Happy Mother's Day!

Mother’s Day is Sunday (Saturday in Mexico), so it seems appropriate to blog about mothers today. I blogged about my parents earlier this week, so not so much about my mother, just mothers in general.
We can start with Eve, since she was the first mother, and, in fact, Genesis 3:20 indicates that Adam named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living. In actuality, Eve simply means life. I would imagine that she was a good mother, most of her children turned out okay, and that’s not an easy task, even when you have an example set for you by your own mother. I understand that Abel was understandably concerned about the way that she raised Cain, though.
Sarah was the mother of all of Israel, even though she doubted when she first heard that she would be (Genesis 18:12). To some extent, it’s understandable; she was old. She ended up having Isaac when she was 91. That’s quite an accomplishment.
Hannah, the mother of Samuel, was a woman in emotional turmoil, because it was very important to her to have a child. Her husband, Elkanah, had another wife, who had children, so it wasn’t a question of continuing her husband’s lineage; it was a question of her feelings of self-worth wrapped up in her desire to be a mother (that could be a good or a bad thing. In this case it was good, but, under most circumstances, a woman’s worth is not based on haw many children she has. Those were different times, though). She prayed to God, and promised her son to the Lord if He would just allow her to have a son. He did, she did, and Samuel ended up being raised by the High Priest, and becoming a prophet. God also allowed Hannah to have more children, after she showed her faithfulness with Samuel.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, was blessed among women. I think that she is underrated, and overrated, at the same time. Some people don’t seem to appreciate that she was not chosen simply because she was the millionth customer. Granted, her lineage figured into it, but God would not have chosen her to bear the Christ child and then to raise him, if she were not a righteous woman. She had a special relationship with God because of her faithfulness, that’s why God was able to trust her with such an important role. On the other hand, some people seem to think that she is practically a goddess in her own right. I suspect that she would object strenuously to that idea if she heard it. I can sort of understand the urge to try to have her act as an intercessor: “Mary, your Son will listen to you, and His Dad will listen to Him, and I need…” She, of course, is considerably less intimidating than God Himself is. Still, remember the wedding at Cana? She went to Jesus because they ran out of wine. She knew He could do something about it. He did, but not before getting upset with her for trying to put His abilities on display. Granted, in that instance, her intercession was successful, but how many times do you think she can get away with that? Do you think that any of us living today are as close to her as the couple getting married at Cana? The Bible tells us to honor our parents. It always seemed to me that Jesus’ response to Mary was a little on the disrespectful side. What kind of example is He setting? It seems to me that, for Him to respond to her that way, it must have been very important to Him for us to know that we shouldn’t count on Mary’s intercession ever again. We certainly can intercede for each other, though, particularly since Jesus taught us that whenever two or three are gathered together in His name, that He would be in the midst of us. The Bible does tell us to fear God, but it also tells us that He loves us and would like to take care of us, if only we will let Him.