Title: Mother's Heart / Genesis 21:14-19
We have ten fingers. Why did God make ten fingers? Someone said that you have ten fingers so you don't forget the ten months in your mother's womb. When I was talking about this in a lecture at school, one student raised his hand and said, "I'm chubby, and I have ten fingers too." Anyway, the fact that we have ten fingers is a message to remember and not forget the love of our mother who gave birth to us.
Is it only when a parent's love for their child is only in the mother's womb? Isn't the love that parents love for their children, even giving them everything they have? Isn't it the feeling of parents that they don't value their own lives in front of their children? It happened recently in Ulsan. At an unmanned railroad crossing, a six-year-old mentally retarded son was heading towards the crossing, unaware that the train was coming. A 20-year-old mother saw this and said she would save her son, but was hit by a train and died. If you are in your 20s, you are a new generation mother. A mother's heart is a deep love regardless of generation and culture.
This kind of mother's heart is always and everywhere. It is the mother's heart that does not change depending on the situation. Look at the text of the text. Abraham's family had no children. In the end, Abraham obtains permission from his wife Sarah and gives birth to a son to Sarah's servant Hagar. His name is Ishmael. Then, years later, Abraham and Sarah gave birth to a son, whose name was Isaac. Ishmael secretly tormented Isaac, and Sarah could not see it. Sarah pressured Abraham to drive out her servants Hagar and Ishmael, and eventually Hagar and Ishmael were driven out into the wilderness of Beersheba. He went out with some water in the leather sack, but the water ran out, and he ran out of food. Ishmael cries for food. She couldn't see her son dying from weeping, so she laid him down in the shade of a tree and prayed earnestly to God.
Hagar's heart is the heart of all our mothers. The heart of a mother in the royal palace, the heart of a mother driven out in the wilderness, the heart of a mother who has learned a lot, the heart of a mother who has learned little, the heart of a mother who has a lot, and the heart of a mother who has a little is the same heart .
Not long ago, I had lunch at a restaurant in Yeongdeungpo history. When I saw the appearance, the mother came from the countryside and the son looked like a young man working in a factory near Yeongdeungpo. What does the son want his mother to eat? When asked, my mother replied that I was full now and refused to do so. Then my son ordered wild vegetable bibimbap and started eating it deliciously. The mother is watching her son eating. I saw the mother, who said she was full when her son had left about a third of his meal, scraped off the leftover bibimbap and ate it without leaving a single grain. This seems to be the mother's heart. For the sake of their children, it seems that the mother's heart is the way she says she is full even when she is hungry.
There was a middle-aged woman who lost her husband early and lived alone with her only daughter. Once, I heard that my beloved daughter had run away and was working in a bar in a city. The mother went looking for a place where her daughter could be and distributed flyers. However, there was no picture of the daughter on the flyer. Along with the mother's photo was written the following words: “Dear daughter, your mother is waiting for you eagerly.” The mother thought that if she put a picture of her daughter on a flyer, her face would be known and people would feel ashamed. So instead of her daughter, she put a picture of herself. In the end, the daughter returned to her mother's arms three days after running away. And she shed tears of contrition. “I couldn't turn away from my mother's deep love. Thank you for the love that was put to shame for me.”
For the sake of her children, it seems that it is the mother's heart that forgets hunger and forgets shame.
Such a mother's heart is the heart of God. A mother's heart is a heart given by God. The hand of God's love is delivered to us through Mother. Therefore, the best seminary school in the world is not a school in America, not a school in Germany, nor a school in Korea. The best seminary school is in mother's arms. This is because we can soon experience the heart of God in the arms of Mother's love.
