Naomi and Ruth

(Mother-Daughter by Choice)

Ruth 1:1-9, 14-16

After having a long conversation with a mom, a counselor says, “You have a serious problem. You spend 50% of your energy on house work, 50% on your children and 50% on your husband; this is serious problem.”

Two boys were chatting. One said to the other, “You know, my mom does not work. She just wakes me up at 6:30, prepares my father’s and my breakfast, then she cooks, cleans and does the laundry during the day. Then she picks me up from school, she helps me for my homework. She drives me to my orchestra practice. In the evening, she prepares dinner for us. My mom does not work.”

It is the mother’s day worship service. I always stress that we worship God but we honor our mothers. Our focus must be on God. We thank God for creating mothers.

Let us turn to the Word of God.

There are some great portraits of motherhood in the Bible:

- Moses’ mother, who did everything possible not to lose her child. She broke the law in order to raise her child and teach him the faith of his people.

- We see the sacrificial love of the mother who appeared before King Solomon and told him that she was willing to have her son taken away by another woman rather than see any harm come to him.

- How about Samuel’s mother who dedicated her only son to God.

- How about Mrs. Zebedee, mother of John and James who wanted the best for her sons and asked for the best place in the Kingdom of God.

- Mary the mother of Jesus who did her best to raise little Jesus in the faith and later on followed her son day by day and kept his teachings in her heart.

But today I like to take an interesting story from the Old Testament. It is the story of Naomi and Ruth.

Naomi and her husband Elimelech with their two sons Mahlon and Kilion escaped from Judea. There was severe famine in the land of Judea. Elimelech was from Bethlehem (house of bread). What an irony to leave the city of bread to find bread in a new place, a foreign place called Moab. Moab is the land of the descendants of Lot (Abraham’s nephew). In Moab, they did not worship Yahweh. They had foreign gods. Unfortunately, Elimelech died soon.

We don’t know how Naomi took this news. One thing is sure that she raised her sons, managed the house, and even helped her sons to find two brides in this foreign land. You have to see that there was no dating in those days. Mothers had strong opinions about their sons’ marriages. The Bible does not tell us how she found these girls; we just read they were married with two Moabite girls: Orpah and Ruth.

The tragedy continues in this family. Both sons die. So now, we have three widows: Naomi, Orpah and Ruth. A very sad story of survival. They escaped from famine but ended up in a more tragic situation. There is an Armenian saying: “ansreven pakhank gargoudin pernevetsank” (We escaped from the rain only to end up in hail.)

Naomi was a woman of God. I do believe she was woman of prayer. I do not find any verses in the Bible telling me those facts. Yet, I can find more about her faith by her conduct and her lifestyle. According to the Jewish law, a widow should be married to the brother of deceased person. Because there was no one around to continue the family duties, she gives to her two brides the choice to leave her, go to their families, and start new life.

I find this fascinating. Remember there were no securities those days, no financial help and more than that: loneliness. She is a woman of faith. The times were tragic and things did not go as she had planned. She acted in an unselfish way. Instead of keeping these two young widows with her, which is security and companionship, she gave them their freedom. The story says that both daughters-in-law cried. Ruth decided to stay. She chose her mother-in-law as her new “mother”.

Mother by choice. We will continue in English.