Three Mom's Worth Remembering

• Special day for special people who sit all around us this morning: Mother’s, Grandmothers and even some Great Grandmothers

• We could fill a library full of books with the examples of how they have loved us and cared for us

Calvin & Hobbes comic strip. Well, on one Mother’s Day, Calvin is pictured standing by his mother’s bed. "Hey, Mom! Wake up. I made you a Mother’s Day card." "My, how sweet of you." she says. "I did it all by myself. Go ahead & read it."

She begins to read:

"I was going to buy a card with hearts of pink & red.

But then I thought I’d rather spend the money on me instead.

It’s awfully hard to buy things when one’s allowance is so small.

So I guess you’re pretty lucky I got you anything at all.

Happy Mother’s Day. There, I’ve said it. Now I’m done.

So how about getting out of bed & fixing breakfast for your son."

STATISTICS:

Hallmark estimates that 150 million Mother’s Day cards will be sent this year: 50% more than on Father’s Day Mother’s Day is the 3rd largest greeting card holiday of the year.

Americans spend an average of $105 on Mother’s Day gifts.

The phone rings more often on Mother’s day than Father’s day. More collect calls on Father’s Day

The busiest day of the year at car washes? The Saturday before Mother’s Day.

THERE WAS A STUDY by attorney Michael Minton on the monetary value of a wife’s services in the home. First he listed the various functions she performs:

Chauffeur Gardener Family counselor Maintenance worker Cleaning woman

Housekeeper Cook Errand runner Bookkeeper Interior decorator

Caterer, dietician, secretary, hostess

Using this impressive list of housewife’s work in today’s labor market, He came up with $985/week. That’s $51,220/year!

Cartoon shows a mother in her home. Her hair is in disarray, kids are everywhere, & the house is an absolute shambles. The husband comes home from work all neatly dressed in coat & tie, carrying his briefcase.

She takes one look at him, & He looks at her with a big question mark on his face. She tells him, "You come home every evening & ask what I do all day. Today I didn’t do it, & here it is!"

ONE BIBLE MOM came to Jesus: Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.’ But He answered her not a word. Matthew 15:21f

No answer but probably thinking, ‘No lady, your child is just now a teenager’. Demon possession and adolescence look a lot alike.

• Bible is filled with famous mothers: Mary, Hannah, Proverbs 31 Supermom – Sarah and Elizabeth two grandmother age mothers.

• This morning look at three lesser known moms of the Bible.

RIZPAH: A MOTHER WHOSE CHILDREN HUNG AROUND 2 Samuel 21

Rizpah was a concubine of King Saul who had bore Saul two sons.

As a concubine, she had very little status nor influential power.

Concubines were considered as “secondary wives,” they were inferior to the “primary wives.”

In reality, a concubine was nothing more than a slave.

Whether purchased or won in battle a concubine was entitled to some legal protection but was her husbands property.

• Her story occurs when David becomes King and King’s Saul’s reign has ended with his death. A people that Saul had attempted to wipe out wanted revenge on his sons, two of which were also the sons of Rizpah who was Saul’s concubine.

1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the presence of the LORD. And the LORD said, "It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death."

2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were the remnant of the Amorites, and the sons of Israel made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah). 3 Thus David said to the Gibeonites, "What should I do for you? And how can I make atonement that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?"

4 Then the Gibeonites said to him, "We have no {concern} of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put any man to death in Israel." And he said, "I will do for you whatever you say." 5 So they said to the king, " The man who consumed us and who planned to exterminate us from remaining within any border of Israel, 6 let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will hang them before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD." And the king said, "I will give {them.}"