Theologians Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Susan Shaw describe how the inclusive and nurturing character of a Mothering God can provide comfort, especially for those who are wounded or hurt:
Mothering is something people of all genders can do when they offer love, support, nurturance, and guidance to others. Therefore, simply replacing images of God the Father with God the Mother may be counterproductive. After all, earthly mothers, like earthly fathers, can let us down…. Instead, we see “mothering” as an action rather than a being.
The Mothering God gives birth to us and gives us life. The Mothering God nurtures us and provides shelter when we need it. Luke 13:34 says, “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” As a hen gathering her brood, the Mothering God protects us under her wings. When we feel alone and broken, God provides shelter for our brokenness, loss, and suffering. Those who suffer from the effects of sexual violence can turn to the Mothering God to wrap us in her arms to provide everlasting love and support.
In the Hebrew Bible, the Spirit is written in the Hebrew feminine as ruach, who brings forth life in creation (Genesis 1:2). In the New Testament, pneuma is the Greek word for the Spirit who gives forth life…. The Spirit gives life and is the creative and maternal God who brings forth the birth of Jesus and the new members of the body of Christ. The Spirit God moves us aways from traditional patriarchal notions about God and moves us toward a wholistic, all-embracing understanding of God. [1]
Karen Baker-Fletcher offers additional maternal metaphors for God in the Hebrew Bible:
Mother metaphors and metaphors for God drawn from nature are present in several passages of Hebrew and Christian scripture…. God is like a mother eagle who catches and bears its young on her large, strong wings until they learn to fly freely on their own (Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 32:11). God labors like a woman in childbirth in God’s love for creation (Isaiah 42:14). In Isaiah 49:15, God is like a mother who cannot forget her children, thus functioning as a model for human motherhood and parenting….
In the book of Exodus and elsewhere, God is El Shaddai, God of the mountain or God Almighty [Genesis 17:1; Exodus 6:3; Job 8:5]…. In the original Hebrew, the phrase simply reads “God of the mountain.” In Hebrew, the word shaddai has more than one meaning. It is also the word for “breast”…. Therefore, El Shaddai is not only as mighty, grand, and awesome as a mountain but as powerfully nurturing, gentle, and loving as a mother’s gift, shared from her bosom. Behind her bosom, lie her heart and lungs—the power of life and breath. God is like a mother. El Shaddai is God of the mountain and God who is like a mother’s bosom, mighty and intimately nurturing at once
| MAY 14, 2025 Does Sin Cause Disease? |
 The story of Jesus healing the paralytic man in Mark 2 is a complicated tangle of cultural, biblical, and theological beliefs about the connection between sin and disease. It’s a theme that we’ll see with many of Jesus’ miraculous healings, and one we must understand to make sense of these stories. Here’s the key idea—in much of the ancient world, calamity or misfortune was associated with divine judgment. Simply put, if something bad happened to you, it’s because you must have deserved it. God was punishing you for your sin. Of course, many ancient people also believed the inverse—if you were rich, healthy, and successful, it was because God was blessing you for your righteousness. It was the ancient Jewish version of karma. Those shaped by this karmic vision of reality had only one way to make sense of diseases like leprosy or disabilities like blindness or paralysis. People suffering from these conditions were guilty of sin. This simplistic understanding permeated the culture of Jesus and his disciples, and Jesus confronted and deconstructed these beliefs on many occasions. (We’ll cover some of those stories later in this devotional series.) There are times, however, when Jesus chose to acquiesce to his culture’s karmic misunderstandings in order to communicate a deeper truth. That’s what we find in Mark 2.When the paralytic man is lowered through the roof in front of Jesus, it’s evident to everyone that he was seeking a miracle—the physical healing of his body. So why are Jesus’ first words to him, “Son, your sins are forgiven”? It’s because the moment everyone in that crowded house saw the man coming through the roof on his mat, they would have all had the same thought—There is a sinful man. The link between disease and sin was so established in the culture that they were practically synonymous. Knowing this, Jesus decided to use this memorable moment to make a shocking statement about his own authority to forgive sins. And it worked. The people gathered in the house, including the religious experts, were horrified that Jesus claimed the divine power to forgive sins. To address their skepticism, Jesus then healed the paralyzed man, who promptly stood up and walked out of the house carrying his mat. Once again, we must interpret the scene through the eyes of those in the house. If they believed his paralysis was caused by God’s judgment for his sin, then his healing must mean God had also forgiven his sin. You can understand why Mark says everyone was “amazed.” Their astonishment wasn’t simply because a paralyzed man had been healed, but because Jesus—a rabbi from Nazareth—evidently possessed God’s authority to forgive sins. But this leaves us with a nagging question: Are diseases, sickness, or disabilities the result of sin? Generally, the answer is—no. As I stated earlier, there are many places where Jesus directly debunks this popular view. And while there are instances in the Bible of God using illness and calamity as a form of judgment against sin (the plagues upon Egypt come to mind), there is also an entire Old Testament book written specifically to break our tendency to associate misfortune with sinfulness (see the Book of Job). And while disease and death are the effects of a world under the curse of evil and sin, that’s very different than linking a specific instance of disease with a specific person’s sin.In the end, we shouldn’t use the story of Jesus healing the paralytic man in Mark 2 to build a systematic theology about the connection between disease and sin. Rather, we should allow the story to provoke in us the same amazement and wonder the people in the house experienced when they realized Jesus possesses the authority to both heal our bodies and forgive our sins. DAILY SCRIPTURE MARK 2:1-12 LUKE 13:1-5 WEEKLY PRAYER. From Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it. I am weak in the faith; strengthen me. I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent that my love may go out to my neighbor. I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether. O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you. Amen. |
