Mothering Sunday Exodus 2:1-10 Luke 2:33-35

Today, Summer time has begun. The clocks went forward one hour during the night and although we can see the reason for it, mostly, I presume, it does take a little while for our body clocks to adjust. For me, I am always glad to get back this one hour when we go back to Winter time! Going forward and back, then, may be a way of looking at today’s readings from Exodus and Luke. Exodus 2 gives us the account of baby Moses and how he was rescued in a nutshell. Moses is born and adopted, in short. But there is an interesting part in between, when his mother hides him in a papyrus basket, plastered with bitumen and pitch, so it doesn’t sink. And his sister keeping watch from a distance. What follows when Pharaoh’s daughter finds him, is not without irony. Moses’ sister is smart and suggests a nurse for him. And so, Moses’ own mother ends up being paid to nurse her son for Pharaoh’s daughter! God truly did take care of them and not only provided for those who honoured him, but did so in a remarkable way. Moses, as we know, played a very important part in the Exodus, the time when the people of Israel were set free from slavery in Egypt and were led into the Promised Land.

Moving fast forward, in Luke’s Gospel, we find a prophecy about Jesus, spoken to his mother Mary when she and Joseph took the infant Jesus to the Temple according to the Law. This prophecy is only short, but it is important, especially to Mary at the time, but it also has a special meaning for us.

Two mothers, then, we find in the readings for today, although we could say that there was a third: the adoptive mother of Moses, Pharaoh’s daughter. And there is a theme that applies to both passages.

At the time of Moses, Pharaoh – king of Egypt – had immense power. He was both the supreme political and religious leader, often seen as a divine intermediary between the gods and the people, with absolute control over the land in terms of resources and the military. In Jesus’ day, the then-known world was under Roman rule, with the Emperor holding absolute power and called a ‘divine’. It is against this background that God moved, and how did he do it? By engaging mothers; another irony, I think, considering the position of women in society in those days. The theme, then, is that the Kingdom of God is confronting the kingdoms of the world. Many worldly kingdoms have come and gone, but God’s Kingdom remains for ever. That is what Jesus came to bring, hence the prophecy of one of the people, Simeon, who were in the Temple when Mary and Joseph came with baby Jesus, to offer the prescribed sacrifice. Simeon said, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’ Simeon recognised Jesus as the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Saviour who had been promised. Both he and the prophetess Anna, who was there too, spoke about Jesus as the one who would bring redemption to the people. His journey would be one of suffering, involving a very painful death, but one that would ultimately lead to glory and our salvation.

Going back and forward in the story of God with his people, then, we have Moses and Jesus, both babies at the time, helpless and in the care of their mothers. As an aside, I am thinking of Joseph, Jesus’ adoptive father, who played a crucial part in his life too. But on Mothering Sunday we are thinking of the mothers who played their part in caring for their sons, honouring God’s will and plan. We want to recognise their loving care, their work, their anxiety even, as they step out in faith to do what is right for their child. And in doing so, we are reminded of our own mothers – those who are still alive and those we have lost – they did not always get it right; they were fallible, human, just like us. But where we have received love, we want to give back love, and treasure good memories that sustain us. Thinking back to them, and to the mothers of Jesus and Moses, we are encouraged to move forward, and embrace the goodness of God, who is our Father and our Mother (Julian of Norwich) and who loves us to the end. Amen.