Naomi and Ruth (2)

(Mother-Daughter by Choice)

Ruth 1:16-22

 

 

Asking 2nd grade children about mothers:

Why did God make mother?

1. She’s the only none who knows where scotch tape is.

2. Mostly to clean the house.

3. To help us out there when we were getting born

 

How did God make mother?

1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.

2. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

 

Why did god give you your mother and not some other mom?

1. We are related

2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people’s moms like me.

 

What kind of little girl was your mom?

I don’t know because I wasn’t there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.

 

Moms are just wonderful. We can learn from them. But today I am examining the life of two women who became widows. We are talking about Naomi and Ruth.

“Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9 May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband."
          Then she kissed them and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people." (8-10)

After a while,

“At this, they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her. (14)

 

1-Naomi lived a Godly life in her home.

Ruth stayed; Why?

Something was different. Ruth had a different kind of a relationship with the mother-in-law. She witnessed something different. Ruth planned not just to stay, but to follow her mother-in-law and worship the same God that she worshiped.

Something different happened in Ruth. Both Orpah and Ruth cried, but Ruth overcame her emotions and made a choice.

Listen to her words one more time:

“But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.” (16-18)

 

One of the nice gifts God granted mothers is the gift of children. Whoever is a mother understands what I am saying.

-Naomi and Ruth did not have a biological bond; they had something more than that. The credit goes to God who brought them together in a special bond.

 

Let us start with Ruth .

Ruth did not want to leave Naomi. Not just because Naomi was her mother-in-law, but because Naomi was her teacher of the truths of God’s Word.

What does it mean? “Your God will be my God.”

Ruth witnessed something different in Naomi’s life, and she liked to follow that God. This means Ruth was observing life of Naomi who had a Godly life.

 

Parents watch out. Mothers watch out. Our children are watching us. We teach them in many ways.

-Once a Sunday school child was said to his friend, “You know, one day when I grow up I will not come to church.”

His friend was surprised. He asked why?

“My mother drops me in the Sunday school and leaves; she comes back later to take me home. I will do the same thing.”

The best foundation for Christian education starts at home, both mothers and fathers.

Ruth observed her mother-in-law carefully. She was a woman of God. Therefore, she chose her new “mother.”  Naomi was not just her mother-in-law any more; she was her mother.

 

 

2- Naomi Became Mara (pleasant to bitter)

"Don't call me Naomi,” she told them. "Call me Mara, because the has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."

 

It is interesting how Naomi who faced a very tough life took all hardship and suffering very well. Now that she arrived back to her town Bethlehem, her own neighborhood, she suddenly faced the reality of the situation and became sad and bitter.

 

I wonder about the gossip in Bethlehem. I wonder whether people spoke about her and said that these deaths happened because of a sin. I wonder about that.

But now it comes the role of Ruth in this “bitter’ situation.

She is now in a foreign land. She is called the “Moab girl” (the odar).

She is willing to start new life. She is practical and wants to find a job.

She asks for permission.

Naomi calls Ruth her daughter.

Do you see the dynamics between these two women?

“Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.” and Naomi said, “Go, my daughter.” (2:2)

She finds a job. She pushes herself in a job. She finds favor with the owner of the job and eventually married him.

Naomi helps Ruth for marriage. She councils Ruth about how to approach this matter. (Read chapter 3-4)  Ruth’s life helps Naomi to see that God has a plan for both of them.  I find that although there is pain of losing of husband and sons, Ruth and Naomi find way in supporting each other. I wonder if prayer has something to do in this.

-What do we do when things are not going the way we want?

-To whom do we refer in our distress?

-How do “bitter” situations turn into “pleasant” ones?

Prayer. Constant prayer. Pray without ceasing.

St. Augustine’s mother Monica chased her son. Augustine writes how he often found his mother on her knees praying to God for his son’s salvation. One day she got so desperate that she went to a bishop and wore that man out. She wanted the Bishop to speak to Augustine.

Listen the bishop’s answer, “Go, go! Leave me alone. Live on as you are living. It is not possible that the son of such tears should be lost.” You know the story. Augustine became one of the important figure in church history and theology.

 

One of the characteristic of virtuous (“arakini”) mothers is persistence in prayer. I remember my mother’s corner for prayer. She had a special corner in her room. We knew that we should not bother her when she was in prayer.

 

Hovhannes Shiraz the Armenian poet has a poem about a son seeing his mother in a dream. He sees a beggar who knocks the door and asks for food. When the man opens the door, he finds the beggar to be his mother. She says to him, “I came back to see that if your conscience is alive. I came back to see whether you are still practicing whatever I taught you.”

Even after her death, the mother is chasing us. WOW

 

3- Bitter became Pleasant

Ruth got married with Boaz. Boaz loved Ruth because of her character:

Boaz said, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge." (2:10-12)

 

They were married and they had a child called Obed. Bethlehem was rejoicing. The women of the town were reciting poetry and blessings. (See 4th chapter). Naomi raised this child. The scripture says,  “Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, "Naomi has a son." And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.”

 

Bitter became Pleasant. Marra became Naomi.

I don’t know how you feel today. Some of you had bitter life experiences.

Why don’t you turn to God? Dedicate your life to God. God knows better. God through Jesus Christ gives us new opportunities. We need to trust in Him and be strong in prayer.

 

My mother’s Prayer (Mores aghotke).

Amen