Mama God

“For thus says the Lord... As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 66:12a,13 NRSV Bible)
We have a five-month-old grandchild in our lives, our first. Recently, he was sick with his first high fever. He was achy and congested and very, very crabby, which is not his nature.
Of course, his mother caught the same bug. As a single parent, she found caring for a sick baby while sick herself to be exhausting.
So, my husband and I brought the baby to our house. We took him to the doctor to get his ears, throat and lungs checked for infection, and then tried to keep him comfortable enough to eat and sleep a little, which mostly required nearly constant holding and bouncing, plus plenty of snot-sucking with a brilliant little gadget called the Nose Frida.
A little time with a sick baby reminded me how much love, energy, and just plain work it takes to be a mom.
So often in our faith we are presented only with an image of God as Father, which is the metaphor favored in the patriarchy of Biblical times. Often, too, that father metaphor is paired with wrath and vengeance—which might have been a parenting technique of the time, but is frowned upon today, for good reasons.
There are also a few Biblical images of God as Mother, and they make me wonder if we could loosen our grip on the Father metaphor a bit, and begin to imagine God’s love through the metaphor of a mother’s love, too.
How is God like a loving mother?
The loving mother gives of her own body, in the first place, risking her life, shedding her blood, to bring her child into the world. If she adopts her child, her heart grows to make room for the child of another woman’s womb.
Either way, the loving mother feeds, cleans, and comforts her child. She provides resources, sacrificing time and sleep and all the alternate child-less futures she might once have dreamed of. She cares for the child’s sickness even when she herself is suffering.
The loving mother is patient when her child misbehaves. She sets limits, teaches a better way, and enforces consequences. As he grows, she is worried by the troubles he brings, yet she forgives, always longing for the child’s happiness and well-being. The loving mother will give her own life to save her child, if necessary.
Yet, no matter how much she wants to, a loving mother cannot make the really important choices for her child, nor can she protect him from all harm. He is free to choose poorly. She does not control her grown child, but prays for him, gives guidance when asked, and delights in his calls and visits. She wants him close. No matter how far he wanders, she welcomes him home.
Doesn’t this describe the God we see revealed in Jesus Christ? Our Mother God creates, sacrifices, provides resources, sets limits, teaches good choices, forgives bad ones, all the while hoping that we—her children—will choose to follow her ways and visit often.
Jesus once exclaimed that he wanted to gather Jerusalem’s children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings (Matthew 23:37). Throughout the Bible and the traditions of our faith, and in our own experience, we can hear the beating heart of a Mother God who gives life, supports growth, and even suffers and dies to bring her children home safe.
I am convinced that God loves all her children like this. Your Mama God loves you more than you have been loved by humans, more than you have managed to love yourself. You are being held in her care right now, in your problems and troubles, as much as in your contentment and delight.
She thinks you’re beautiful just the way you are, and wants to give you everything you need to be whole, and hopes you will let her take you into her arms again.
Photo: Rev. Karen R.  Larson  pastor at Zwingli United Church  of Christ