30/3/03 6 p.m. Lent 4 Year B Mothering Sunday

John 19:25-27 25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," 27 and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

COLLECT FOR MOTHERING SUNDAY:

God our Father,
your Son Jesus Christ lived in a family in Nazareth:
Grant that in our families on earth
we may so learn to love and to live together
that we may rejoice as one family in your heavenly home;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At a banquet, the mother of George Washington was sitting beside a distinguished French officer. Turning to Washington's mother, the officer asked, "How have you managed to rear such a splendid son?" She replied, "I taught him to obey."

George Washington, 1732-1799, First President of the USA; My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.

Today is the fourth Sunday in Lent, traditionally Mothering Sunday in this country. Years ago, when people worked in large houses, they would go home and visit their mothers on this Sunday, perhaps bringing a simnel cake with them. Elsewhere in the world, the second Sunday in May celebrates mothers and motherhood.

Clearly Mary had an important part in the upbringing of Jesus, in making him the person he was. It is also evident that she did not have a full picture of who he was and what would happen to him ( e.g. Luke 2:50 ), although she knew that she would suffer pain because of Jesus. Luke 2, when Jesus, as a baby, was being dedicated to God at the Temple; 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

Joseph is not mentioned once Jesus reached adulthood. No parent expects to outlive their children, and where this happens it can compound the grieving process. Mary knew that her son was different and that she didn't, perhaps couldn't, fully know why he had been loaned to her by God.

Mark 3: 31 Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you." 33 "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. 34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

John records that 7:5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

These Scriptures, and the fact that Mary was one of a group of women who followed Jesus, may have caused a gulf between her and Jesus' brothers. This may have motivated Jesus asking John to 'adopt' his mother. When John was asked this, his mother Salome was also standing there, Mt 27:56.

John is the only one of the apostles with courage enough to take his stand with the women by the Cross. Women remained at the cross until the burial and were first at the empty tomb. Women joined the men in prayer between Ascension and Pentecost (Acts 1:14). The disciples in Jerusalem met in the house of Mary, mother of John Mark (12:12). Women were the first converts in Europe, including the prosperous business woman Lydia at Philippi (16:13-15). We should not forget the role that women played in Jesus' life and ministry, and the way he treated them as people. Whereas many of his contemporaries would have seen a woman as inferior, a 'thing'.

John was the only disciple who lived a long life and died a natural death. Perhaps God gave him this protection so he could look after Mary, although Mary may have been taken into the family home of Zebedee and Salome, John's parents.

Jesus was motivated by love to provide practical care for his mother. Even whilst he was suffering physical and spiritual pain on the cross he could still do this. He even called her 'dear woman' rather than 'mother'. This was an act of compassion. Using the word 'mother' could have been too difficult for Mary as she watched her first born son hanging in pain on a cross. Calling Mary 'mother' could have been heard by others who were jeering at Jesus, and they could have turned their derision onto his mother.

John, the author of the gospel refers to himself, verse 26, as the disciple whom he loved. This is not a boastful claim and it does not infer that Jesus didn't love his other disciples. Jesus love is unmerited and John was so amazed that Jesus loved him that he uses this expression of himself repeatedly ( 13:23 20:2; 21:7,20 ). However, clearly Jesus identified some important qualities in John to whom he entrusted his mother and who was one of the 'inner circle' of three 'trusted' disciples with Peter and James e.g Mark 9:2.

Jesus response to Mary would have been inspired by love and compassion, but also by the Scriptures. Exodus 20:12 12 "Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you."

James Joyce 1882-1941, Irish Author; "Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a mother's love is not."

In Isaiah 66 God says to his people: 13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you;

Here is an assumption that one of the qualities of a mother is to comfort her children.

Here we see the feminine side of God, if you like. We read of God the Father in the Scriptures and we say we believe in Him in the creed, but this does not mean that he does not show qualities that we would associate more with a mother. Loving, comforting, providing, protecting. Henry Ward Beecher 1813-1887, American Preacher and Writer; "God pardons like a mother, who kisses the offense into everlasting forgiveness."

Spanish Proverb; "An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy."

On this Mothering Sunday it is good to be thankful to our mothers, if we can. To tell them how much we appreciate them.

It is good to be thankful to God for our mothers, because they are a gift from Him! We can tell God how thankful we are for his gift to us of a mother to love and care for us.

We need to be aware that for some people today may not be easy. This includes people whose mothers' are no longer alive. Mothers whose children have died. People who live a long way from their mothers. Women who would like to have been, or who would like to be, mothers. People who did not or do not have a good relationship with their mothers.

Unfortunately some mothers are not loving and forgiving to their children. Children who have not got or did not have a good relationship with their mothers should be forgiving. Those who have a chance to be reconciled to their mother, indeed to anyone, should do that as soon as possible, as befits one who has been reconciled to God through Jesus' death.

Jesus told Peter to forgive lots of times ( Mt. 18:22 ) and we say in the Lord's prayer, "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." As those who have been forgiven so much through God's undeserved favour we are to be forgiving too. It is a sign that we have truly appreciated our sins that separated us from God and what Jesus did for us on the cross.

PRAY:

Lord God,

Thank you for sending mothers to look after us

Please help those people who are separated from their mothers by death, or distance, or disagreement.

Please help women who would like to be mothers.

Thank you for loving every one of us and being like a mother to us all.

Amen.

Lead the congregation in the following:

THANKSGIVING

We thank God for giving us others to share in our lives:
For parents, and the love which brought us to birth:
We praise you, O Lord;
and bring you thanks today.

For mothers who have cherished and nurtured us:
We praise you, O Lord;
and bring you thanks today.

For fathers who have loved and supported us,
We praise you, O Lord;
and bring you thanks today.

For brothers and sisters with whom we have shared our home:
We praise you, O Lord;
and bring you thanks today.

For children and their parents:
We praise you, O Lord;
and bring you thanks today.

For other relatives and friends, who have been with us in our hopes and joys and times of sadness:
We praise you, O Lord;
and bring you thanks today.

For all who first spoke to us of Jesus, and have drawn is into the family of our Father in heaven:
We praise you, O Lord;
and bring you thanks today.

Help us to live
as those who belong to one another,
and to you, our Father, now and always. Amen.

INTERCESSIONS

For mothers.

Lord Jesus, you know well the blessing an earthly home can bring:
Receive our thanks for all the love we have received in our homes,
especially from those who have nurtured us from our earliest years.
Hear our prayers for mothers everywhere,
that they may never lose heart nor ever be taken for granted,
but receive from their children the honour and love you showed to your mother, Mary,
even as you were suffering on the Cross.
Bless and keep them all,
for your love's sake. Amen

For those in need

Remember, O Lord, all those in need:
people with no good food or proper clothes,
no home of their own, or no work to do;
those who have neither family nor friends
and no knowledge of the your love.
Supply their needs.
Bless those who try to help them
and bring us all to trust in you.
We ask this is Jesus' name. Amen.

For those who live alone

God our Father,
we ask you to bless all who live alone,
those who have lost their partner in marriage,
those who have never married,
those whose families are grown up and away from home
and those who have outlived other members of their families
and many of their friends:
Be with them to assure them of your love
and of their value to you every moment of their lives,
and enable them to rejoice in the fellowship of your Church
on earth and in heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

A prayer which may be said by children together
or repeated phrase by phrase after a Sunday school teacher or other person.

Father in heaven,
bless all mothers
and those who look after us in our daily lives.
Make us grateful for their goodness
and thankful for their care.
Help us to respond to them in loving obedience;
following the example of Jesus, your Son, our Lord. Amen.