Holy Mary, Mother of God (Mothers Day 2023)

The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s Mothers’ Day, which the Lectionary does not know: please lay your bulletin aside for the moment, and hear a Gospel story from Luke (1:26-38, NRSV)

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Fear not, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 

34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the handmaid of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

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When I was a boy, we often drove over to Pensacola for Mothers Day weekend, and Sunday morning, our grandfather Gentry took us and our cousins to East Hill Baptist Church, my mother’s old home church, which I dearly loved - - because of the good old hymns, and jy cousin Bill's Boys' Sunday School Class, and the interesting cars in the parking lot (I remember a 1937 Cord Beverly sedan, for one). 

Mothers Day was honored as a major event at East Hill Baptist. Everyone was given a flower to pin on their lapel or dress; you got a red flower if your mother was living - - if your mother was dead, as our cousins’ mother was, they got a white flower. Mothers Day: hymns and scripture and sermon, a great celebration, and I always wondered why it was not so in the Episcopal Church.

But at Holy Nativity, we do honor this as a very special day. If you are a mother, this is a day to honor you: may God bless you with Mother’s Day greetings and love; and not only this day, but every day for ever. 

If you have lost your mother; or if you are a mother who has lost a child, all the loving promises of God may not ease the anguish of this day. If Mothers Day is agony for you or someone dear to you: may you feel the love of God; may you be touched by God who gives us victory in Jesus.

Though it’s Mothers Day, our lectionary and liturgy have no special readings and prayers for the day, but here at Holy Nativity, we have our own celebration of Mothers Day. We might begin with Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, “Honor thy father and thy mother.”

And with gospel passages at Mark 10, Matthew 19, and Luke 18, Jesus himself, “You know the commandments, honor your father and your mother …”

Lent is over, we are in Easter Season, but a film I try to watch again every year as part of my lenten discipline is “The Passion of the Christ,” ONE, as personal remembrance of our salvation history in Jesus; BUT ALSO because a key theme is Mary’s love for Jesus; and his love for her - - 

as she sees Jesus being tormented, Mary’s tender flashbacks, in the film, remembering how she loved him as a child, always protecting him: 

That Time when, as a little boy, Jesus fell, and Mary ran to make sure he was okay, and gather him in her arms. 

The child shall be called holy.

When, as a talented young wood-worker, Jesus shows his mother a table he has made, Mary teasing him that it's impractical (if you love the film as I do, you know the scene, if you do not know the film, it does not matter). 

After Jesus’ brutal scourging by Pilate’s men, Holy Mary, Mother of God mopping up the sacred blood from the pavement stones of Gabbatha. 

Mary frantically chasing along Via Dolorosa, the Way of Tears, as Jesus carries his cross: and when Jesus falls and his cross crushes down on him, Mary pushing through the crowd, rushing out to kneel beside him and hearing him say, “See, mother, I make all things new.”

There is terrible brutality, and yet, the film overwhelms me with its love.

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Because you have your own memories today, it’d not be fair for me to take up Time recalling my mother, but I will honor her today by remembering that she took up for me, she was my champion all through life. Many memories, one I’ve shared here before. Fall semester 1949, I was a freshman at Bay High. The first grading period I got a “C” in American History. A “C” was unusual for me (on the same report card I got an “A” in Latin and an “A” in Algebra). That fall semester, not long after report cards came out, there was Parents’ Night at Bay High, and Mama went, as she always did, to meet my teachers.

The evening went well until she met my American History teacher, Bill Weeks, and he assured her, “Oh yes, I remember him: he’s average.” Mama exploded, EXPLODED: “He is NOT average,” and, as other parents in the room, waiting in line behind her, watched in horror, my mother lit into him with raging fury. She was still fuming when she got home that evening and told me about it. The next day I dreaded going to American History class, but in front of all the students, Mr Weeks came to my desk and said, “Boy, did your mother let me have it last night.” 

I’m not sure I always earned them, but the rest of that school year, and again three years later with Mr Weeks again for WORLD History my senior year at Bay High, my grades were the highest; I suspect NOT because I always earned an “A” but because Mr. Weeks was terrified of my mother.

I could go on about how she loved me, but it would have to include being sent outside to pick a switch for my punishment when I deserved it as a child. The idea is to stir your own memories on Mothers’ Day, and I hope they are dear to you.

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Almost always, there is a bond between mother and child, a bond set long before birth, as the child moves in the mother’s womb; and all those months, maybe even from the moment a child is conceived in love between a man and a woman. Even if the bond only goes one way, from mother to the child who grows up and away, there may be no greater love in human life than a mother’s love. Almost every mother knows how all consuming such love can be. 

Sometimes it goes both ways, as at the cross, in a story you know so well - - from Saint John:

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were Mary, 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.

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Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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Homiletic endeavor in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church on Mothers Day, May 14, 2023. The Rev Tom Weller.

pics: scenes from "The Passion of the Christ" when Jesus falls carrying his Cross, his mother Mary has flashbacks to moments in his childhood; here, once when, as a little boy, he fell and she rushed in panic to scoop him up and comfort him.