Mothering Sunday 2013

A woman told this story, ‘As a working mother with an office in my home, I pride myself on maintaining a professional image. One key to that image is my answering-machine greeting, which is often the first contact clients have with me. I worked on making it sound upbeat and enthusiastic and very professional, and thought I had succeeded until a friend left this message: “Judy, this is Pam. I love your greeting, but do you know that you can hear your little boy in the background saying, ‘Mummy, I have to go on my potty’?”

Another story is of Karen, the mother of two high-spirited young girls. When a friend called her one morning, the conversation was constantly interrupted by the noise of children screaming and chasing each other. “Could you hold on for a moment?” Karen finally asked, putting down the phone.

Within ten seconds there was absolute silence. Then, “Okay, I’m back.” Said Karen

“But it’s so quiet! you must have complete control over those two.”

“Not really,” Karen confessed wearily. “I’m in the cupboard under the stairs.”

Motherhood can often seem an impossible task, yet it is one that many people do with incredible commitment, enthusiasm and skill – whether it be for their own children or in caring as a mother for someone.

In some ways two of our readings today are complete opposites – in the Old testament reading (Exodus 2:1-10) we hear about Moses – he was born into danger and aware that she could protect her child no more, Moses’ mother made a basket for him and placed him among the reeds. Eventually Pharaoh’s daughter saw the basket and took pity on the child. It was decided the child should be cared for by a Hebrew nurse – who turned out to be Moses’ mother.

Pharaoh’s daughter took care of the child and took him as her son – the name Moses actually means in Hebrew, ‘Drawn out’ and Moses had of course been drawn out of the water, but in Egyptian it means something like ‘child’ or ‘son’.

Pharaoh’s daughter had treated Moses as she would have treated her own son. There was no distinction of race or background, or of the fact that biologically he was not hers. It is a wonderful example of a woman taking on the care of someone and caring for them as if the child was their own.

In the gospel reading though (John 19:25-27) the role is reversed. There Jesus is on the cross dying, watched by, amongst others, Mary and John – and as Jesus looks at the two of them he says to Mary, ‘here is your son’, and to John ‘here is your mother’. What is different from the account of Moses is that it seems that rather than Mary particularly being given a son, it is more like John being given a mother – we’re told he takes her home from that very hour.

But however different or similar the accounts may be there is more going on here. Psychologists and scientists will tell us a lot of things about human emotions and natures. Theologians may tell us a lot about the backgrounds of why certain things had to happen in certain ways, but often there is a much more simple explanation right before us.

And that explanation is love. Scientists, psychologists and theologians all have important roles to play, but there is a danger that in looking at theory rather than practice, that in analysing things too deeply, we can miss the obvious, and whilst the bible contains many details, stories and facts which we must look at in detail, we must never overlook the fundamental and simple truth that God is love.

Many look at the old testament and wonder about the nature of God, as he seems so different from the God portrayed in the new testament, yet as we read through the old testament we see God giving people chance after chance to turn back to him – it is a story of man turning from God, being invited back and accepted, and turning away again and again.

In the new testament there is almost a sense of God accepting that his people will never live as he wants them to and so he makes building a relationship with him even easier as he sends his son Jesus to offer us an example of a perfect life, and then to take the punishment for all we have done and do wrong, but after dying on the cross, he rises to life again, conquering the power of sin and death for ever. Recently on facebook I saw a post which said, ‘God put the eyes in the front of your head so you could look forward; so stop looking back.’

That is what God wants in a relationship – for us to recognise that when we say we’re sorry for our sins, when we seek to live as he wants us to live, he doesn’t want us to dwell on the past, but on a future, a bright future lived with God.

Today as we celebrate Mothering Sunday we celebrate a love which can often see no faults, a love which continues however hard it’s tested. That is the love that so many mothers have for their children. Others may be able to see huge failings, but to the mother, their child often seems the perfect child.

It is a wonderful, selfless and sometimes painful love. It is the sort of love that can be so powerful that it can draw people who often seem to be going the wrong way, back on track. A mother or someone acting as a mother for someone can often show the love that can put a person on the right track – because they know they’re loved and accepted and they know that mistakes they’ve made will be forgotten.

We give thanks today for that kind of love. And it’s that kind of love that changed the life of Moses. He may never have made it to adulthood had things not worked out in the way they did, but he did and he was used powerfully and wonderfully by God. And in the encounter at the cross with Mary and John we see two lives transformed as a new family is made…

In society today there are many people who are struggling in all kinds of different ways. It may seem naïve to say it, but actually it’s not, but, knowing they are loved and cared for, can make life much better for many people. I haven’t statistics to hand, but I know that lives have been turned around just because a person suddenly realises that someone cares for them, whoever they are and whatever they might have done or failed to do.

As churches, and perhaps even as individuals, we sometimes lose sight of that fundamental Christian message – the message that just as God loves us, he loves everyone, and wants us to share that love.

Too often what the church is associated with is splits and disagreements, or perhaps of being irrelevant – talking a language which people don’t understand or relate to… It was something Jesus was never guilty of.

When he disagreed with people he told them openly – and those he fell out with most of all were often the religious leaders. Why ? Because they were people who were misleading people for their own ends. They knew their theology but they tailored it for their own ends.

When people should have been being cared for and loved, they were often being taught fairly minor rules whilst compassion and love were ignored. It is a great warning for the church today – theologians may do their work, and others in the church may continue to do church, but without love and compassion being at the centre of the message we are offering, that message becomes irrelevant and meaningless.

The perfect mother will care for her child in a way where love is the dominant emotion. There will be times when discipline is needed, times when she may get angry, but there will always be the sort of love that remains with the child – wherever they are, whatever they’ve done…

It is an incredibly powerful bond – and yet it is nothing compared to the bond between God and his people. Through all we’ve done and been and said and thought, God loves us. He loves us with an unbreakable love, a love which must hurt him every time we do something against him…

And yet whatever we do, that love is unchanging. All he asks is that we believe in him, trust him, and that we try to live as he wants us to live.

As we celebrate the unquestioning love of mothers we celebrate the even greater love of God, and we remind ourselves that with him, we can go out and love as he loves with a love that is powerful enough to change lives everywhere.

May he give us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to go and do it. AMEN