119. That the church is called mother is apparent from the following passages:

(Jehovah said,) "Contend with your mother...; ...she is not My wife, and I am not her Husband." (Hosea 2:2)

"You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes her Husband...." (Ezekiel 16:45)

"Where is the certificate of your mother's divorce, whom I have put away?" (Isaiah 50:1)

Your mother was like a vine..., planted by the waters, fruitful.... (Ezekiel 19:10)

"Mother" in those places refers to the Jewish Church.

(Jesus, stretching out His hand toward His disciples, said,) "My mother and My brothers are they who hear the word of God and do it." (Luke 8:21, cf. Matthew 12:48-50, Mark 3:33-35)

The church is meant by the Lord's disciples.

By the cross of Jesus stood His mother.... (And) Jesus...seeing His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing by, (also) said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" And He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" (Therefore) from that hour the disciple took her into his own [home]. (John 19:25-27)

The meaning here is that the Lord did not acknowledge Mary but the church as His mother. That is why He calls her "woman" and names her the mother of the disciple. He named her the mother of this disciple, John, because John represented the church in respect to its good acts of charity. These good acts are the church in actual practice. Therefore it is said that the disciple took Mary into his own [home].

(We explained in The Apocalypse Revealed that Peter represented truth and faith, James charity, and John works of charity - see nos. 5, 6, 790, 798, 879 - and that the twelve disciples together represented the church in all its elements - see nos. 233, 790 [798?], 903, 915.)

10536. 'And no one put on his finery' means the nature of their external which is such that it lacks what is Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'finery' as the presence of what is Divine in external things, so that 'not putting on his finery' means the absence of what is Divine in those things. The reason why 'finery' has this meaning is that 'finery' relates to clothing, and Divine Truths are meant by clothing generally. The reason why Divine Truths are meant by clothing generally lies in things in the next life that are representative. All there, both angels and spirits, appear clothed in garments, each one in garments that accord with his truths. Those in possession of truths that are authentic and come from God appear clothed in brilliantly white garments; others appear in others different from these. Spirits indeed do not know where their garments come from; they are clothed without their knowing how. And also the garments they wear are varied, as determined by the changes of state they undergo in respect of truths. In short, the character of their understanding is what is revealed and represented by their garments; for everyone's understanding is shaped by truths and comes to have the same nature as the truths which compose it. The understanding which angels in heaven possess resides on an inner level with them, as a consequence of which their garments are brilliant and white. The brilliance is due to Divine Good, and the whiteness to the light of heaven, which is Divine Truth. But the garments of those whose interest lies in external things and not in what is internal are drab and torn, like those of beggars in the streets or robbers in the forests. From all this what is meant by 'finery' may be seen, namely the Church's holy truths, and therefore 'not putting on finery' means the absence of the Church's holy truths, and in reference to the Israelite nation, whose interest lay in external things and not in what was internal, means the nature of their external which was such that it lacked truths from God.

Truths are meant by 'garments', see 2132, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 5319, 5954, 6378, 6914, 6917, 6918, 9093, 9158, 9212, 9216, 9814, 9827, 9952.

What is meant by the garments of Aaron and his sons, 9814, 10068.

'Finery' in the Word means the Church's holy truths, see below in 10540.