Suffer the little children...

Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Swanscombe on the fourth Sunday in Lent (Mothering Sunday), 18th March 2007 based on I Samuel i.20-28 and St John xix.25-27.

In a little house sits a mother,
her little boy at her breast
content and happy.

To him,
her thoughts are irrelevant.

All he seeks is warmth
and love
and milk,
items his mother supplies
as abundantly as she possibly can.

As he sleeps,
he is comforted
by the steady beat of her heart.

Not for him is it to know that
despite all this tranquillity,
his mother is wracked
with pain and worry.


The child does not know
of the preparation that his mother is making,
for when he has stopped needing
the milk and the cuddles,
when he has teeth and is on solid food,
when he is just about to walk,
his mother,
the one who has prayed fervently
for his birth,
will give him to the priests
and walk away.

[PAUSE]

Before Samuel’s birth,
Hannah,
his mother was declared to be barren.

Peninnah,
her husband’s other wife,
has children.

At that time Hannah didn’t,
and she was mocked for it.

Hannah has prayed
to the God she has always prayed to
and Samuel is the result
- a happy and fine baby boy
with fat legs and thick black hair.

So why on earth did she want him born
if she is only going to give him up
while he is still small?


Has Hannah been selfish?

Has she only prayed for Samuel’s birth
just to save face
in the light of mockery from Peninnah
and social disgrace?

Is Samuel just a trophy baby
so that Hannah can say
“see, I can have children”?

Is Hannah like some women of today
whose only thought is to have children
so that she can claim benefits?

[PAUSE]

Samuel stretches a little
in Hannah’s arms and
as she wipes his little mouth,
her heart is heavy
because she loves him
and she must give him up.
Is there anything more difficult
than for a mother
to give away her child?

[PAUSE]

Having to let go of a child
is an inevitable part of motherhood.

There are many tragedies in life
which see a mother having to say goodbye
to her baby prematurely.

Isn’t “goodbye” something
that all mothers have to say at some point?



Is there a mother
who hasn’t shed a quiet tear because
Her baby has left her because
it’s their first day at school,
the first time they sleep
over at someone else’s house,
go on holiday on their own,
go to university,
get married and leave home.

A mother’s heart is filled with worry.

Will they be alright?

Will they get there safely?

Will they eat well?

Have they packed enough clean underwear?

Motherhood is tough, no two ways about it.

[PAUSE]

When Our Lady, Mary,
presents the infant Jesus, Our Lord
at the temple,
the priest Simeon tells her that
because she is the Mother of God,
a sword will pierce her own soul,
just as the Lord’s body
will be pierced
on Good Friday.

Isn’t this a sensation with which
mothers are all too familiar?

Suffer the little children…
and, boy, do we have to suffer them!

[PAUSE]

In presenting Jesus in the temple,
Lady Mary is fulfilling the requirements
of the Jewish law.

Every first-born male must
be presented to the Lord for His possession.

Thankfully for the parents,
God usually charges them
to look after the child for Him.

It’s also a bit of a relief for the priests too.

Just think – wouldn’t the Rectory
be a little inundated with nappies?

But in giving the child back to the parents,
God is telling them that the child
must be brought up in His ways.

[PAUSE]

Hannah is serious in what she wants to do.

She loves God,
and wants a chance to worship Him fully.

This is why she is determined
to offer up Samuel in worship of God.

She’s not saving face
by praying for a baby to be born
and then foisting him on the priests
just because he’s inconvenient.

She’s asking God for a way to worship God
through the hard sacrifice of being a mother
- a sacrifice made harder
by giving Samuel up when he’s still very little.

Samuel will turn out to be a very fine priest.

What does this say about Hannah’s sacrifice?

[PAUSE]

Being a mother is a priesthood unique to women.

It involves a sacrifice of love
to bring a child into the world,
to nourish it,
to love it,
to teach it,
to give it every opportunity
to become the person that it is going to be.

This can only happen
if the mother decreases
so that the child increases.



As a church we all,
men and women,
have a duty in mothering.

When a child is baptised,
the Church becomes a spiritual mother
and has a duty to make sacrifices
in order for that child to grow up in the faith.

We, the Church, have a duty in our mothering
to decrease so that our little ones can increase
knowing the love of God,
and how He provides for them.



In giving us His son,
God also gives us the example
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God,
to show us how seriously
we must all take our
mothering duties.

Like any Jewish Mother,
Mary is the one who teaches the Jesus the Faith,
so must we teach our children
the same Faith built
on the same precepts.

Mary is the one who has
to accept the person that her son is,
so must we accept the people
who our children are,
and let them have every opportunity
to serve God.

Mary is the one
whose heart is broken
when she sees her son
bleeding on the cross.

So too must we have our hearts broken
in letting our children go
to do what they must do.

Mary— Mother of God.

The Church— mother of Christians.

Have you made your sacrifice of motherhood yet?