Sermon – April 3, 2015

The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY

Good Friday   Bulletin 4-3-2015 (Good Friday)

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. John 19:25

Please be seated.

In the 2008 Presidential campaign, Sarah Palin said the hardest thing about the campaign was when the media said things about her children.  In an interview with a New York City TV station, she said, “They’re my kids. The mama grizzly bear in me comes out, makes me want to rear up on my hind legs and say, ‘Wait a minute.’”

And there have been times, especially when my children were little that I was the mama grizzly bear.  One incident I think I’ve talked about before, is one I’d forgotten, but my son has always remembered.

We were trick-or-treating.  We lived in the city, so there were lots of houses and lots of kids and people out having a good time.  All of a sudden, a kid ran up from behind and snatched my son’s bag of candy right out of his hands and kept running.  Well, just that fast, mama grizzly came upon me and I ran as fast as I could, yelling at the kid who stole my son’s candy.  I was incensed at the injustice of it all.  It was easy for any kid to get candy that night.  This was an act of meanness.  I was incensed at the cruelty and hurt the act caused my son.

But I acted.  I could do something.  And after a block or so, the kid dropped my son’s bag and we retrieved it and went on their way.  My son has never forgotten how I sprang into action and took care of him.

So, I honestly do not know how Mary stood at the foot of that cross, helpless to help her son…helpless to stop the inevitable…helpless to stop the terrible torture and death.  Recently I found this hymn, which I think says it all, At the Foot of the Cross by Carol Petersen, Hymn 43 in our Voices Found hymnal.  We’ll sing verses of it during our services the next couple of days.  Tonight, let’s sing verses 1-3.

(sing)

At the foot of the cross Mary sat weeping and gazing with love at her Lord.

He hung there bleeding and suffering and dying.

She could not help him.  She could not carry him home.

 

Blessed Mary, his mother bore him and rocked him and bathed him with love for her son.

Saw him in childhood and growing to manhood.

She could not help him. She could not carry him home.

 

Now with love in their hearts Mary and John sat together and poured out their grief.

“Look, John, you mother” and “Mary, your son, John.”

She could not help him. She could not carry him home.

“She could not help him.  She could not carry him home.”  Yes, tonight is a night of helplessness.  Tonight we need to remember all people everywhere who have a loved one they cannot rescue.  There are family and friends loving someone who is addicted to drugs or alcohol or sex and they cannot help their loved one.  They cannot carry their loved one home.

There are family and friends loving someone and warning someone about the path they were on and watching as that person was arrested and sent to jail for many years.  They could not help their loved one.  They cannot carry their loved one home.

There are family and friends loving someone who is being treated unjustly, but can’t seem to get the help they need to get justice.  They cannot help their loved one.  They cannot carry their loved one home.

There are family and friends grieving tonight because they watched their loved one die from a dreaded disease.  They could not cure the disease nor stop its progression.  They could not carry their loved one home.

What can we do when faced with this helplessness…this inability to make things right and just and okay?

What strikes me in our Gospel tonight is that Mary was physically present, even as hard and awful as that must have been.  Even as she must have wanted to hold him and touch him, she couldn’t do so, but she was there.

And we can be there.  We can offer our presence.  Just like Mary, we can stand there with our loved one.  We can be witnesses to their pain and suffering, as hard as that is.  While Mary couldn’t hold Jesus, we may be able to hold our friend.  I worked in hospice and we always told people that the last thing to go was hearing.  We’d encourage people to hold the hands of their loved one and to talk to them.

We can create and reach out to a supportive community.  In our Gospel, Jesus tells Mary she has a new son, the disciple John.  He tells John that he has a mother, Mary.  Even in his dying, Jesus encourages us to find supportive and loving communities to be family and friends.  Mary and John shared many experiences of Jesus.  They would be able to comfort each other in their grief.  They’d be able to tell stories and share memories about Jesus.  Isn’t that one of the hardest things when someone dies…to find others who love to hear your best memories of that person when you so desperately need to remember?

I don’t know about you, but I hate feeling helpless.  Yet, there are times when we just are and we must accept that.  We can be witnesses and be present during those times and most of all, we can help each other and find those friends and loved ones who will walk with us.

Amen