Sunday Worship
Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, which is also Mothering Sunday.
Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 at St Agnes' and 11.15 at St Thomas'.
If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "Lord for the Years"
Today's Gospel
John 19:25-27 Jesus entrusts His mother into John’s care
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.
Reflection
Today’s Gospel passage is perhaps one of the most harrowing and yet at the same time one of the most loving and compassionate parts of the Bible.
Harrowing, because we are at the point where Jesus is on the Cross where He will soon die. Harrowing when we think about His mother Mary at the foot of the Cross and what she is having to endure as she has seen Jesus, her beloved son, criticised and victimised by the religious authorities and the Roman leaders. A mother who has seen Jesus betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter, one of His closest allies, and abandoned by most of the rest of His disciples and followers.
And now she stands at the foot of the cross, witnessing the way people are treating, deriding and spitting on her beautiful son as He is publicly humiliated with the indignity of death by public crucifixion. How much pain and suffering must she have felt as her heart was pierced, as she witnessed the horrific suffering of her eldest son?
Amidst this scene of anguish and torment, John, the only disciple to witness the crucifixion, tells us that as Jesus hung on the cross, He saw his mother.
And we learn of the extreme compassion in Jesus’ heart with His concern for the pain His mother is going through. Let’s just think about that the level of selfless compassion that happens at that moment. Jesus is hanging on the Cross, near to the point of death, where He is about to sacrifice His life for the sins of the human race - and His immediate concern is for His mother and who is going to look after her. Added to the physical pain and torment He is going through, He has to witness the pain and agony His mother is going through as she weeps at His feet.
His immediate thoughts are for her future and who will look after her and care for her when He is gone. (It is generally believed by most scholars that her husband Joseph had died by this time and as a widow she would have been left alone).
John describes this most wonderful act of compassion as Jesus says to her, “Woman, here is your son,” before saying to John, “Here is your mother.” In that moment Jesus is making sure His mother will be looked after.
It is a moment of both extreme sorrow and extreme compassion and love.
Jesus’ interactions emphasise that caring for one another is at the heart of the Christian faith. He sees his mother’s pain, and ensures she has support in the form of his beloved disciple, John. In this act of compassion, Jesus is also tending to the loss and sorrow of John, who must also be deeply hurting for his friend who has been ridiculed and tortured and will soon die.
On this Mothering Sunday we see how much Jesus loved His mother. There is a message in this passage about how we should remember our mothers and all the things they have done for us during our lives. They look after us and tend our wounds when we fall and scrape our knee. They listen to our troubles and heartaches and provide emotional support when things go wrong. They teach us to look after each other and of course they care for us; with the hundreds of mundane things; like washing and ironing, cooking meals and cleaning the house so it is safe for us. But most of all, through the example they set from the time we are first cradled in their arms, they teach us how to love.
So on this special day, no matter how many things are going on in our lives - let us make some time to remember them and how they have loved us. Even if our mothers are far away or are no longer with us, let us hold them in our thoughts. And let us give thanks for their love by loving one another.
As Rudyard Kipling wrote: "If I were hanged on the highest hill, I know whose love would follow me most – Mother of mine, O mother of mine!"
Paul
Our Prayers
Loving Father,
As your son hung from the cross,
He continued to show us how to love one another.
He commanded us,
to love one another, just as He loved us.
Help us, day by day, to follow his selfless example of
compassion and love with all whom we meet.
Amen
Today's final hymn is "The King of Love my Shepherd is"
Notices
The Ladies of Leesfield meet this Tuesday, please see the notice below for details.
All of the Holy Week and Easter Services in the parishes of Leesfield and Hey are shown in the poster below.
