My Mothering Sunday sermon, 2024.

Mothering Sunday is a significant day. And when I say this, what I mean is that this day carries significance for a lot of us for both good and not so good reasons. For some of us, today is about celebrating the gifts of our mothers and the joys of being a mother. For some of us, today carries with it the pains of bad mothers, mothers who have lost children and the hurt of women who long to have children but cannot have them. Wherever you find yourself along those lines, know that it is okay and that what you feel and experience is valid. But whatever emotions Mothering Sunday brings up for you, I want us to look at what Jesus says while on the cross.

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

John 19:25-27 NRSV.

Whilst on the cross and about to die, Jesus turns to his mother, Mary, and pointing to his disciple, John, he says to her, ‘Here is your son.’ And then Jesus turns to John and says, ‘Here is your mother.’ To a mother now without a son, Jesus gives a son. And John takes Mary home and cares for her as his own mother. Jesus invites Mary and John to discover a new relationship of mothering. John wasn’t Mary’s son, and Mary wasn’t John’s mother, but they became that for each other. And this story shows us that mothering, being a mother or having a mother is more than just biology. It is about action. To choose to mother those who need a mother, and also to be a child to the woman in want and need of a child. In the family of God, mothering is so much bigger than what we sometimes think it is. I hope that this Mothering Sunday, that if this is a difficult day, that you can see that mothering can be so much bigger than what people allow it to be. That in the family of God broken and lost relationships can be made new and whole. God bless you this Mothering Sunday. Amen.

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