God's Motherly Love

This spring a mother bird made her nest atop the decorative wreath fixed to the front door of our home. I'm sure it was an inviting discovery at first glance: a nest secure and stable while lodged between the wreath and the door. Little did the bird know she made a home in the worst location in the entire neighborhood. Having three young children and a dog that are constantly in and out of the house in the spring and summer months, this door swings into our home what seems like every few minutes. Our 60 lb hound dog with a super-powered nose is on constant alert barking as the bird flutters to and fro. But the bird couldn't go back now. The nest was made and the eggs had been laid. She would need to make the best out of the situation despite the non-stop stress and intense concern she was clearly feeling. Observing our new feathered neighbor provided an intimate front row seat to the relentless and laborious love of a mother bird. Each time the door opened she would take off and perch on a nearby tree, never losing sight of her nest. Clearly stressed, she would fly back and forth doing everything in her power to advocate and care for her growing family. She powerfully modeled care, concern, presence and love in the most difficult of circumstances.

It's no wonder the Bible uses the image of a mother bird's wings to describe God's posture towards us. Jesus channels this imagery to express God's heart of compassion and concern in Matthew 23:37:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.

This is remarkable! Jesus provides a motherly portrait of God's love. Why do we miss this? Jesus' bible - our old testament - contains numerous examples of motherly portraits of God's love. For example, in Deuteronomy 32:11 Moses declared this about God:

Like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them up and carried them safely on his pinions

There it is again. Fatherly and motherly portraits of God's love are intertwined. The Psalms are filled with talk of God's wings of care. Although not explicitly motherly images, since most all bird species have mothers taking lead on nest duties, it's fair to presume these images provide space for the motherly qualities of God's care to be considered. Like here in Psalm 63:7:

Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.

Communicating the motherly side of God's love is not a concerning attempt from the far left to smuggle in a secular agenda. This is a thoroughly biblical idea. The above painting was done by a woman in my church after reflecting on the motherly images of God's love mentioned above. Her gorgeous painting captures the beauty, non-coercive love (notice the space between the wings?), safety and protection of God's love for people.

A Deconstruction We Desperately Need

"Deconstruction" is now common vernacular in the church. It's a word that means ten different things to ten different people. But deconstruction always involves a rethinking. It's the breaking down of previously held convictions to see what actually sticks as authentically our own. Not all forms of deconstruction are unhealthy. In fact, I'm convinced many forms of deconstruction are absolutely necessary for a lifelong discipleship to Jesus. Unhealthy forms involve taking cultural values and the intellectual fashion of the day to self-righteously pick apart the church and faith. Healthy forms, on the other hand, use a Jesus-centered interpretation of the bible to critique forms and expressions of faith and church that have lost their way.

Removing God from a male/masculine box is a deconstruction the church must undertake. To do so we will need to invite the church to consider the breadth of passages throughout the scripture that offer motherly portraits of God. What follows is a robust, but not exhaustive, list of many of these passages:

God Transcends Gender (Genesis 1:27).

In what is a critical verse in God's story we learn God created both men and women in the image of God. Men and women. They were both reflections of God and what God is like. Teacher and pastor Jann Aldredge-Canton puts it this way,

If male and female are in the image of God, then God’s image includes male and female…this passage makes it clear that femaleness and maleness are in some way a part of God’s nature

This passage is foundational because the theological truth it contains protects us from placing God in a gendered box. This verse makes it impossible for God to be fully male or masculine (whatever that language means to us) anymore than God could be fully female or feminine. Amy Peeler, in her new book Women and the Gender of God, makes an important point when she says,

Many people (even those just casually familiar with the Christian tradition) will answer in the negative when asked whether God the Father is an embodied male.  If asked, however, whether God is more like men or women, preference for the male, or even stumbling over the question, often reveals the presence of an underlying assumption.

Spot on. This should not be.

God's womb-like love (Exodus 33:19; Jer 31:20; Isaiah 46:3-4; Job 38:8-9, 28-29)

The Bible was not written in English (thanks captain obvious). The OT was written in Hebrew and the NT was written in greek. At times the richness or accuracy of what was originally written can't be perfectly translated. For example, the Hebrew word "Rahem" when used in the plural is often translated as compassion or mercy when referring to God. This word comes from the root word for womb. When we read of God's compassion we ought to think about a womb-like love, like here in Jeremiah 31:20:

Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion [rahem] for him,” declares the Lord.

There are more direct examples of God's womb-like love for creation like here in Job 38 as God responds to Job:

Does the rain have a father? Who gives birth to the dew?Who is the mother of the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens?

God as a woman in labor (Deut 32:18; Isaiah 42:14; John 16:21-22)

I've observed three different labors. Don't worry, I'm not a creeper who casually drops by maternity floors. I've got three kids so I've had a front row seat to all of the intensity that is having a child. What is more intense emotionally and physically in the human experience than this? In Isaiah 42:14 we get a glimpse into the intense grief God experiences as the nation of Israel fails to represent God well. God's people are neglecting justice and mercy and God cries out in anguish like a mother giving birth:

He will say, “I have long been silent; yes, I have restrained myself. But now, like a woman in labor, I will cry and groan and pant.

God as a nursing mother (Numbers 11:11-14; Isaiah 49:15; Isaiah 66:12-13)

Isaiah contains some gorgeous passages about God's nurturing love. God's people are in exile in Babylon and crying out to God. They wonder if God is absent and begin to accuse God of a lack of care. God responds reminding them of God's desire to restore and redeem through imagery of a mother nursing a child:

Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.” “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!”

