Let me start out by saying Happy Mother’s Day to all our moms here today and to those moms who are watching our livestream. Mom, don’t worry, I will still call you later this afternoon to wish you a proper happy mother’s day. (I don’t want the old girl complaining on our Facebook page that her son the pastor was too busy livestreaming to call his own mother on Mother’s Day.)
I used to enjoy preaching on Mother’s Day. Attendance is typically higher, because it is hard to say “no” to mom when she says all she wants for Mother’s Day is for her children to go to church with her. Plus, I like setting aside a Sunday each year to honor the women and celebrate the blessing God gives us through our mothers. I say I used to enjoy preaching on mother’s day but for several years now I have found it to be a bit stressful or intimidating. It’s not that I don’t still want to honor and celebrate mothers, I do. It’s not that, it’s Tre. A few years ago, after I preached a Mother’s Day sermon, Tre offered me some feedback in a way that only Tre can. He said to me, “Every Mother’s Day you talk about mothers as beautiful blessings and encourage us all to thank God for them, which is great, but on Father’s Day all you ever say to us fathers is, ‘do better!’ and ‘suck less’.” Tre’s observations are accurate. I do tend to romanticize mothers and criticize fathers. Maybe it’s because, as a Father myself, I am more acutely aware of the faults and failures of a father than I am of a mother, maybe it’s because I was raised by women and subconsciously, I’m a feminist, maybe I just like to mess with Tre??? Whatever the reason, today I am going to throw Tre a bone and instead of talking about a woman of noble character whose’ children arise and call her blessed[1], I am going to talk about a mother who abandoned her child on the church steps.
The mother’s name is Hannah. In 1 Samuel 1:20-28 we are told this mother brought her three-year-old[2] son to church and left him there; she handed the boy over to the preacher and said, ‘here you go, you raise him’. She gave him up!?! Now I want to be clear that I am not suggesting everyone who gives a child up for adoption is evil. I am actually in favor of adoption. I have several dear friends who have been adopted and others who have adopted. I think there are times when adoption is a good option. Say for example when a mother is financially, physically, or emotionally incapable of raising a child, under those circumstances and others like them I think adoption is a great option. However, Hannah was financially, physically, and emotionally capable of raising her child. Hannah had an incredibly supportive husband who seems to have provided her with a loving and stable home. Based on the yearly pilgrimage the two of them make from their home in the village of Ramah to the temple in the city of Shiloh and the value of the offerings they bring (24 a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine) it appears they had more than enough to raise a child. Also, it’s not that Hannah just didn’t want the child. As she is handing the boy over to the preacher she says, “27 I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.” By the way when Hannah says she prayed for a child she means she repeatedly begged for a child. Previously, in verse 10, we are told “In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD.” Hannah prayed so passionately for a child that the preacher thought she was drunk.
It seems Hannah wanted this child more than she wanted anything, but when the LORD gave her what she begged Him to give her, she gave him up. Why would she do that? why would she make such an unreasonable sacrifice? Hannah gave up her child because she was the kind of mother who kept her promises and maintained her priorities.
Hannah’s promise was made before her child was even conceived. Back in verse 11 we are told Hannah vowed, O LORD Almighty, give me a son and “I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life…”. Hannah promised the LORD that her son would grow up in the presence of the LORD; that he would know Who his savior God was and what his savior God had done for him. Hannah knew this was not going to be easy and as the day approached for Hannah to keep her promise you can easily imagine how tempting it would be for Hannah to break her promise. Thankfully Hannah’s husband supported her. Perhaps sensing she was struggling to keep her promise he told her “23… Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his word.” Or in other words “make sure you keep your promise”.
Hannah promised the LORD that her son would grow up in the presence of the LORD; that he would know Who his savior God was and what his savior God had done for him. Every mother here this morning has made a similar promise to the LORD. Maybe not before your child was conceived, but within days of your child being born. You brought your child to a font such as this and the preacher asked you, “Do you intend to bring up your child in the way of the Lord and to instruct your child in the truths of God’s saving Word so that your child may grow in faith, serve God with a Christian life, and remain in their baptismal grace all the days of their life?” and you promised, “Yes, and I ask God to help me.” Dear mothers, have you kept your promise? Have you faithfully and consistently brought your child up in the way of the LORD and instructed them in the truths of God’s saving Word? Husbands are you being supportive or is God the only one encouraging your wife to keep that promise?
