at his
mother was not to him what mothers ordinarily are to their children;
that he did not need mothering as other children do; that by reason of
the Deity indwelling, his character unfolded from within, without the
aid of home teaching and training, and the other educational influences
which do so much in shaping the character of children in common homes.

But there is no Scriptural ground for this feeling. The humanity of
Jesus was just like our humanity. He came into the world just as
feeble and as untaught as any other child that ever was born. No
mother was ever more to her infant than Mary was to Jesus. She taught
him all his first lessons. She gave him his first thoughts about God,
and from her lips he learned the first lispings of prayer. Jewish
mothers cared very tenderly for their children. They taught them with
unwearying patience the words of God. One of the rabbis said, "God
could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers." This saying
shows how sacred was the Jewish thought of the mother's work for her
child.

Every true mother feels a sense of awe in her soul when she bends over
her own infant child; but in the case of Mary we may be sure that the
awe was unusual, because of the mystery of the child's birth. In the
annunciation the angel had said to her, "That which is to be born shall
be called holy, the Son of God." Then the night of her child's birth
there was a wondrous vision of angels, and the shepherds who beheld it
hastened into the town; and as they looked upon the baby in the manger,
they told the wondering mother what they had seen and heard. We are
told that Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.
While she could not understand what all this meant, she knew at least
that hers was no common child; that in some wonderful sense he was the
Son of God.

This consciousness must have given to her motherhood an unusual
thoughtfulness and seriousness. How close to God she must have lived!
How deep and tender her love must have been! How pure and clean her
heart must have been kept! How sweet and patient she must have been as
she moved about at her tasks, in order that no harsh or bitter thought
or feeling might ever cast a shadow upon the holy life which had been
intrusted to her for training and moulding.

Only a few times is the veil lifted to give us a glimpse of mother and
child. On the fortieth day he was taken to the temple, and given to
God. Then it