It seems as
though Mother’s Day sneaked up on us this year.
That’s completely understandable.
We are living through an extraordinary time; our lives have been
literally turned upside down by the coronavirus and our routines are disrupted. We are currently trying to cope with a “new
normal.” Nonetheless, this Sunday, May
10th, is Mother’s Day. As I have been
preparing to lead worship this Sunday, I have been searching for the right
theme for this year’s Mother’s Day.
Given that
we are living in this extraordinary time, with its new normal, I was attracted
to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the other women who gathered around the cross
during the crucifixion. Jesus’
crucifixion represented a horrible new normal for the women and all of Jesus’
followers. All of them had devoted their
lives to following Jesus and learning from his teaching. They were convinced that Jesus was the long-awaited
Messiah—God’s own son—whom God had promised to send to the people of
Israel.
Suddenly, in the space of less than
24 hours, Jesus had been swiped from them by the authorities. Suddenly, impossibly, they were confronted
with a horrible new normal. Jesus was
being taken away from them. Now, they
found themselves at the foot of the cross.
All hope that he was the long-awaited Messiah came to a stunning
halt.
It has often been said that one can
gain insight into another person’s true character by observing how they act in
a crisis. I think this is true of Mary,
the mother of Jesus. According to the
Gospel of John, Mary and several other women were present, with Jesus, at the Crucifixion:
“Near
the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the
wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple
whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[a] here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is
your mother.” From that time on, this disciple
took her into his home.”
Normally, when we read this passage, our
attention is drawn to the latter part, where Jesus, who would be gasping for
breath during the crucifixion, asks John, his disciple, to care for his mother
as though she was John’s mother, as well.
This is indicative of Jesus’ deep love for his mother. Yet, when we focus on the first part of this
passage; when we focus on the fact that Mary had come to be with Jesus during
this horrible ordeal, we also see the deep love which Mary had for Jesus. Without unduly reading too much into the
text, it seems to me that we can identify in Mary four important qualities of
being a good, loving mother:
1. Mary
was willing to make sacrifices and take risks for her son. As the mother of Jesus, Mary would have taken
some great risks to be at the foot of the cross for Jesus’ crucifixion. Roman executions were public events. All four Gospels agree that Jesus’ crucifixion
attracted a large crowd. Some in the
crowd were simply curious onlookers, who came out to gawk at and ridicule those
being crucified. But, many others were
Jewish officials, who were personally scandalized by the teachings of
Jesus. Mary risked being ridiculed and
threaten by the largely hostile crowd.
Yet, she went because she needed to be with Jesus through his ordeal.
2. Mary
went to provide love and support for her son. In addition to the jeers and mocking from the
bystanders, Jesus also had to endure the slow, excruciatingly painful
crucifixion. For anyone, there would be
moments of loneliness and weakness. Even
Jesus, at one point on the cross, cried out:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, Mark
15:34) Mary came to the crucifixion to
love and support her son through his ordeal.
3. Mary
went to suffer in solidarity with her son. We know that all good parents suffer when their
children suffer—sometimes, more than their children suffer. Mary had to be at the Crucifixion because, in
her own way, she suffered in solidarity with her son.
4. Mary
prayed for her son during his ordeal.
We can well imagine that during Jesus’ three-hour ordeal on the cross, Mary
and the other women prayed for him.
Although perhaps not openly or verbally, we can be sure that they would
have prayed silently in their hearts for God’s deliverance.
We noted earlier that, when we read these two
verses, there is a tendency to read past the first part about Mary and to focus
instead Jesus’ efforts to provide future care for his mothers. Why is that?
Why do we tend to read past the verse which explains that Mary was there,
at the foot of the cross, for Jesus?
Could it be that we read past Mary’s presence at the crucifixion because
we just take for granted that all good mothers would be there for their
children undergoing such an ordeal?
Could it be that we just naturally have assumed all along that Mary was
a good mother? So, it is unsurprising that
Mary was there.
For me, Mary exemplifies four of
the core attributes of a good mother.
But, there’s one more thing about this passage. Note that Mary was not alone. Several other women were also there with her;
women who loved and followed Jesus. The
qualities which make a mother good are not necessarily confined to mothers. It turns out that all of us can cultivate these
four virtues and manifest them in our lives.
All of us can take risks and make sacrifices for others; love and support
others; be in solidarity with others; and pray for others. That is to say, all of us can be like a
mother to others, especially those who are suffering.
The coronavirus is the greatest global
crisis that any of us have ever witnessed.
There are people all around us who are afraid, anxious, grieving, sick,
lonely, depressed, to whom we can be like a mother. We can begin asking ourselves, what are ways
in which we can:
1. Take
risks or make sacrifices for others who are suffering through this pandemic
2. Provide
love and support for others who are suffering through this pandemic
3. Suffer
in solidarity with others who are suffering through this pandemic
4. Pray
for others who are suffering through this pandemic
As a community of faith, we also should be asking ourselves if
there are ways in which we can respond collective to these four questions.
Everyone is always welcome and accepted at Christ United Methodist
Church because God loves us all. During the coronavirus, I invite you to join
us virtually for our Facebook Livestream worship service each Sunday at 11
am. Our Facebook address is: https://www.facebook.com/christumclinc/. Alternatively, you can see the service later
on our Facebook page or by going to our webpage at: https://www.christumclinc.org/.
