Isaiah is speaking to a broken people.
We also hear in the Psalms:
18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18
It brings to my mind Jimmy Ruffin’s song “What becomes of the broken hearted?”
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.

Isaiah says, comfort, O comfort my people.
I remember seeing these words at a hospital written on the wall of the palliative care unit. Comfort care.

How does Isaiah drive home the image of comfort?
The comfort of a mother –
How? As a mother comforts a child, that is how God comforts us.

From skinned knees to broken hearts, our mother comforts us.

As we saw in the video Ann Jarvis wanted to honor her mother and all mothers. Anna Jarvis, Ann’s mother, was an advocate for mothers everywhere and for a message and action of peace. Ann had no children of her own but loved her mother and all her mother did to bring and encourage and to comfort no only her child but the worlds’ children. She was a Methodist in West Virginia and in PhiladelphiaHistoric St. George’s United Methodist Church.

My family had a mother who, as soon as you called and if you were sad about something she said, “What’s wrong?” she could hear it in our voice. That kind of comfort stays with you. When your mother comforts you it is an easy transition to see God as a comforter.

Isaiah also uses another metaphor. A mother does not forget nursing her child. Those of you who are mothers remember those tender yet sleepless nights of feeding your children. When you remember caring for them when they are young, you don’t forget them when they are old.

In the past, I often avoided mother’s day messages on Sunday because I know some of you did not have a comforting mother. Some people had mothers who did forget that they cared for their child. Isaiah knows that, even if they do forget, I will not forget God reminds us. God is the kind of parent who is far greater than we can attempt to be.

As parents you may have had to learn on the job and we all make mistakes. I remember when I was young, we talked about saving money for our kid’s college then one friend piped up, “Forget that, I am saving for their therapy because I know they will need it. I will not get it right all the time.”

Even if the mother forgets nursing her child, I will not forget. As we sang all during Lent, the words of the thief on the cross, ‘remember me when you come into your kingdom’. And did Jesus remember him? So much more. He is with him in paradise.

Deuteronomy 32:8, the God who gave us birth – the God who birthed us, the creator – sometimes WE forget the one who bore us, who gave us birth. But he was there at our borning cry and will be there til the end. Jesus told us he will be with us til the end of the age. There at our borning cry, comforting us when in hospice care. From the womb to the tomb, she will not forget us.

Jesus longed to comfort those he walked the earth with. Jesus, had a mother who adored him. I like taking a stroll through Jesus life through the eyes of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Roman Catholic church knows the beauty and the care of Mary. Mary at the beginning, saying, “let it be to me according to your word.” Stepped out in faith as many of you did to become a parent. Mary traveled while 9 months pregnant, had the baby in a barn. Heard stories from shepherds and magi and sages about her child’s significance, as though she didn’t already know. She pondered these things. How many mothers ponder or down right worry about the future for their child? She must have been filled with joy and pain when Simeon at his circumcision told her this child was a light to the gentiles and a sword shall pierce her soul. She knows Jesus worth and his abilities. She wants him to do something about the wedding feast running out of wine. He of course listens to his mother. She follows him as he leads and preaches and heals. She is there at the cross at the end. She is there after he ascends offering unity to a fractured world and devoted to prayer. Acts 1:14

In addition to what is written, we can imagine Mary’s life as Jesus’ mother. For much happened in between born of the virgin Mary and suffered under Pontius Pilate.

Jesus knew about a comforting mother. He longed to comfort the people who walked the earth with him. He looked over the city and wept. He said, how he longed to gather the people as a mother hen gathers her chicks. They as we often do, resisted that kind of gathering, that kind of mother hen protection.

But he compares what he longed to do as a mother hen. He compares himself to a mother hen. A beautiful metaphor on this mother’s day.

Psalm 91:3-5 He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. You will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day.

All well and good, but what about those who were never mothers? We already talked about those who never had a comforting or nurturing mother. But what about those who never had children? Ann Jarvis who founded mother’s day, never had a child of her own.

One day when Jesus’ mother was in the crowd, the disciples told him she was there. And his response? Who is my mother? I can’t help but think of that little children’s book “Are you my mother?” a little bird goes around asking people and things. Are you my mother?

Who is my mother? Everyone who does the will of the father is my mother, my sibling …. We are part of God’s family. Here on mother’s day we can be each other’s mother and brother and sister as the family of God. May it be so, AMEN.