Honor Your Mother
Do you want to better understand why honoring parents is important? Do you wonder if Mother’s Day has any biblical foundation? Then join us below as we answer these and other questions to discover how Mother’s Day fits into our walk with God!
Mother’s Day:
Every year, on the Gregorian calendar—in the United States and many other countries—Mother’s Day falls on the second Sunday in May… May 10th in the year 2020. Yet, what is the purpose or benefit of Mother’s Day for us as Believers? How can a secular holiday have a biblical importance?
Well, the best place to start is perhaps the Ten Commandments (found in Exodus 20 & Deuteronomy 5):
- You will have no gods before God
- You will not make or have any idols before God
- You will not take the Lord’s name in vain
- You will remember the Sabbath/Shabbat day and keep it holy to God
- You will honor your father and your mother
- You will not murder
- You will not commit adultery
- You will not steal
- You will not bear false witness against your neighbor
- You will not covet—people, things, anything that is not yours
The fifth commandment, found in the center of the commandments, is to honor your parents—father and mother. Now, this also includes honoring God, but it is likewise a literal commandment. That those who conceive us, raise us, or in any way are considered to be our father or mother are due honor.
It does not say that we are to honor them if they treat us well or raise us right. There is no stipulation or out… it is a commandment. We are to honor our parents.
This is the first clue that, for Believers, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day should hold a certain importance. Not because the Word commands us to celebrate these secular holidays—after all, it should not have been necessary to create a holiday to honor our parents when EVERY SINGLE DAY we are expected to honor them. Yet, in a world where honor does not always come naturally, Mother’s Day does hold an important purpose, because it reminds us of our duty according to God’s Word.
Jesus and Honor:
We should all realize that Jesus honored God. After all, Jesus did nothing unless His Father said so; spoke nothing unless His Father spoke it. Jesus walked in honor. Still, did He honor the woman who gave birth to Him? Did our Messiah obey the fifth commandment fully?
Yes.
Jesus honored His mother of flesh. He took care of her, respected her; honored her. Yet, the moment which perhaps stands out the clearest occurred as He hung upon the cross…
Jesus was nailed to a cross, beaten, bruised, slowly suffocating, and, in great agony. He bore the weight of our sin, and as a result, was in many ways separated from His Father—from God—for a time. Yet, even as all this was happening; even in all of this pain and agony in body, Spirit, and mind… He honored His mother.
He did not leave her future in jeopardy or uncertainty. Instead He saw to it that she would be looked after; that she would continue to know the honor due her as a mother and the woman chosen as the vessel for God Himself.
“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother… When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”—John 19:25-27
There is something truly beautiful about His thinking about a mere flesh and blood woman when the weight of the world rested upon Him. There is no better example of the fifth commandment in motion. However, if we required further proof of the importance of honoring our parents, Jesus spoke of it during His three-year ministry on multiple occasions…
“… ‘Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, “Honor your father and your mother”; and, “He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.” But you say, “Whoever says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God’—then he need not honor his father or mother.” Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.’”—Mathew 15:3-6
“‘…if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.’
“He said to Him, ‘Which ones?’
“Jesus said, ‘“You shall not murder,” “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “Honor your father and your mother,” and, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”’”—Matthew 19:17b-19
Jesus did not desire us to disregard the commandments or laws put forth by His Father. He did not desire us to have confusion in regard to this—or remove commandments or laws for convenience. No. He wanted them kept. He merely gave us a way in which to obey them more fully and be forgiven when we stumble.
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”—Matthew 5:17
“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”—Numbers 23:19
The First Commandment with a Promise:
If we somehow needed another reason to obey the commandment to honor our father and mother; if we somehow needed another reason as to why Mother’s Day can be useful for Believers… then it would be this: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”—Exodus 20:12
And this: “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”—Deuteronomy 5:16
And this: “‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise:”—Ephesians 6:2
If honoring our parents was not important, then it would not be given by God as one of Ten Commandments. If honoring our parents was not something God felt vital for us to do, then He would not have promised us long life in the land He has given us.
God is an honorable God. Jesus—God incarnate—walked in that honor. He taught honor. He honored His Father. He honored His mother.
He obeyed the law to honor father and mother, and He did so as we all are meant to… through love.
Therefore, this Mother’s Day, let us honor our mothers. Let us obey the fifth commandment and behave like Jesus, walking in honor and love, even when times are difficult. Let us be like God created us to be, made in His image—doing as He says AND does.
Happy Mother’s Day!
If you would like to honor women who have escaped human trafficking and desire to live normal lives, then click HERE to learn how!
If you would like to honor men and women who survived the Holocaust, then click HERE to learn how!
If you would like to show young men and women who have lived without a healthy family unit, the love of a father or mother, then click HERE to support these young men, or HERE to support these young women!
If you would like to learn more about how Jesus walked in honor, then click HERE!
If you would like to learn more about honor, then click HERE to purchase Curt Landry’s message entitled, “Honor: The Missing Key” in MP4 (video) for $1, or in MP3 (audio) HERE for $0.50!