Mothering Sunday
“the inner thoughts of many will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul, too.””
Summary
“Today, on Mothering Sunday, we celebrate our Mother Church and all those (related and unrelated, male and female) who nurture and care in our lives and in our world.
We hear again the story of the infant Moses from Exodus 2:1-10 and the community of individuals of different faiths and ethnicities who came together to keep him safe and raise him. In it, Pharaoh’s daughter names him Moses (which comes from the Hebrew verb Moshah to draw or pull out of water) “because, she said, I drew him from the water”. When Moses was drawn from the water, he was given a new life just as we are when we emerge from the waters of baptism. Just as Moses is given a new family, we too are part of a much wider family because of our baptism, a family, like Moses’, which is made up of people who are like us and people who are not. We are called to care for them, protect them and nurture them, to be mothers to one another. Pharoah’s daughter was taking a risk when she protected Moses, by law she could have been put to death. In Luke 2:33-35, Jesus has just been recognised by Simeon as one who will care for not only his own people but all people, Simeon knows that this will come at a cost. Our readings remind us of our baptismal calling, asking us to become a community of mothers who take the risk of extending love and protection to all those God sends to us.
FIRST READING
Exodus 2:1-10
“Reader 1: Now a man from the house of Levi married a Levite woman.
The woman conceived and bore a son,
Reader 2: When I saw that he was a fine baby, I hid him for three months.
When I could hide him no longer
I got a papyrus basket for him and plastered it with bitumen and pitch;
I put him in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river.
Reader 3: Then I, his sister, stood at a distance,
to see what would happen to him.
Reader 1: The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river,
while her attendants walked beside the river.
Reader 4: I saw the basket among the reeds and sent my maid to bring it.
When I opened it, I saw the child.
He was crying, and I took pity on him.
“This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,”
Reader 3: Then I, the sister, said to Pharaoh’s daughter,
“Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women
to nurse the child for you?”
Reader 4: “Yes.”
Reader 3: So I went and called our mother.
Reader 2: Pharaoh’s daughter said to me,
“Take this child and nurse it for me,
and I will give you your wages.”
So I took the child and nursed it.
When he grew up, I brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter,
and he became her son.
Reader 4: I named him Moses, “because I drew him out of the water.”
GOSPEL
Luke 2:1-10
The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.
Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary,
“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.”
