but when it comes down to it, she's right because she's my mom and she knows what's best for me.
So, we should honor our mothers both earthly and spiritually. Not just one day out of the year, but every day. We should honor them because they nourish us. They teach us. They love us. So, we should love them, too.
