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    "Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am the Lord your God." (NASB) 

 Preaching a Mother's Day sermon is becoming increasingly challenging because of the changing roles of women in our culture.  It used to be that Mothers were the primary care givers for the children and fulfilled all the traditional nurturing roles such as food preparation, caring for the home, and serving as the nurse-maid for the children.  Expectations have changed and so has the roles fathers play in the nurturing/care-giving of the children.  Used to, the Mother's Day sermon was the one time during the year when the faith-community would pause to reflect on all that Mothers do for us and try to show them our appreciation for those things.  Today, in most homes, caring for the family's need's is a cooperative effort.   Mom has her chores, but so do Dad and the kids.  This cultural shift changes the dynamic of what we are doing here today.  Among other things it forces us to go beyond shallow sentimentality or forced appreciation to a deeper reflection on what good mothers do for their children and how children should respond to them. 

 We all know that we are to obey our parents.  Proverbs 1:8 says, "Hear, my son, your father's instruction, And do not forsake your mother's teaching;" (NASB) But we are also supposed to show them reverence, as our text today says.  That is what Elisha did in 1 Kings 19:20 when he received the calling to be a prophet.  It says, "And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, ‘Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you.' And he said to him, ‘Go back again, for what have I done to you?'" (NASB) 

 Good mothers are worthy of reverence like Leviticus 19:3 says--or to use a more familiar word, honor--because of the way they believe in their children.  We usually see this scripture in a negative light, but today I want you consider what James' & John's mother was attempting to do in Matthew 20:20-21.

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