On this Mother’s Day, when we seek to honor our mothers, we recognize that they come in all sizes, shapes, and characters. Some are wonderful and godly in spite of difficult circumstances, while others suffer from unfulfilled expectations or simply never manage to get the right focus on the task. But the Bible doesn’t specify that we should honor only the deserving mothers – it just says you somehow try to dignify and show appreciation for the one whom God has used to bring you into this world, whatever she was like. So the biblical mother we want to focus on today had some special struggles to deal with, but she doesn’t normally receive much attention – a forgotten mother named Leah, the unwanted wife of Jacob. Yet her womb would be opened repeatedly, bearing Jacob a total of six sons and one daughter. And the first four sons and their names tell the story of this mother’s anguish, of her struggle to overcome her inferior status, and her spiritual victory related to the birth of her fourth son. This mother’s story would be repeated for generations, kept in the collective memory of how the tribes of Israel had their start and how the mother of a major portion of Israel was slighted and undervalued, yet learned to change her focus and give God His rightful place in her heart. And when she did so, she gave her descendants the legacy of being called by the name of her son Yehudah (“Judeans” = Jews), which means “praise” or “thanksgiving” to Yahweh. And in their descendant Jesus, all nations would be invited to live to the praise of Yahweh!
On this Mother’s Day, when we seek to honor our mothers, we recognize that they come in all sizes, shapes, and characters. Some are wonderful and godly in spite of difficult circumstances, while others suffer from unfulfilled expectations or simply never manage to get the right focus on the task. But the Bible doesn’t specify that we should honor only the deserving mothers – it just says you somehow try to dignify and show appreciation for the one whom God has used to bring you into this world, whatever she was like. So the biblical mother we want to focus on today had some special struggles to deal with, but she doesn’t normally receive much attention – a forgotten mother named Leah, the unwanted wife of Jacob. Yet her womb would be opened repeatedly, bearing Jacob a total of six sons and one daughter. And the first four sons and their names tell the story of this mother’s anguish, of her struggle to overcome her inferior status, and her spiritual victory related to the birth of her fourth son. This mother’s story would be repeated for generations, kept in the collective memory of how the tribes of Israel had their start and how the mother of a major portion of Israel was slighted and undervalued, yet learned to change her focus and give God His rightful place in her heart. And when she did so, she gave her descendants the legacy of being called by the name of her son Yehudah (“Judeans” = Jews), which means “praise” or “thanksgiving” to Yahweh. And in their descendant Jesus, all nations would be invited to live to the praise of Yahweh!
