Calvin Synod Herald, 2009 (110. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2009-05-01 / 5-6. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 7 She provided me with what I needed: food, water, rest and peace. She taught me the difference between right and wrong and she was the first to introduce me to God. No matter how frightened I happened to be, my mother was there to comfort and protect me. She saw that I was fed even when others didn’t care. She cared for me when I was sick or injured. She gave me more than I needed. I know that my life has been made better because of my mother and I will always seek to honor her. The Bible also teaches us that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:11 states: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ” So the perfect mother will always put the good of her children before her own good, not because some one forces her to do this, but because she wants to. The Lord is our Shepherd because He cares for us with selfsacrificing care just as our mothers did. It is the care and power of mothers - and fathers - that first helped us to understand who God is. To the infant and small child his or her parents hold absolute power - indeed, the power of life and death. The behavior of the parents gives the child the first insight into what God is like. Therefore, if the parent is good and caring as most are, the child will have an image of God as caring and loving. And, conversely, if a child experiences abuse and or carelessness from parents, that is what the child is going to think of God. Now Jesus was well-aware that all shepherds were not perfect - some in fact, were not even good. He refers to them as hirelings. John 10:12-13 teaches us that “The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. ” The very fact that Jesus makes a distinction between good shepherds and hirelings helps us to understand that those who come around and claim to be a shepherd may not in fact be a good shepherd. Just as we mothers make mistakes or get led astray, so too do those who claim to be shepherds. But how are we to know who is the good shepherd and who is the hireling? Well, remember what Jesus states in the gospel of Matthew 7:15: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by theirfruits. Are grapes gatheredfrom thorns, orfigs from thistles? ” We recognize the good shepherds when they match the standards of the scripture’s description of the Good Shepherd in Psalm 23 (above), as well as in all of John’s teachings. Specifically John 10:14-18 tells us that Jesus said: “lam the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me —just as the Father knows me and I know the Father - and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father. ” Or we recognize them as evil shepherds by how they are described in Ezekiel 34:3-6, when God tells the shepherd: “You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of theflock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. ” As we can see, the Bible teaches us without a doubt, that the good shepherd is the one who cares for the sheep, lays down his life for the sheep, feeds them, binds up their wounds, and never ceases watching over them. Some of us in this world are set apart to be shepherds, some are also called to be mothers or mother-surrogates. We certainly make every attempt to be good shepherds and good mothers. But in the end we must know that there is only One - One Good Shepherd, One Faultless Parent, One Who Never Fails. And that One - is God. Only in God alone can we fully and absolutely trust. Only in God alone are there no reasons to examine the fruits of His teaching - for those teachings have proved faithful and true for thousands of years. God cares for us, He seeks us when we are lost and He receives us. In Jesus Christ, He laid down His life for us. Thank God for our mothers and all those who love us! Praise God for all that He does for us! Amen. Rev. Betsy Blomfield Generational Faith and Prayer In this year of celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, we look to his Institutes for guidance on his valuable insights and teachings. The two longest chapters in Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion are on faith and prayer. Looking forward to the yearly celebration of Mother’s Day we also can rely on the teachings of Calvin to gain a fuller understanding of gratitude toward our praying mothers. Calvin clearly teaches that faith precedes prayer and faith is the work of the Holy Spirit. From Calvin’s Institutes 3. 1,4 we learn “The things spoken concerning Christ profit us by the secret workings of the Spirit. Faith is the principle work of the Holy Spirit. ” True prayer is impossible apart from faith. We cannot pray to God without faith. Our praying mothers shrouded their prayers in faith. The Bible teaches us about three examples of motherhood and prayer - Hannah, Mary and Lois. Each one of these individuals was a woman of faith, which overflowed into prayer and praise. And each woman was a mother who succeeded in transferring the faith to a new generation. Hannah prayed to conceive a child and God heard her plea and gave her a son, Samuel. She returned to God the goodness of her answered prayer by giving Samuel over to Him. From 1 Samuel 1: 27-28 we learn that she said: “Oh my Lord, I am the woman Continued on page 8
