On Motherhood

  “But women will be saved through childbearing, assuming they continue to live in faith, love, holiness and modesty.” 1 Timothy 2:15

  This is another one of those controversial passages that has served to be particularly hard on women. It has somehow hammered in the lie that only by bearing children do we have value. I am not sure if back in the day there was an understanding that a man might have the fertility issue, not his wife.

  Yesterday’s post spoke in metaphor, about the devil having a merry old time tromping around in my head. Perhaps Timothy’s statement is metaphorical with far richer implications than the literal, physical act of bearing children being the sum of our worth. Looking at it this way is in keeping with the teaching traditions of the time. Jesus used metaphors in a great number of His teachings.

  My Bible has a footnote about this passage from other translations. “Or will be saved by accepting their roles as mothers, or will be saved by the birth of the Child.”

  I feel this passage is meant to speak into the fundamental heart of women. We are the personification of the Mother Heart of God formed out of Adam to be in partnership with men, the personification of the Father Heart of God. Together we create the whole. 

  This surpasses marital boundaries doesn’t it? 

  This is about being united in serving God and in serving others from two very different perspectives that become how Love manifests itself in its entirety. (Thank You, Lord, that Your grace plays a huge part in this. Thank You, in some small way, my heart understands now.)

  I think of Christ on the Cross looking down on the disciple He loved and the good woman who gave Him life. “Dear woman, here is your son…Here is your mother.” John 19:26-27 At that moment motherhood was set free of the boundaries of physical connection, of child bearing. It was His third final act as a man.

  I feel it was a gift and an important one. Not long after, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” Mary was absolved of a mother’s role to ease that suffering. Her Son was no longer hers. 

  Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross was the moment He took on the suffering of the world. Perhaps that's why He released His mother. It was far more than she could ever bear.

  A mother's heart suffers with those who suffer. It is one way we love.

  (Wow. There was a long pause while I thought about the implications of those last few paragraphs; as I thought about what was happening in Mary’s heart as she watched her Son die, not knowing He would return.)

  Timothy has given us the definitive requirements of motherhood: faith, love, holiness and modesty. 

  (Smile.) Sometimes I get it right, sometimes not so much. I do like the idea of faith being first. That's how we learn to love like God.