1. King 3: 16-28 Later, two women came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. 18 Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house. 19 Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant slept. She laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead; but when I looked at him closely in the morning, clearly it was not the son I had borne.” 22 But the other woman said, “No, the living son is mine, and the dead son is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead son is yours, and the living son is mine.” So, they argued before the king. 23 Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; while the other says, ‘Not so! Your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” 24 So the king said, “Bring me a sword,” and they brought a sword before the king. 25 The king said, “Divide the living boy in two; then give half to the one, and half to the other.” 26 But the woman whose son was alive said to the king— because compassion for her son burned within her—“Please, my Lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!” The other said, “It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it.” 27 Then the king responded: “Give the first woman the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.” 28 All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him. This story of the Old Testament is definitely not only about the Wisdom of a King. It is for me a beautiful Mother’s Day story that demonstrates what motherly love – yes, true love in general is about: Love is not one that is desiring, that wants to have and own, rather true Love is about letting go and wanting to give to the other. And with that comes, however, that love always also has something to do with „suffering“.
Letting go means also separation. You give of yourself, of your person, of your possession of your life energy. Already the experience of birth means the experience of separation from the mother. And so, from the very beginning the love of a mother is meant to be about letting go and giving freely. True love offers space so that the other can be free to discover their own life. And yet as the children grow it is so difficult when our teenagers begin to develop so differently from us, the parents. It is so challenging when their values, ideas and decisions are not what we would have wanted or imagined for them. Maybe they choose not to go to college, or at least not to the college that we would have hoped for our daughter, for our son. Letting go, allowing for freedom. When our children then leave home and start their own life. How difficult can the „empty nest“ experience be for many. And then with the Coronavirus many grown up children return home as their colleges closed down. And then suddenly parents and grown up children live together again in a tight space. Letting go can mean that the son does not get up bright and early for breakfast, but that he has a different rhythm to his day. And yet, even when you have grown up children, the role of being a parent does not stop. And so loving means empathy, wanting the best, letting go of our own plans as parents and instead wanting what is best for the next generation, even though we sometimes do not know anymore what this best is. Especially in times like these, where all our logical expectations of what is “normal” are being overthrown by the events of life itself. Letting go – letting go in love – that also means to trust the future, even when I do not have any control over it… The mother in our story wanted that her child would have a future, even when this meant that she herself would not be able to play a role in the life of her child. de. And that is precisely how the King Salomon recognized her as the real mother.
Selfless love. The highest form of love. The King Salomon was declared as wise, because he knew how this highest (or if you will deepest) form of love looked like. Even the Jewish God image back then had features that included this highest form of love, and King Salomon knew God through the stories of a motherly God who protected Israel, who accompanied and liberated Israel and also allowed it to make its own mistakes. Later on, this highest (or deepest) form of God’s love was becoming very concrete and visible in Jesus himself: Jesus has lived the mother love of God very practically. He showed empathy and compassion for sinners and healed the wounded. He showed deep love when he washed his disciples’ feet and broke bread with them. Until the last moment of his life he put his words into action: “There is no greater love as when someone gives his life for his friends.” And therefore, the love that Jesus showed us opened up a freedom that we did not know before to this degree. We call this freedom also „the freedom of the children of God” and Luther called it later on “The freedom of a Christian”. God’s love sets us free. It is not a possessive kind of love, not selfish, not a love that puts conditions on us and when things become difficult abandons us to the swords in this life. In the very essence of God, we can recognize what true love is about for real. God is not narcistic. God is abundantly giving love. It is love that sets free. It is healing acceptance and generous letting go. Many workers who currently carry out society on their shoulders gift us all during these times with such freely giving love. And this love hurts at times. It sometimes demands everything. It is exhausting and many tears are being cried. How was that again? With those tears? “It’s not a leak,” said the Lord, “It’s a tear.” “What’s it for?” “It’s for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride.” And God smiled gently and said: And this is why deeply loving humans are so similar to me.”
And therefore, we are thinking today and we are grateful especially to our mothers, but also to our fathers, our parents and our grandparents, and to all those motherly loving people who has accompanied us on our life’s path. We are thinking of all loving people who are risking their own life in these days, weeks and months, so that other people will live and will be able to survive. Today on Mother’s Day we are grateful for all loving persons, all who are „wise in matters of love“. Whoever it was in your own life: Your mother, your father, your grandparents, your teacher, your older brother or your older sister, a friend… In this mother figure, in this loving person we were able to encounter this freedom giving true love that deeply wants our very best. And this person laid the ground for our belief in a God who loves us in this way. And therefore we are glad! Therefore, we are grateful and we sing: „To God be our praise and our Thanksgiving!” Amen