Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

God's Mother's Day Card

By Dr. Richard P. Bucher

Months ago the greeting card poets were already hard at work. Feverishly they worked around the clock to create messages of love to moms all over the world. Some were humerous, some wistful, and some practically Shakespearean in their gilded prose. And what are even these when compared to the masterpieces that our children create. Either with crayons or computer, children often choose to make their own cards. But all cards, whatever the source, attempt to communicate to the moms who will receive them how much we love and appreciate them. Every card tries to show how valuable mothers are.

Now comes a strange question. Has God sent a Mother's Day card to the mothers of the world? Yes, actually, He has. It's called the Fourth Commandment: "You shall honor your father and your mother." In this commandment, God once and for all shows how much He values mothers by telling us that they are worthy not merely to be loved, but to be honored, which is even a higher thing. In the Large Catechism, Martin Luther writes,

To fatherhood and motherhood God has given the special distinction, above all estates that are beneath it, that He commands us not simply to love our parents but also to honor them. With respect to brothers, sisters, and neighbors in general he commands nothing higher than that we love them. Thus he distinguishes father and mother above all other persons on earth, and places them next to himself. For it is a much greater thing to honor than to love . . . For anyone whom we are whole-heartily to honor, we must truly regard as high and great (Large Catechism; 105, 107).

Most Mother's Day cards tell mom how much we love her because of what she's done. The implication in these cards is that because mom has cooked, cleaned, listened, hugged, taught, etc., she is worthy of our love and admiration. But the Fourth Commandment orders us to honor our mother just because, that is, just because she is our mother, regardless of what she has done or hasn't done. Again Luther:

Young people must therefore be taught to revere their parents as God's representatives, and to remember that, however, lowly, poor, feeble, and eccentric they may be, they are their own father and mother, given them by God. They are not to be deprived of their honor because of their ways or their failings (Large Catechism; 108).

In the Fourth Commandment, God gives us His Mother's Day card. There He commands us to regard our mother as the greatest treasure on earth, not because of what she's done, but because of who she is.

February 1999