“What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to feel that they are joined for life - to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting?”
― John Irving, A Widow for One Year-Naomi and her family went to foreign Moab in a desperate attempt for food. In their exile, Naomi’s sons marry foreign women, usually a bad sign for Israelite culture. They are widowed. Desperate Naomi trudges back home as she hear that life has improved. One daughter-in-law will not stay home but pledges loyalty to Naomi. They are back home in Bethlehem (house of bread), the poorest of the poor. Ruth knows only Naomi and gathers bits of what is left during a harvest of barley.I love this story as Naomi regains her name and her youth. Ruth finds a new family.We have another book in the Bible named for a woman.
Without Social Security, widows were often in desperate plights in ancient times. Hebrew ethics placed them at the top of the list of care for the needy.Life appears into another generation as she and Boaz have a son, even though she had no children in her first marriage., even though Boaz calls himself old.My favorite rotary meeting is our monthly student of the month award. their child will have David as a descendant, so that means Jesus is counted in the lineage of Ruth and Boaz. The great have their source in the desperate struggle of a pair of widows.Boaz get rejuvenated as well. Ruth was married for some years and widowed. He notes that she has not gone with younger men, so let’s assume he is on the mature side. They have a child together.Every child is a signal of hope for a new future. They name their child Obed, servant or worshipper.Earlier Ruth has promised her all to stay with Naomi. Jesus gets the same sense of the poor widow..
They were supposed to be taken care of by family members, but apparently they were often left to struggle on their own. I sometimes suspect that Mary was widowed, and that Jesus’s concern for widows was accentuated even from the adherence to basic social mores Jesus has a good sense of marginal utility, something we seem to have lost of late. A dollar to someone rich is nothing but it can be all that a poor person has. The widow’s contribution will not get her a brick on a walkway or a on the wall of the stewardship campaign.Langknecht- "What's the point of my small acts of faithfulness? Why bother? Even if I liquidate all my assets and give them to the poor, I might provide enough for one small soup kitchen to feed one hundred homeless for a week. But if I don't liquidate my assets, I fail to demonstrate my total trust in the provision of God.
We do well in our country to think seriously about facing becoming widowed. Not only do we suffer the loss of a life partner, but it has what some call secondary losses too. Friends may not invite you to couples parties any more, or a bridge game. You lose a doubles partner for pickleball.It is a big switch to go to a concert by yourself.children and grandchildren are wonders but they are not a spouse.I hea rthe word commu nity get thrown around lately, when people mean neighborhood. Community (SSP) treat us as companions in common cause. We can and should do better than consigning people to being alone.May widows find community.
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