I had originally planned to post all the readings at once, but they've proved too long. I'll try to do one a day for the next four days. I'd welcome any feedback or comments.
Old Testament Reading (Tobit 8: 4b-8)-It was difficult to settle on a reading from Tobit. Most of my family is Southern Baptist, which means they don't accept the book of Tobit as Biblical. (It's a part of the deuterocanonical--'second canon'--tradition because, until 1955, the book was only known in Greek.) The story is a beautiful one about devotion to God and to family.
Tobit grew up in Israel before he and his family were deported to Nineveh. His lifetime is a chronicle of risking his life and well-being to do good, but only reeping sorrow. He risked his own life to bury the dead, despite the decrees of the emperor--he was deported. He lay out in the sun after a ceremonial washing from touching a dead body--birds defecated in his eyes and he became blind. Years later, he had a heated argument with his wife. "Where are your charitable deeds now?" she asked him. "Where are your virtuous acts? See! Your true character is finally showing itself." Grief-stricken, he prayed for death.
Meanwhile, his close relative's daughter, Sarah, was also suffering. She had been married seven times, but before any man could consummate their marriage, he was killed by the demon Asmodeus. Her maid even accussed her of strangling her husbands herself. Sarah resolved to hang herself, but chose not to inflict pain and embarrassment on her father. Instead, she too prayed for death.
What happened next is best told in the words of the Biblical narrative: "At that very time, the prayer of these two suppliants was heard in the glorious presence of Almighty God. So [the angel] Raphael was sent to heal them both." God chose to answer both their prayers, but in a much more glorious way than either expected.
The angel Raphael disguised himself as a human being, Azariah ("God helps"), and escorted Tobit's son, Tobiah, to Raguel's home in Media. Tobit simply wanted to reclaim some deposited money to provide for his family when God answered his prayer for death--he didn't expect God's miraculous answer to prayer would so far surpass his expectations. On the way, Raphael encouraged Tobiah to catch a fish--the smoke from burning the fish's heart and liver could drive away demons and a paste made from its gall could cure blindness. Obviously, the paste restored Tobit's sight and he and his family lived happily for many years. But my favorite part of the story is Tobiah's marriage to Sarah.
Tobiah had the right to marry Sarah as her closest relative. Raphael encouraged him to claim his right so he could obey his father's order to marry a kinswoman and so he could save her from her fate. Sarah herself was terrified to marry Tobiah because of what might happen to him, but her parents reminded her to trust in God's mercy. After the wedding, before they went to bed together, he burnt the fish's heart and liver on the fire: "the demon, repelled by the odor of the fish, fled into Upper Egypt; Raphael persued him there and bound him hand and foot." But, even after the demon had been driven out, Tobiah told his wife to get out of bed and pray. This is the reading Adam and I have chosen:
Tobiah arose from bed and said to his wife, "My love, get up. Let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us and grant us deliverance." She got up, and they started to pray and beg that deliverance might be theirs. He began with these words:
"Blessed ard you, O God of our fathers; praised be your name forever and ever.
Let the heavens and all your creation praise you forever.
You made Adam and you give him his wife Eve to be his help and suppoer; and from these two the human race descended.
You said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone; let us make him a partner like himself.'
Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine not because of lust, but for a noble purpose.
Call down your mercy on me and on her, and allow us to live together to a happy old age."
They said together, "Amen, amen."
Adam and I were both enchanted by this beautiful prayer. Tobiah focuses first on gratitude for God's creation and his promises before asking to claim those promises for himself and his wife. But most of all, we love the idea that Tobiah takes his wife "for a noble purpose." If we truly believe marriage is a vocation, a calling, we must trust that God has brought Adam and I together for a noble purpose. We chose this reading to remind ourselves to always seek that purpose for our married lives.
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