By the Rev’d Hilary Willett

Season: The Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday, or Mothering Sunday
Readings: 1 Samuel 1:20-28 | Colossians 3:12-17 | John 19:25-27

Today is the fourth Sunday in Lent, otherwise known as Laetare Sunday, otherwise known as Mothering Sunday, otherwise known as the time when you visit the church where you were baptised (your mother church).

Another very important thing about today is that clergy like myself, we get to wear pink or rather, rose. The colour for Laetare Sunday is rose, to signify rejoicing in the middle of our Lenten journey.

So we’ve got Laetare Sunday, which means rejoice, and that means I get to wear rose. And I would be wearing rose if it weren’t for the fact that I don’t have a rose stole. Which means that I am wearing violet, which in some places means purple and in some places means dark blue. And this is all appropriate because alongside Mothering Sunday it is also Lent. So, technically, today, for my clerical wear, I have a choice of pink (rose), purple, or blue (violet), and for liturgical focus, I have a choice of Lenten penitence, Laetare rejoicing, and mother churches.

Personally, I think it is going to be very easy to sum all of that up in one sermon.

…or I could focus on the gospel, and I think I’m going to do that.

So, our gospel reading this morning is very short. It outlines a very brief conversation that happens between Jesus and a small number of people who are gathered at Jesus’ cross. Despite the awful circumstances, the conversation is quite a sweet one, depicting Jesus making provisions for his mother and one of his disciples. It is between Jesus, his mother Mary, and John, often known as the disciple Jesus loved. Jesus wants to make sure both have support after he dies, and so asks them to love each other like a mother and a son.

In many ways, this conversation seems like a very simple, albeit bittersweet, moment of Jesus’ careful provision for the people who were close to him. Perhaps we might go further and talk about how this demonstrates God’s careful provision for us. However, as I was doing my reading this week, I realised that there is actually a lot going on in this passage.

So, let’s start with who is gathered around the cross. In total, there are five people gathered at the cross: Mary (Jesus’ mother), Mary’s sister (Jesus’ aunt), Mary (Cleopas’ wife), Mary Magdalene, and John. However, interestingly, this gets a little more complex. Recent scholarship has suggested that Jesus’ aunt is the mother of the sons of Zebedee. And one of those sons was likely John, the man gathered at the cross. So, the John we are introduced to in this passage is likely Jesus’ cousin. And then we’ve got Mary, Cleopas’ wife. This particular Mary is not mentioned often. However, according to church tradition, she married the younger brother of Joseph, Jesus’ father. Which would make Mary, Cleopas’ wife, another aunt of Jesus by marriage. All of this means that, out of the five people gathered before the cross, potentially four of them are family
members of Jesus.

Which I think is very interesting and, in many ways, goes some way to explaining why most of them are there. They are Jesus’ family. And this might not be all that unusual. A writer of the time, Josephus, notes that he would often visit friends who had been crucified. A rather gruesome note, but apparently, people would often relay their final wishes from a cross. So, it may make a lot of sense that Jesus’ family gathered at the cross.

This raises some interesting questions. The first concerns the other person there, Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene is definitely not family. She is described as a disciple, but if this is a gathering of family and disciples, where are all the other disciples? And if this is a gathering of family, why is Mary there?

The truth is, most of the disciples were in hiding. Jesus was considered to be incredibly threatening by the powerful people of the time. Despite no criminal charges (which was the usual reason for crucifixion), Jesus was condemned. Peter had just denied ever knowing him. It was considered so problematic to be associated with Jesus at this point that most people completely abandoned him. So again, why was Mary there? She wasn’t family, and it was incredibly risky for her to be there.

For a bit of context, Mary Magdalene was the person whom Jesus exorcised from demons. Now, what demonic possession meant back then is hard to know. Perhaps it was spiritual activity, perhaps there was something physical going on, perhaps she was struggling with a mental health condition. The reality is that people of that time period wouldn’t have necessarily distinguished between those things. However, what is more clear is that Mary was tormented. And Jesus, freed her from that torment. He was, quite literally, the saviour of her life. I think she knew that.

So, in this passage, we see family risking their lives to see their loved family member. But we also see Mary Magdalene, not family, but as devoted as family, risking her life for Jesus, because any life she had was due to him.

Later, when Jesus is raised from the dead, it is Mary Magdalene who first witnesses Christ. Personally, I don’t think it was a coincidence. I think she was honoured for her faith, for her commitment to Jesus. She went to Jesus like he was family, and he responded by honouring and including her like family in the resurrection. In these moments, we see the beginnings of Jesus’
family extending beyond blood relations into the bonds of faith. Mary was faithful to Jesus; she owed her life to him, and in response to this faith, Mary was blessed to be the first to witness Jesus’ new life.

Today, there are a number of things happening. Themes of reflection and penitence in Lent. A theme of rejoicing for Laetare Sunday. Reminders of the church that raised us and of the mothers who raised us. And even more broadly, we as a church are reflecting on who we are and who God is calling us as a community to be.

In the midst of all of these different reflections, we have a gospel reading that focuses on faith. Which is appropriate, given that faith and devotion flavour all of the different occasions. It was faith that was fostered in us in our home churches. It is by faith that we journey into the reflection and penitence of Lent. It is in faith that we rejoice, for the realm that God is bringing
into the world. And, as we see in our gospel today, it is faith that brings us, like Mary, into the family of God.

In this time, where many seemingly competing priorities are all jumbled up together, in this time where we reflect on who we are as a church, let us pause to remember what truly unites us as the family of God. It is faith in Christ. It must always be faith. The faith of Mary Magdalene, who owed her life to Jesus, and risked her life in return.