A mother's heart is unconditional love. This is the steadfast love of God. God's love for us is always and unchanging. The Lord has promised to love us to the end. Although Hagar is driven out, there is nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep, but her love for her son Ishmael does not change. No matter how the world changes, God's love for us does not change. Paul confessed, "I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Then, more specifically, what about the mother's heart? Most importantly, mothers suffer the most when they see their children die. Food was running out, and the child Ishmael was dying under the light of the falling sun. The mother, Hagar, could hardly see her, so she laid her son in the shade of a tree and cried out to God from a distance of about 300 meters and prayed. It is the heart of parents that they cannot see their dying children with their eyes open. So, it is said that when parents die, they bury them in the ground, and when their children die, they bury them in their hearts.
I hope that there will be no such pain of having children die first. I have a friend from Vietnam, Ruat, who studied together in the US. This family was a happy family with two siblings, a son and a daughter. After communism, he kept his faith and was put in a concentration camp for being among the intellectuals and suffered tremendous hardship. Then, Ruat planned an escape from Vietnam. will you go alone? Shall we all go together? Are you going only as a couple? After thinking about it, Ruat finally planned to escape with only his five-year-old son. There was a clear reason. It costs a lot of money to go all together, and because my daughter is six months old, if she cried, she could be caught on the way. Then he tried to escape with only his son, leaving his wife and daughter behind, because everyone had to lose their lives. Then why did you take your son with you? He tried to escape with his young son because he feared that if he left his son alone, he would go to America and start a new house. succeded. More than a decade later, I saw my wife and daughter living together in the United States. What if we go together and die together? I left it in my mind.
The hearts of parents do not open their eyes to see their children die. This is the heart of God. God suffers the most when he sees us dying. When the people of Israel suffered as slaves in Egypt and saw many people dying, they were in agony and called Moses to bring them out of Egypt. When we all died because of our sins, God sent His only Son to deliver us from death through such tremendous sacrificial love.
Our life was a situation where everyone was dying like Ishmael, but God has allowed us to live. “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me will live even if he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” God is our Father. She is like our mother. He doesn't just let us die. Let us believe and follow the fact that God opens our way of life.
A new path of hope was opened for Hagar and Ishmael, who were in crisis. God opened Hagar's eyes so that she could find a spring of water. He fills the skins with water and makes his dying son Ishmael drink it. The dying son was given new courage and strength. A mother's heart is the desire to give courage to her children. This heart is the heart of God. "Get up, raise the child and hold him with your hands." Watering the dying child, he said, "Dear son! We are so miserable now that we were driven out, but God will make us into a great nation. Be strong. Get up." It is the heart of a mother, that is, the heart of God, that opens the way to life and gives new courage and strength to the dying son.
The book The Five Body Dissatisfaction is selling well as a bestseller. The main character, Ototake, is a handicapped person with no arms or legs. However, Ototake never loses his confidence and lives a bright life. When my friends made fun of me when I was a kid, "Hey, you bastard with no limbs!", he said, "Hey, you bastard with legs." This Otodake always lives brightly. Always smiling brightly People expect, "People expect tears from me, but from my point of view, it was fun, I hope to hear the reaction that there is humor." During the broadcast, a student asked, "Do you always live confidently without losing your smile even in such adverse conditions?" He replied, "It's because of my mother." When Otodake was born, the medical staff had already learned that he had no arms or legs, so they decided not to show the baby to his mother. When I saw my son a month later, I thought many people would faint. My mother's first words were, "You're cute." Continuing, her mother gave Ototake courage and hope, and did not spare her encouragement to lead a confident life. After all, he recently graduated from Waseda University in Japan and lives with confidence.
It is a mother's heart, that is, God's heart, to make her live courageously. God gives us a way to live. And you want to live courageously. You want to live with confidence.
Joshua succeeded Moses and led the Israelites into the land of Canaan. Moses said, "Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, do not tremble before them, for the LORD your God goes with you, and he will never leave you nor forsake you." God has promised not to leave us to continue to give us courage.
Dear saint! A mother's heart is a heart given by God. He wants us to live courageously and not die.
Then, how should we live? Let's live filially to our parents in the Lord. When we are filial to our parents in the Lord, we are doing well to God. In the name of the Lord, I bless you that you will do filial piety while you are alive, and that you will become a saint who takes care of the adults in your age when you die.