- 14;John 9 1-41 ‘For once you were in darkness but now in the Lord you are light.Live as children of light.’First;an apology of sorts,we have become used to our Mothering Sunday readings-Moses in the bullrushes,Samuel dedicated to the temple by his mother and the tragic love of Mary,Mother of God.Today though I have stuck to the readings for the 4th Sunday of Lent and we have a tale of a blind man being healed on the Sabbath,the reaction of the Pharisees,the almost comedy turn of the formerly blind man as he wrongfoots them and the compassion of Jesus.As always in John’s Gospel it is a sign but what is it a sign of on Mothering Sunday?
- First the joke:A missionary was walking through the savannah when he came to a clearing. In the clearing was a huge,and very hungry, lion. The missionary knew that he couldn’t run away so he did the only thing he could think of-he knelt to pray.’Dear Lord’ he said ‘this is all a bit difficult but I know you always answer prayer. Please could you make this lion a Christian and then he won’t eat me’.Instantly the lion’s expression changed;a gentle smile came onto his face and he too knelt in prayer. He began ‘For what we are about to receive……. which neatly brings me on to my theme,which isn’t prayer,or missionaries in difficulty but cats.
- Has anyone here had a cat who’s had kittens. If you have you will know that they are born blind and totally dependent on their mothers.In our Gospel a man is born blind. He too was totally dependent,first on his parents then as someone whose only hope of an income was from begging. And,perfectly reasonably,the disciples ask who sinned. Was it sin inherited from his Mum and Dad that caused this awful retribution or was he just born bad?Jesus tells them,as he tells us in similar circumstances,that such talk is nonsense-hidden in his disability is a revelation of divine love.Everyone here,everyone ever born,was born helpless. Not blind maybe but not far off. We all owe a debt to our mothers and it is that debt we have come to celebrate today. Our mothers cured us of our helplessness and every year on this Sunday we bring to mind the qualities that motherhood draws on.
- Two minutes thought has brought to mind that mothers are mothers are gentle, firm, forgiving, patient, protective, inspirational, determined, capable, supportive, tender – they worry for England. They endure pain and heartache on our behalf, and they never stop moving and doing. We could go on but this is a fair revelation of maternal love.Yet what about today’s revelation of divine love; first of all the poor man isn’t judged to be sinful. The disciples were prepared to judge him,the Pharisees judge him three times-once for being blind,once for being healed on the Sabbath and once again for poking fun at them. And if that makes us feel smug;a similar helplessness,that of the newborn has been judged throughout history as sin. Sorry St Augustine but the doctrine of original sin is a little harsh.Jesus will have none of this-he heals him.
- Our mothers don’t conquer our helplessness with complicated learning-as far as I know there is no PhD in motherhood,they do it through ordinary everyday stuff.And Jesus cured the blind man not after an eighteen month catechism,but with mud and spit.And he heals us too. We are born blind. Jesus says ‘If you were born blind you would not have sin’.Without help that spiritual blindness would afflict us for all our lives. Ofcourse our mothers and fathers should teach us right and wrong. But not all do and most leave gaps so that breaking the law is just a matter of weighing up risk against reward.So it was with the Pharisees’ suffocating list of do’s and don’ts. We have the law of love. We have the example of Jesus,we have the teaching of the Gospels and ,in our spiritual infancy,we have the mother Church to bring us up in the faith. Yet,and there’s a big yet,when our eyes are opened and our blindness gone we know sin for what it is. With sight comes vigilance.And,when the blind man could see for the first time what do we suppose struck him first-perhaps how very bright the world was?
- Do you recall your first memory,no doubt with mother standing by,can you feel the light still from those far off days.Paul talks to us this morning about light;the quote we started with ‘For once you weredarkness but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light-for the fruit of the light is all that is good and right and true’.
- On this day when we hold our children close we need to remember that in the eyes of God we are children,children of light.But what about those cats?After kittens are grown their mother doesn’t seem to want anything to do with them.Yet have you heard a cat’s pitiful cry?My mother would say that she was crying for her kittens.’As a cat cries for her kittens we cry for what we’ve lost,For the pain that still remains,for the unseasonal frost’.
- We do go now to the Mothering Sunday Gospel from Luke ‘Simon blessed them and said to his mother Mary”This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed-and a sword will pierce your own soul too”.
- Many a mother has cried.And those children walking home through the lanes all those years ago,in that light ofour imagining,would not have been all unscarred. They will have lost parents,friends,happy times. They talk to us from the past and remind us that Mothering Sunday is a day to bring all things to mind.
- So;if today you can see your mother give her flowers-tell her you love her.If not face to face then ring her,skype,facetime,whatever and tell her you love her. If you are estranged can you be reconciled while there is time. And if only the Good Lord sees her now talk to her on your knees-and tell her you love her.And as the springtime light increases give thanks that,by the love of Jesus and our mother the Church,we are no longer blind but can,with joy,walk in the light of the world.
- Amen.
Christianity – Pastoral and Thinking
Thoughts and sermons for a thinking and pastoral Anglicanism by Revd Dr Neil K Gardner