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The Junction | Mothering Sunday | 22/3

It’s Mothering Sunday and although we can’t gather together this evening for our regular night of The Junction I wanted to share a few thoughts on a very important Mother.

Jesus’ Mum. Mary.

Did you know that Mary is the only person to be with Jesus from his birth to his death on the cross?

We all remember the Christmas story… An angel visits Mary, tells her she’s going to have a son. A son that isn’t Joseph’s kid; but the son of God! Mary was most likely just a young teenager, she was also unmarried. This was to be a tough task to bear… but she replies “I am the Lord’s servant. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”

Mary knows the Jewish scriptures and realises that she is going to give birth to the messiah. She sings out this prayer in Luke 1…

Luke 1:46-55

“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.

His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”

Spend some more time digging into the Bible…

Here are a few key moments shared between Jesus and Mary.
Why don’t you sit with a cup of tea and reflect on:

What difficulty or pain did Mary experience in this passage?
How do you think she would have reacted?

Luke 2:1-7 (Birth of Jesus)

Luke 2:21-35 (Simeon’s prophecy)

Matthew 2:13-18 (Flight to Egypt)

Luke 2:41-51 (Jesus left in Jerusalem)

John 19:16-18, 25-27 (The Crucifixion)

Have a look at this BibleProject video to learn more about what it meant for Jesus to be the Messiah.

Mary was his Mother; she was obedient to the call on her life and this is how it ended… with her son on the cross. The reality is that following God’s call can bring personal cost. Mary was faithful to the messiah all the way through his life. We now have the choice on how we respond to who Jesus is. We can choose to ignore him, or respond in praise like Mary did.

  • Have you ever thought about Mary being at the foot of the cross?
  • What do you think she was thinking while the events of Easter were unfolding?
  • What can we learn from Mary?
  • Have you ever found it hard to keep faith through a tough time?
  • What advice about faith would you give someone else going through a tough time?

Prayer Time

Make some time now to pray for anything you’ve thought about from this session. It’s Mothering Sunday today. Maybe you could pray fro your Mother or those in your life that love you like a mum would.

We’re part of something bigger than ourselves, even though we can’t gather together right now, let’s also pray for those wo find Mothering Sunday hard for all sorts of reasons. This virus will mean that some can’t visit their Mums this year. We could pray for them too.

Worship

Feel free to listen to these songs from Soul Survivor to lead you in worship. You can just listen to the words.