Mothers In Israel

Did you catch that? Should I read it again? I confess I passed over these verses many times until I once came across Rob Bell’s book What Is the Bible and got to chapter four which said “Who Paid Jesus’s Bills?

Wait, you mean the women were behind the scenes supporting Jesus out of their own means? Jesus surrounded himself with the twelve, and with these women, but who were they?

There’s Mary Magdalene who had seven demons cast out of her (not sure who was bothering to keep count) but that’s what we are told. We don’t actually know what was going on with Mary but we know that Jesus fully healed her. Can you just imagine what this must have been like for her to follow Jesus, the one who called her name and knew her heart.

Then there’s Joanna, the wife of Chuza. And what kind of job does Chuza have? He is just the manager of Herod Anitpas’s entire household. As such, Chuza would have been responsible for a massive amount of wealth to oversee. Joanna would have been one of the elite. Rob Bell says “that’s a life apparently she doesn’t find interesting because instead she’s sharing a room at the Motel 6 in Cana with Mary Who Used to Have Seven Demons. She’s sitting around the dinner table with small-town fisherman who are probably in their late teens, early twenties.”

Herod wants to kill Jesus because he is going around announcing another kingdom. Meanwhile the lady who is helping to fund Jesus’s ministry is married to the man who is on the payroll of …Herod. That’s Joanna.

Then there’s Susanna whom we don’t know about other than her mention here. But then it says that there were many others. Many other women. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. We know some of their names. We know pieces of their stories. But then there are a bunch lumped in there that we know nothing about other than they supported Jesus out of their own means.

Similarly, when we look at the roots of Methodism, we often focus on John and Charles Wesley, but what about the women around them? The matriarch Susanna Wesley was instrumental in her children’s understanding of grace and their devotion to their faith. She even had a weekly schedule of which children she met with 1:1 each day for teaching. When her husband was away at Convocation in London, she would tend to the class meetings, often reading her own sermons with an attendance of 200 or more. Methodist women were the backbone of the revival. In 1742, of Wesley’s 66 leaders in the Foundry society, 42 of them were women.

These women weren’t given some sort of promotion or paid for their work. They staid on the sidelines supporting the ministry and mission of the Methodist people.

Donna Fowler-Marchant says that “Methodist women who displayed not only leadership but exemplary courage were sometimes called by an honorific title “Mothers in Israel.” This is a title given to Deborah in the Old Testament. Donna says “mothers in Israel provided a home for itinerant preachers to sleep; they regularly held class meetings, led worship, and even preached....Their obedience to God pushed the boundaries of accepted behavior for women, challenged the expectations of a woman’s place in public life, and. brought the gospel of Jesus to rowdy people in unconventional places.” She says “to them, we owe a debt of gratitude we cannot pay- for their holy boldness, their stubborn obedience, and their wise spiritual counsel to the people called Methodists.”

These “mothers in Israel” came in and changed the game.

Who are those women in your life? Women of holy boldness and wisdom. Women with grit and gumption. Those women who have supported you along the bylines, sidelines, and back stages of your life. Those women who were a mother to you by blood or by heart who who gave of themselves so that you could reach your own potential. Those who loved you into a fuller life and gave you a new landscape.

Who are your mothers in Israel? Maybe you instantly have one or more mothers that come to your mind. Or maybe, it is too difficult to think about today. Maybe for you Mother’s Day is hard. Maybe you didn’t have a mother in Israel figure. If so, I pray you will give yourself extra grace today. I also pray that you will come to know the mothering heart of God towards you and that you will find someone to nurture your spirit.

Jan Richardson talks about how when she thinks of what endures in her life, she thinks of the landscape her parents passed along to her, not just the physical landscape of her home state but the landscape that comes from story. She says “our mothers are our first landscape, our original terrain, creating us and sheltering us in the space of their own body. When we have mothers who know, or learn along the way, how to keep creating the landscape for us and with us- when they can fashion a terrain that provides both sanctuary and the freedom to find the contours of our own life- that is gift indeed.”

I think of my mom who is my perpetual cheerleader. She has nurtured the landscape of my life in literally every place I have ventured. I think of my grandmother Ubbie who created the landscape of compassion and homemade biscuits. I think of a lady named Dorothy who created a landscape of home when I was far from home. I think of Sherry who believed in me before I felt there was anything to believe in. I think of Peggy who showed me the landscape of caring for others in their grief in and through deep hospitality. I think of those who showed me the landscape of selflessness and service, others who showed me the beauty of ministry, and still others who mentored me along the way. I think of some of you who are mothers in Israel to each other, you who are leading, inspiring, serving, modeling faithfulness, loving, and supporting from the sidelines. Again and again.

The circle of women around Jesus nurtured the landscape of his ministry, following him and supporting him even when they weren’t sure where he was headed. The circle of women in early Methodism nurtured the landscape of revival even when they didn’t have full permission to do so. Who are those who have supported you, inspired you, challenged you, and affirmed you? More than this, who are those who have cared for your spirit?

Shauna Niequist said “...now that I am a mother, I understand what Mother's Day is about: it's about looking through our lives and recognizing the act of mothering everywhere we see it, and more than that, recognizing that when any of us mother-- when we listen, nurture, nourish, protect--we're doing sacred work.”