It’s a harsh question, I know. I don’t like asking it because I know in my heart what answer I am forced to give when I ask the question of myself. I want to think I have done pretty good because I (or rather my wife) has regularly brought our children to church on Sunday. But when I think of the example I set Monday through Saturday, be it the cruelness of my tongue, or the callousness of my actions, or any of the other hypocrisies that appear in my life throughout the week, when I think about the example I set Monday through Saturday it is impossible for me to say I have shown my children what a whole life given over to the LORD looks like. I know the guilt and shame I feel when I consider how poorly I have kept my promise and how pathetically I have encouraged my wife to keep hers. But I don’t ask the question because I want to fill you with guilt and shame. I ask the question so that you can confess your sin. I ask the question because I want to tell you about another Son that was given up because of a promise.
God the Father promised His Son would crush the serpent’s head. God the Father promised His Son would be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. God the Father promised His Son would live His whole life as the sinners’ substitute. God the Father promised His Son would be sacrificed so that the sins of all people of all time would be forgiven. God the Father promised whoever believes in His Son would be saved. God the Father gave up His Son, His one and only Son so that your poorly kept promises and your pathetic encouragements would be forgiven. Because God the Father gave up His Son there is no reason for you to parent from a place of guilt and shame. Because God the Father gave up His Son you get to parent from a place of gratitude and joy.
Hannah parented from a place of gratitude and joy. The prayer she prayed after she gave her child up is recorded in chapter 2. The prayer begins with the words “2:1… My heart rejoices in the LORD”. You see, when Hannah gave up her child it wasn’t just about keeping a promise. Hannah knew Who her savior God was and what her savior God had done for her. She knew how good it felt to be forgiven the guilt and shame of her sin and her top priority was to make sure her child knew the same.
As Hannah gave up her child she said, “28… I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” It is important for us to recognize when Hannah gave up her child, she didn’t really dump her child on the church steps and tell the preacher here you go. When Hannah gave up her child, she gave him up “to the LORD”. Hannah recognized that her child was a gift of God’s grace. She named her child Samuel, saying “20… Because I asked the LORD for him.” Hanna knew her child was first and foremost God’s child. When she gave him up, she was in a sense giving him back. Giving him back to the one who formed and fashioned him in his mother’s womb, giving him back to the one who commanded His angels to guard him in all his ways, giving him back to the one who would guide and guard him all his days, giving him back to the one who cleansed him from sin and purchased his salvation. When Hannah gave up her child to the LORD, it filled her heart with joy because she was giving her child back to the only one who could possibly love her child more than his mother loved him.
When your top priority is making sure your child knows Who their savior God is and what their savior God has done for them there are going to be people who think you are making unreasonable sacrifices. Coaches won’t understand why your child won’t be at the game Sunday morning. Parents won’t understand why your child can’t stay out late on a Saturday night. Neighbors won’t understand why your child isn’t able to go to the lake till Sunday afternoon. But you understand. You understand when you give up your child to the LORD, you give them to the only one who could possibly love your child more than you do. So even if people think it an unreasonable sacrifice, you know those sacrifices are worth it because those sacrifices are ensuring that your child knows how good it feels to be forgiven the guilt and shame of their sins. Knowing that a child knows how good it feels to be forgiven is a mother’s top priority. And when a mother’s child knows that, fills her heart with joy.
The fact that you are sitting here this morning, learning more about Who your savior God is and what your savior God has done for you, is likely the result of a mother who kept her promises and maintained her priorities. I know it is why I am here. Which is why later today I am going to call my momma and tell her happy Mother’s Day. And I encourage you to do the same. Call your momma and thank her for the sacrifices she made to keep her promises and maintain her priorities. Let her know because of her you know Who your savior God is and what your savior God has done for you. I assure you it will fill her heart with joy. Amen.
[1] Proverbs 31:28
[2] Typical age for a child at this time to be weaned though we don’t know for certain Samuel’s age.