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INJ
Genesis 3:16
'Sorrow in Childbearing'
Morning Service
Pentecost Sunday | May 11, 2008
Dear Saints,
The text that we must grapple with on Mother's Day is Genesis 3:16. I know Mother's Day is a sentimental day, but this is not a sentimental text. This is right after Eve and then Adam have sinned against God and all creation by eating from the tree that was forbidden, and the Son of God has come down into the garden and is handing out curses. And to Eve, the mother of us all, God says:
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children.”
It's easy to say that the vocation given among mankind that brings with it the most sorrow is motherhood. Being a mother is no lighthearted task. It is a calling full of sweat and blood and most of all, tears. There are great joys, to be sure. In this sinful world there are many tears.
Tears because of sin, tears because every mother knows that the baby that she carried in her womb is a sinner, and that that child will someday die. Many of you mothers know the sorrow of children who have followed after their sinful flesh and have left the Church and the Lord's promise of forgiveness. And you pray for your children with tears everyday. Some of you mothers already know the sorrow of the death of a child, a son or a daughter. This is the most difficult thing in the world. Some of you might have had children that died in the womb, and no one else knew. You alone carry the sorrow.
Statistics would tell us that some of you mothers have had abortions, and brought death upon your own child. How that sorrow must be multiplied, a guilt that daily threatens to kill your faith.
But even if you have children that are Christian and are alive, still there is much sorrow and tears. You mother's then, must know how that Lord loves you, that He's seen fit to lay this load on you. He knows and has promised that for you there will come nothing more than you can handle.
He made sure of that through His own Son. Remember how it was with Mary. She was given the great joy and privilege of being the mother of the Messiah. And yet she too would know sorrow. She would stand at the foot of the cross watch the innocence of her perfect Son being consumed with the sin of man and the wrath of God.
But dear mothers, and all of the saints, the flesh and blood that Mary gave to her Son is taking all of the sorrows and tears and sin and death. He cries our tears. He knows our sorrow, yes, even your secret sorrow and your hidden pain. The blood that drips from the cross covers all sin and is our life. The Lord Jesus has not handed us over to everlasting sorrow, but has made a way to life.
The door that Adam closed in the Garden, the Lord Jesus opens. His promised paradise has no suffering, no tears, and that is the place that the Lord has for us, His children.
So, dear mother's, our prayers of thanksgiving are for you, your tears, your labor of love, your service to us. And may your rejoice today and into eternity in the love and death which the Lord Jesus has given for us. Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO