Today, we commemorate Jesus’ last supper with his disciples before his death. Our beautiful evening service at 8pm includes feet washing and ends with the stripping of the altar and silent candlelit prayer.

Our Old Testament reading, Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14, recalls the first Passover when God’s people were protected by the blood of the sacrificial lamb. In all the other gospels Jesus dies on the eve of the Passover but in John’s gospel, 13:1-17, 31b – 35, Jesus dies on the Passover, he is the sacrificial lamb who gives his life for us.  Teaching us that God’s justice comes not by violence but by vulnerability.  Before his death, he kneels to wash his disciples feet, asking us to do the same for one another, to learn both how to serve and be served.

Today marks the beginning of Passiontide: a week of following Christ’s last days on earth.  This is a time when we reflect upon the difference between our expectations of ourselves, the world and God; and on God’s expectations for us: always surprising, always unexpected, creating possibilities we never dared hope for.

In the Liturgy of the Palms, Matthew 21.1-11, Jesus’ followers are expecting Jesus to enter Jerusalem like a conquering hero but instead he enters on a donkey.

At the Liturgy of the Passion, Matthew 26.17-27.54, Jesus now reveals the true nature of his leadership: to become the servant of all, a sacrifice for many: a leader who will give instead of taking, who will serve instead of being served, who will bring salvation instead of judgement.

On the last Sunday of Lent, before we begin our journey through Christ’s death and resurrection, our readings give us a glimpse of God’s power and God’s promise. 

In Ezekiel 37.1-14, the prophet has a vision of a field of dry bones being raised to life by the breath of God’s spirit.  In John 11.1-45, Jesus’ final miracle is to raise Lazarus from the dead.  These texts, together with the Easter story, are often used to support a belief in life after death: that when we, individually die, our life will continue with God. 

They offer us a far more miraculous promise: that we, together, as the whole people of God, may be raised to new life now, in this time, in this place.  These promises are not given to individuals but to communities: Ezekiel is told that the field of dry bones represents the people of Israel; Lazarus is not raised in private, it is his community that unbinds him and sets him free. 

This is not hope for tomorrow but for today: how will we, as people of God, trust the promise God gives us that we have the power to transform our common life together and bring life to the world?

Today is Mothering Sunday and our readings tell us the story of two mothers: Mary, mother of Christ, John 19.25-27 and Jochebed, mother of Moses, Exodus 2.1-10. Both stories reveal the cost of mothering: the effort it takes to nurture a child and keep them safe from harm, and the heartbreak that ensues when you can no longer protect them from the world. 

They also tell us that mothering is for everyone: we all need to be mothered (not just as infants but throughout our lives) and we are all needed as mothers, whoever we are.  The beloved disciple at the foot of the cross must now mother Mary in her grief; Pharaoh’s daughter, her foreign slave girls and Miriam, the little Hebrew sister, must work together to provide Moses with the mothering he needs to survive. 

He will go on to be Mother to his people, just as Jesus will become Christ, our precious mother. 

We can all empathise with the people of God in Exodus 17.1-7, falling out and quarrelling when life gets tough. 

How can they trust in God, how can they follow God into the future when they are struggling?  The answer is found in trusting each other.  In our gospel, John 4.5-42, Jesus begins the process of healing a quarrel that has gone on for much longer, that between the Jews and the Samaritans. 

He comes to the Samaritan admitting his need of her, he is thirsty.  When he offers her something in return, she asks first for this water for herself but soon she is hurrying to share it with the rest of her community. 

When life is hard, the challenge for us is to trust, not only in God but in one another. 

This week, our readings explore what it means to journey with God. 

In Genesis 12:1-4, Abram leaves his home and all that he knows behind; he does not know where he is headed, only that God is leading him.  In John 3:1-17, Nicodemus struggles following where Jesus leads; he is bewildered and uncertain.  Jesus asks him to let go of all he holds close in order that he may begin again, be reborn, who in their right mind would want to start again? 

Journeying with God requires courage, we risk the unknown, not just where we are headed but who we will become in the process.