Or here again in Isaiah 66:12-13

This is what the Lord says: “I will give Jerusalem a river of peace and prosperity. The wealth of the nations will flow to her. Her children will be nursed at her breasts, carried in her arms, and held on her lap. I will comfort you there in Jerusalem as a mother comforts her child.”

Divine wisdom as feminine (Proverbs 1:20; 1:23; 1:33; 4:5-8)

Proverbs is a book about divine wisdom and the value of pursuing and walking in that wisdom. Divine wisdom is portrayed as feminine like here in Proverbs 4:5-8:

Get wisdom; develop good judgment. Don’t forget my words or turn away from them. Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you. Love her, and she will guard you. Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do, develop good judgment. If you prize wisdom, she will make you great. Embrace her, and she will honor you.

God's love is like a midwife (Psalm 22:9; Psalm 71:6; Isaiah 66:7-9)

Midwives were extremely common in ancient culture. No wonder God's nurture and love was compared to the care provided by a midwife like here in Psalm 22:9-10:

You brought me safely from my mother’s womb and led me to trust you at my mother’s breast. I was thrust into your arms at my birth. You have been my God from the moment I was born.

God as a woman in the parables of Jesus (Luke 13:18-21; Luke 15:1-10)

Multiple times in Jesus' parables God is illustrated as a woman. For example, in Luke 13 God is like a woman making dough. In Luke 15 God is a woman searching for a lost coin.

The list could go on, like that unexpected passage in Hosea where God is compared to an angry and bereaved mother bear robbed of her cubs. But I'll stop the list here. The breadth of these passages reveal that motherly portraits of God, although far less common than fatherly portraits, are indeed a part of the scripture. Reclaiming (or claiming for the first time) the motherly portraits of God's love is a thoroughly orthodox and biblical assignment.

Breaking Through the Patriarchy

Considering the highly patriarchal context in which the books of the Bible were written, this many motherly portraits of God is nothing short of remarkable. Here is a list that Paul Smith provides in his book Is It Okay To Call God Mother? of the realities of being a woman in Jesus' time:

• “Jewish women could not testify in court since they were socially considered liars and legally considered minors”

• “The one-time pharisee Josephus said, ‘the woman, according to the Law, is in all things inferior to the man’”

• “The right to divorce was exclusively to husbands”

• “If a man died, the property went to his sons, not his wife”

• “A wife was the husbands property and absolutely subordinate to him”

• “In the case of divorce, children remained with the father”

• “If you had a mother, but no father, you were legally considered an orphan”

• “Jewish women took no part in public life and it was preferable in general for them not to go out at all”

• “Usually only men were taught the torah, not women”

• “Women were forbidden to teach”

Yes, it is true that fatherly and masculine language for God is the predominant language of the Bible. But it is also true that motherly portraits of God appear a remarkable number of times, especially considering the cultural realities in the ancient world.

Pondering God From Another Angle

About ten years ago I visited Niagara Falls for the first time. It was a pit stop on the way back to Chicago with my brother's after a backpacking adventure in the Adirondack mountains of New York. For this visit we were exclusively on the U.S. side. The view was stunning.

Shortly after our short visit to the falls several of my PA friends insisted I must go back and view the falls from the Canadian side. The view was apparently even more stunning from a different angle. A few years later I found myself back in Niagara Falls on a trip with my in-laws. This time we were sure take in the falls while standing on Canadian soil. I observed the same falls but from a totally different angle. And it was so worth it! Niagara Falls was even more impressive. The U.S. view, although an amazing sight, couldn't contain all of the beauty.

I believe that considering the motherly portraits of God is like choosing to view Niagara Falls from Canada. It takes a little more effort and intentionality to get to the other side. Our default mode is to view God through a male/fatherly lens. And we should! Considering God as father is good and right and necessary. But going to the effort of pondering God's motherly love, although it may not come as naturally and take more work, is critical in getting a full taste of the goodness and beauty of God.

This conversation isn't some random and unimportant theological rabbit trail. There are significant positive implications when we remove God from a masculine box and consider God's motherly qualities including:

• Centering women more within God's story. When we consciously or subconsciously assume that God is male then we consciously or subconsciously think that men are more godly than women. Tragically, women become second class citizens within the church. As our heated debates on women's roles in the church roll on I scratch my head as to why egalitarian folks don't often discuss a theology of God that includes motherly portraits. I contend this theology is critical in making progress within the church to center the gifts and voices of women.

• We will access a fuller extend of God's goodness and beauty. Church leaders hope congregants experience deep communion and intimacy with God. Discipleship language is often framed around certain "rhythms" or "pathways" that include a focus on a personal and practical pursuit of God through a variety of spiritual practices. Yet, by only exposing the church to fatherly portraits of God's love is limiting. It's like encouraging someone to play golf and then only handing them seven clubs. Those original clubs are important and needed, but there are critical tools that are missing to play the game well. Similarly, exposure to the motherly qualities of God's love provides critical theological tools and resources we all need to connect more deeply with God.

I am not advocating that we create God in whatever image feels "right" to us in a way that tames God and soothes our therapeutic needs. I am advocating that we take advantage of all the ways scripture gives us permission to approach God that facilitate trust and intimacy. It was A.W. Tozer who famously said, “what comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us”. It's a bold claim but there is a lot of truth to it. The way we envision God and God's posture towards us profoundly impacts desire for God and trust in God. May the Motherly portraits of God's love in scripture bring healing and enhancement to our mental conception of what God is like.