The Fourth Sunday of Lent – Byron Tindall
Welcome to the Fourth Sunday in Lent. Notice the preposition “in.” In is used rather than “of.” If you look carefully at a calendar and do a little counting, Sundays are not included in the 40 days. At any rate, this fourth Sunday in Lent has also gone by another name for centuries.
How many of you have heard and know the meaning of “Mothering Sunday”? Those of you who know about Mothering Sunday have my permission to take a short power nap if you desire to do so.
The Church of England website is full of information about the Fourth Sunday in Lent.
“Here are some of the traditions that have shaped Mothering Sunday into the celebration recognized today:
“The Journey to the Mother Church
“In the 16th century, Mothering Sunday was less about mothers and more about church. Back then, people were given time off and would make a journey to their ‘mother’ church once a year. This might have been their home church, their nearest cathedral or a major parish church in a bigger town. The service which took place at the ‘mother’ church symbolized the coming together of families. This would have represented a significant journey for many.
“A day off to visit Mother
“Another tradition was to allow those working in the fields on wealthy farms and estates in England to have the day off on the fourth Sunday of Lent to visit their mothers and possibly go to church too. This was a variation on the theme of visiting the ‘mother’ church and was a move toward a more family focused occasion. Before the days of cars and roads, family get-togethers were far more rare, (and Facetime was still a long way off). In some ways this tradition is still alive today as grown children often visit their parents on mothering Sunday.
“Simnel Cake
“Simnel cake has a strong affiliation with Mothering Sunday as it is usually associated with spring and Easter. It resembles a Christmas fruit cake but should be slightly lighter in texture. The other difference is the two layers of marzipan. Simnel cake should have a layer of marzipan running through the middle like a Victoria sponge and then another layer of marzipan on the top. Traditionally, you should also roll some marzipan into eleven eggs and place these on the top. The eggs are supposed to symbolize the disciples who followed Jesus – note that Judas is excluded. Mothering Sunday falls in the middle of Lent and it was traditional for people to relax their fasting on this day – hence making the cake.
“Traditions today
“This Sunday, churches around England will be sharing their own traditions, celebrating and giving thanks to the huge impact mothers have on each of our lives. The main service on Mothering Sunday in churches across England is central to the life of the church.
“The church recognizes that the day may be difficult for some people and so it is common place for services to include prayers for those who don’t find the day particularly easy.
“Families across England will be preparing little presents and cards and in some churches flowers are blessed and handed out during the main service.
“Families come together to have lunch, or children make breakfast in bed for their mothers, leaving all the mess to be cleared up later! It’s all about showing appreciation and many make a huge effort to make their mother feel special.”
This explanation of traditions today in England reminds me of some of the activities of Mothers’ Day in the U.S.
OK. Enough of the history lesson. It’s time to wake up anyone taking a power nap.
The disciples asked Jesus, “‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’”
“Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned…’”
The disciples were thinking of retributive justice, as it has become to be called. “Did this man’s parents do something so bad that their son was born blind as a punishment for their action?” “What did this man do even before he was born to deserve to be born blind?”
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is purely retributive justice.
In our western society, we say justice has been served when the so-called bad guys have been caught, convicted of their crimes and locked up. Again, retributive justice.
Jesus was the victim of retributive justice. After what I call a kangaroo trial, he was convicted of being an insurrectionist and sentenced to death on a cross by the Roman occupation forces. His public execution was supposed to show the rest of the population what would happen to anyone who defied the Romans.
Both the Old and New Testaments talk about a different kind of justice, restorative justice instead of retribution.
The prophet Amos wrote in in the Eighth Century BCE. His basic message was that God was about to punish the Israelites for their sins. However, in Chapter 9, verse 14 he wrote, “I mean to restore the fortunes of my people Israel. They will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them, plant vineyards and drink their wine, dig gardens and eat their produce.” That’s restorative justice.
Isaiah 55:8-9 sums it up nicely. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Jesus practiced restorative justice.
In the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John, we read, “The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and, making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” … When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ … Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’”
Restorative justice at its finest. The woman’s life was given back to her. She was admonished to change her ways, but she was allowed to live.
The Rev. Richard Rohr wrote in his daily meditation for March 2, 2026, “What history has needed is a positive and inspiring universal vision for the earth and the people of God. Harping about individual sin and convicting wrongdoers might shame a few individuals into halfhearted obedience, but in terms of societal change it has been a notorious Christian failure. Retributive justice has backfired because it is not founded in a positive love and appreciation of the good, the true, and the beautiful in the world or in creation. Negative energy feeds on itself, but positive energy evokes a positive vision.”