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Mother (2)

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

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MOTHER.—Concerning the relations of Jesus with His mother, and her influence upon His training, we can but infer that the mother of such a son must herself have been an exceptional personality. See art. Mary (Virgin). Professor W. M. Ramsay, in his Education of Christ, shows how thorough was the instruction given to the Jewish youth. With this the mother had much to do. Granted that religious genius is not to be accounted for by environment, there still remains the overwhelming probability that the feminine qualities in the character of Jesus—His graciousness, gentleness, and sympathy—found a congenial setting in the home at Nazareth. Had it been otherwise, some hint of the fact must have been given in the records of His public ministry. It has been contended that such a hint is given in Mark 3:31 ff., an incident which also finds a place in the other Evangelists. Another is Matthew 10:35-37 || Mark 10:29, Luke 12:53; Luke 14:26. But it should not be overlooked that these hyperbolical expressions by no means involve the repudiation of the filial tie. They are rather designed to mark the thoroughness with which the religious life should be embraced, the higher love absorbing and transforming the lower. The emphasis with which, in other connexions, Jesus denounces contemporary sins against the filial relationship is a proof that with Him the ideal life did not consist with holding it in contempt (Mark 7:10-13, Matthew 15:4-9). The filial relationship is to be superseded only by the greater sacredness of the conjugal (Matthew 19:5, Mark 10:7). In His response to the question of the rich young ruler Jesus emphasizes the command to honour father and mother (Matthew 19:19 etc.), but (Matthew 19:29 etc.) loyalty to the truth as expressed in Himself is made to take precedence of all other ties. The reason for this insistence is obvious, and has been abundantly illustrated in the history of the world’s benefactors.

Concerning our Lord’s dealings with other mothers than His own, few details are given in the Gospels. It is noteworthy that the mother of Zebedee’s children (Matthew 20:20) goes unrebuked, as does the action of the mothers who brought their children to Him (Mark 10:13). His sympathy with motherhood may be inferred from these incidents, as also from the healing of the daughter of the Canaanitish woman (Matthew 15:22, Mark 7:26). The same is implied in the pathetic phrase (Luke 23:28) uttered on the way to Calvary. In nothing is the uniqueness of Jesus more clearly seen than in this kind of reverence for womanhood, so unexpected in a religious teacher of His time (John 4:27). See Woman.

Literature.—F. W. Robertson, Serm. 2nd ser. xviii. xix.; Rendel Harris, Union with God, ch. iv.; Stalker, Imago Christi, ch. ii.; A. Morris Stewart, Infancy and Youth, of Jesus, p. 105.

R. J. Campbell.