"THREE WIDOWS AND A BABY"
By Pastor David
November 12, 2000
Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17
Mark 12:41-44
A few years back there was a popular movie entitled "Three Men and a
Baby". Our scripture passages from the lectionary tell the stories of
three widows and a baby! As men are often considered to be helpless
with an infant, widows in Bible times were vulnerable and needy. Women
then did not work outside the home, had no social security to fall back
on if their husband died, and no assistance at all if they were
childless AND widowed. The prophets spoke out against the mistreatment
of widows and orphans. At times today we might hear the phrase "rich
old widows". There were NO wealthy widows in Bible times.
The book of Ruth shares a tale of two widows: Naomi, who fled from
Bethlehem in a time of famine and went with her husband and two sons to
Moab, and Ruth, a young Moabite who married one of Naomi's sons. As the
story unfolds, Naomi's husband and two sons die, leaving her in a
totally vulnerable situation: no husband or children to provide for
her, in a foreign land. Naomi's daughters in law could go back to the
nearby homes of their parents, and Orpah did so. But Ruth courageously
chose to go with Naomi to Bethlehem, leaving what little security Ruth
had behind in Moab. Last week's reading from Ruth makes it clear that
Ruth did have one certainty in life: her faith in the One True God,
which Naomi had introduced her to!
Naomi's name meant "pleasant", but she renamed herself "bitter" after
the loss of her husband and two sons. It was one thing for Ruth to love
a pleasant mother in law. It was something else for Ruth to attach
herself and her future to a bitter one! Ruth combined her faith in God
with a healthy portion of get up and go. So she said to Naomi "This is
the harvest season, and our God requires that the rich must leave the
grain unharvested at the edges of the field, for the poor to glean. I'm
going to head out at the crack of dawn and glean." Naomi said "I'm too
down in the dumps to go with you." Ruth was too sweet to say "Naomi, it
might help if you got up off the sofa and helped to put food on the
table."
The young widow Ruth wandered out looking for a field to glean, while
the older widow Naomi moped around the house. But God was also at work,
guiding Ruth to glean in the field of Boaz, a distant relative of
Naomi. God guided Boaz to check out his fields while Ruth was gleaning
there, and Boaz asked one of the help "Say, who is that attractive young
woman on welfare gleaning over there?" When Boaz heard it was Naomi's
daughter in law, Boaz was touched, because he'd heard all that Ruth had
done for Naomi. So Boaz saw to it that Ruth went home with an abundance
of grain, and also put out the word that any young buck that hassled
Ruth would have to answer to him!
When Ruth returned home, Naomi's mouth dropped open when she saw how
much grain Ruth brought back! It was the first time Ruth had seen Naomi
smile in ages. Naomi said "WHERE on earth did you glean today? May the
Lord bless ANY man that left that much grain for the poor!" And when
Ruth responded with a grin, "The Lord led me to glean in Boaz's field."
Naomi burst out "Hot diggity dog! The Lord is blessing us BIG TIME!
Boaz is a relative, and we just might get something going here!" It was
at this time that Naomi began to be roused from the doldrums, and began
to play matchmaker. Knowing that Boaz was a good man, besides being a
relative and middle aged, but also a little clueless when it came to
women, Naomi coached Ruth on what she needed to do to let Boaz wake up
to the possibilities. Sure enough, Boaz married Ruth, they had a baby
named Obed. To hear the other older women in Bethlehem tell it, you'd
think Obed was Naomi's son instead of Ruth's. The women said "BLESSED
BE THE LORD, WHO HAS NOT LEFT YOU THIS DAY WITHOUT NEXT OF KIN..." The women also noted that Ruth, her daughter in law, was 'MORE TO [Naomi] THAN SEVEN SONS." It"s not surprising that women today love the book of Ruth. Jack Miles, in his book "GOD, A BIOGRAPHY", accurately notes that "What men mostly do in the Book of Ruth is die, leaving the women to
cope for themselves." (p. 341) And the women in Ruth, even though
widows, do, with God's help, surprisingly well. For not only did God
reward the widows Naomi and Ruth with security, and an heir. Obed
became the grandfather of future king David, the greatest king Israel
ever had, until another descendent, Jesus, became king of kings, and
lord of lords of all history!
God can do wonderful things with widows, with those seemingly weak and
helpless. This message is dramatically reinforced by Jesus, who stands
near the Jerusalem temple treasury, watching the rich and famous drop
large sums into the offering without comment. But then a poor widow
drops in two copper coins, and Jesus calls his disciples and notes "THIS
POOR WIDOW HAS PUT IN MORE THAN ALL [OTHERS]. FOR ALL OF THEM HAVE CONTRIBUTED OUT OF THEIR ABUNDANCE; BUT SHE OUT OF HER POVERTY HAS PUT IN EVERYTHING SHE HAD." These three accounts: of Naomi, Ruth, and the poor widow in the temple, tell the story of "THE WIDOW'S MIGHT!" What is God trying to tell us through these passages?
Is there a connection between the three widows and a baby related in our
scripture, and First Presbyterian today? Even though our church has had
more babies born this year than since I've come here, we still have a
lot more widows than we have infants. A lot more elderly than young.
Popular wisdom has it that the healthiest churches have lots of young
people. A number of our young people are off at college or in the
service now. What shall we do about this? Shall we become like Naomi?
Become bitter, negative, and complain? Ruth took a more productive
approach--out and about at the crack of dawn to glean. Ruth's intensity
of effort began to perk Naomi up, who began to use her wits and
connections. Like these two widows, the poor widow that Jesus hailed
didn't sit at home and mope--they all offered to God what they had!
God wants us to do for Him what we can, with what we have! Recall that
in the parable of the talents, Jesus condemned the one talent servant
NOT for only having one talent, but for NOT USING the one talent his
master had blessed him with! As your pastor, it's my responsibility to
point out that God doesn't grant exemptions to the old or widowed or
poor. God holds us all responsibile for doing the best we can with what
we have and are!
We have a new Sunday School curriculum, and dedicated teachers that meet
monthly in Pastor Barb's home for prayer and encouragement. We've got
the most extensive new member training we've ever had. Prayer is being
encouraged more in our church's life now than ever before! As Josh
Nottingham pointed out last week, we have been one of the leading
supporters of Young Life's outreach to churched and unchurched youth in
the area. We have members involved, we've pledged to support this
financially to the tune of $10,000 in the start up years, and several of
our youth are participating. It would be nice to have 120 youth in this
church attending youth meetings in this building; every church would
like that. But it's more important that something like this can take
place in our community than in this church, and we are helping make that
happen!
Our new mission statement is: "First Presbyterian Church--United to
glorify God; inviting all to the hope found only in Jesus Christ." Our
support of youth outreach is part of this. So is our effort to develop
a second worship service. Phase two of this begins with our Advent
Wednesday night services.
Jesus didn't just invite a few to come and follow him-- young people,
the wealthy. Jesus invited everyone, and stressed that the talents and
gifts of all were needed to fulfill our high calling! 3 widows and a
baby accomplished an awful lot for the kingdom! Jesus knew there is
POWER in the widow's mite! He can work wonders with what we render unto
Him. Take our lives, and let them be....consecrated, Lord, to thee!
--
Rev. David Layman
First Presbyterian Church
100 North 10th Street
Richmond, IN 47374