When we think of mothers, what is the image that comes up for you? The quintessential mom in your mind is what? Kind, patient, loving, and curious about everyone’s day? We think of all the lovely things that moms are supposed to be, right? But then there’s the “mom voice”, which is perhaps a different side to moms.

What’s the mom voice like? Commanding and harsh, perhaps? There’s often no confusion about what mom wants when this voice comes out. And there’s no confusion in the moms when that voice comes out, right? It happens when all the other softer, kinder ways of parenting of come to an end and the truth of the moment is just simply said (or yelled) and the bargaining is done.

Let us give thanks to God for the mom voice! It has kept children and sometimes adults and pets alive through the millennia.

There are some passages in the gospels when Jesus doesn’t sound very nice, like his patience and gentle teaching is all used up. It sounds to me like his “mom voice” popped out and this is one of them.

It’s important to remember the mom voice doesn’t come from nowhere. Ask any mom and she’ll tell you that before the mom voice comes out, they had been asking, suggesting, cajoling, encouraging, offering options, and guiding for quite a while to no or little effect. So, eventually the mom voice comes out and folks might respond with surprise, like this came out of nowhere, but did it really? There’s context to this moments. Even if the ones on the receiving end of that voice feel like it has come out of nowhere, the mom could tell you all about the time leading up to that moment that apparently no one was hearing.

The context is important, so that’s why I added some extra text to the reading this week. When I was preparing this sermon, I wanted to know why Jesus’ mom voice was in action.

With the added text, we hear that Jesus’ disciples weren’t asking for more faith in a general sense. They were asking for more faith to give them the ability to do what Jesus asks of them. Meaning, they needed more faith to forgive a person who has repented.

In addition, leading up to this text are the parables and stories we’ve been reading recently; the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin, the parable of the prodigal son, the parable of the dishonest manager, and the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. We’ve been reading these and talking about these texts, and in the end, they are mostly about being kind, loving, generous, and letting our own little ego needs to soften for the sake of loving our fellow people who are also flawed.

We’re flawed, they’re flawed, God loves us all, so let’s try to love each other. That’s about it right there.

This has been a lot of patient, kind, and beautiful teaching. So, when we get to this text and Jesus tells us to forgive those who have repented or are at least trying to (because 7 in one day is a lot) and the disciples basically say that need their faith increased to pull this off, Jesus just might have had enough of looking for ways to get out of the teaching. His mom voice popped out.

Remember last week’s text about Lazarus and the rich man ends with Abraham saying roughly, “Your brothers have Moses and prophets. They have what they need to follow through on the basics of being a good human beings to other humans.” Jesus, in this text, sounds like he’s carrying on with this theme. He says roughly, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could do this impossible and ultimately useless act of moving this tree. You can do even that. So too can you do the will of the Father, to be generous with your forgiveness and loving hearts.” We have what we need to do this and we shouldn’t expect special praise or adoration for being so giving. This is the job of being a disciple. These are the basics.

Last week we talked about the young woman in the internment camp in Holland during WWII and her capacity to love her fellow humans, regardless of people’s capacity to deserve that love or to make that love easy. This sort of love, care, and forgiveness are a part of our discipleship. These are the basics. Jesus, with his mom voice, is letting us know that we too have the faith, we have what we need, we have the teachings of Moses and the prophets, we have the gospels, we have our prayer practices, we have baptism and communion, we have our loving church community, and we have opportunities around us to give and love. We have what we need to be a disciple even if it is hard and comes at us seven times a day.

It’s pretty stark, wouldn’t you say? No one likes the mom voice popping out in our direction. And I don’t want to minimize how hard forgiveness can be and sometimes it even may seem impossible, even if someone has repented. Even if they haven’t, we are called to love our enemies. We don’t get to find our way out of this command very easily.

But to be honest, sometimes I’m not even sure what it means exactly to forgive someone or ourselves. I wonder if forgiveness is unique to each situation, as well, because I don’t believe it would mean that God wants us to just pretend dangerous or unloving behavior doesn’t really matter. We don’t have to allow people to do just anything they want in our lives and in our world and then pretend it doesn’t matter. So, I wondered what it is to forgive and I came up with some ideas.

I invite you to call someone mind who you struggle to forgive, including potentially yourself, and consider these elements of forgiveness:

1. We no longer hold ourselves in a category that is separate from the offending person, or hold ourselves separate from everyone else. We can recognize our shared humanity, our shared struggle, and acknowledge that they too are on a journey with God.
2. We find a way to want the best for this person. We refuse to seek vengeance or retributive justice, but instead reach for restorative justice and the establishment of a right and good relationship with them, whatever that might entail.
3. We can indeed love them, even if we need to set boundaries to honor our own need for safety or respect.

Do you think this would feel like forgiveness if you could move from anger and blame to this description I gave? What would this transition feel like for you? What does that shift feel like in your body? Does it feel like release? Does it feel better for you, regardless of how it all feels for them? Does it help to think of forgiveness in this way?

Our psalm today gives very clear instruction, it seems. Don’t let our disapproval of folks doing horrible things get in the way of our own walk with God. We are to keep our focus on God, our discipleship, and the path of simply loving people…including those folks doing horrible things.

Impossible, we may think. We need more faith, we may think. But I do wonder from this text if Jesus is telling us that we have what we need to walk the walk. We just need to get busy doing the work. Enough with the excuses. Enough with all the delay tactics. Jesus’ mom voice popped out, telling us to get to work loving, forgiving, caring, and letting our egos melt away in the warmth of God’s love for us all.

So, who do you have to forgive? Can you recognize your shared humanity with them? Can you see we all share in falling short of the grace of God? Can you forgive God for showering them with the same promises and gifts as yourself? Can you want the best for them and be open to restorative justice, trusting God with that process? If you can say yes to all of this, do you think you have forgiven? What else might need to be reconciled in you to bring you into right relationship with this person? What might God be asking of you?

In all of this, we too are children of God who are forgiven for our struggles to forgive. Let us remember, the disciples are always forgiven, just as moms (at least ideally) forgive their little ones who are not listening yet again. The love always flows. We are given the opportunity and also expected to be transformed by God’s love so that we can forgive as we are forgiven. And that includes forgiving ourselves, if that indeed is the struggle.

So may we all be transformed ever more deeply in our discipleship and in our journey to be able to live as Jesus calls us to live. It is a challenge. For you, that challenge may need support from your family, friends, counselor, pastor, and God. But, we do have what we need to listen, follow, love, and forgive.

AMEN