July 23, 2008

Caring for Our Parents

Read Ruth 2:17-18 and Ephesians 6:1-3

I'm always impressed at Ruth's work ethicwhen I read the Book of Ruth. She

worked diligently all day at very hard physical labor in the sun and heat. We don't

have the details of her life in Moab as a wife, but it would appear that gleaning was

not something she had done much in the past. She asked Naomi to "let her go and

glean." Ruth does all this hard work without complaint and brings back not only the

fruit of her labors to Naomi but leftovers from her lunch as well.

The Scriptures are clear about how we should treat our parents. As Paul says in the

Ephesians passage, the commandment to honor our parents is the only commandment

with a promise: that it may go well for you in the land. The word "honor" here means

to "treat with significance" which is the opposite of "in vain" which is how we are not

to take God's name. (Exodus 20:12) In Matthew's gospel Jesus is adamant that

there are no loopholes in this commandment as he condemns the Pharisees who in

the first centurywere trying to get out of caring for their parents by dedicating their

possessions to God. (Matthew 15:4-6) By dedicating their possessions, the

Pharisees could piously disregard the greater commandment to care for their parents.

Ruth's care of Naomi is all the more impressive because Naomi is not her mother

but her mother-in-law. The people of Ruth's world would have advised her back

in Moab to return to her father's house, marry again -- the odds are good, she's

obviously a striking young woman. This is even Naomi's advice in the beginning.

But Ruth loves Naomi and, through her, Israel's God and chooses to travel with

Naomi to a land where she, Ruth, will be a foreigner.  In Israel, Ruth cares for

Naomi in ways that are so striking that she finds favor in the eyes of Boaz because of it.

I am of a generation that is often both raising children and caring for aging parents.

My mom passed away a little over six years ago and my dad now lives in a retirement

community. How to honor him and care for him while continuing to meet my other

obligations is a question that is never far from my mind. Many of you are also caring

for parents or other relatives. Many of you are making daily sacrifices to honor your

parents and care for them appropriately. I feel very lucky that my dad is still relatively

self-sufficient and even luckier that he's always been a good father and that caring

for him is a natural thing for me to do. I know not everyone has been so lucky in

this broken world, and deciding how to care for parents who were distant,

neglectful or even abusive during childhood is difficult.

Ruth's choice to care for Naomi was easy in that it was inspired by love but very

difficult in that it meant she had to leave everything behind and risk all. Ruth did

honor Naomi and it certainly went well for her in the land as she ended up one

of the four women other than Mary listed in the genealogy of the Messiah.

                                                                 Mary Reilly