What If The Book of Tobit was Called Anna?; Tobit 11:1-6

 

Rev. George Miller

Sept 4, 2022

Tobit 11:1-6

 

Today is the last sermon on Tobit, and to be honest none of the messages were what I anticipated.

 

This is a GREAT thing, meaning that instead of TOBIT being used by me to pass an ideology, it was me who was made by TOBIT to look beyond my ego.

 

TOBIT begins as the tale of a man who is kidnapped, tries his best to honor his mother’s faith, and loses his sight.

 

HOW DIFFERENT this book would be if it had a different name.

 

Imagine if this was called SARAH, told from the point of view of Tobit’s relative who is tormented by a demon?

 

She is married 7 times, sees all 7 men die, is mocked by her staff, and wed for an 8^th time to her cousin.  What would Sarah have to say about her life, her family, her faith, her God?

 

Imagine if the book was called EDNA, and it was about Sarah’s mom?

 

It could be about a mother watching her only child have to constantly get her hopes up only to be shattered.

 

Or if the book was called ANNA, after Tobit’s wife?  What if we heard about her experiences, as a woman kidnaped and taken to Nineveh?  What if we heard about the horrors she faced?

 

What if we saw Tobit through her eyes, how he put everything before her? 

 

Tobit once had so much money he leant someone $200,000.  Imagine the life Anna lived; imagine what it was like when they became broke, and she had to take in laundry to pay the bills.

 

I would’ve liked to read ANNA because in many ways she’s the most realized character in this book.  When we first met Anna, she’s cooking big meals for Tobit, not fully appreciated.

 

We see how she comes to family’s rescue, get a job, excels at it, gets a bonus, and puts Tobit in his place when he tries to humiliate her.

 

Then we discover how strong a love she has for her only son, Tobias.  When Tobit sends her son away to collect the $200,000, she breaks into sobs.

 

“Why do you send my child away?  He is not a plaything to be used.  Don’t let money get in the way of our child’s life.  He’s a gift from God and he is enough.”

 

Anna weeps and weeps.  Her heart is torn.  She doesn’t care about the cash.  This is her son.  Her baby.

 

Anna is living in a dangerous place during a dangerous time, and Tobit has sent her son into danger all for an IOU.

 

This would be like a parent in Cuba or Haiti sending their only son to Miami to collect a debt.  This is like the Civil War and a son of Virginia is trying to get to New York and back unnoticed.

 

Although Anna’s son is safe as he travels along the way, there is no way for Anna to know this.  There’s no cell phone, no telegram, no post office.

 

Tobias should only be gone for 6 days, 7 at most.  But one week goes by, two weeks go by, three weeks.

 

Nothing.  Anna hears nothing about her son. 

 

She says to Tobit “My child has perished and is no longer among the living.”  She weeps, she moans.  “My child, the light of my eyes.  Damn you for taking my child.”

 

Tobit can’t handle her grief.  He tries to smooth over it.  “Be quiet,” he says.  “Stop worrying.  It’s probably nothing.”

 

Anna yells back “Be quiet yourself!  Stop lying to me- my child is dead.”

 

Every day, Anna would run out to watch the road; when the sun sets she’d go back in, crying all night, not sleeping.

 

That’s where today’s reading comes in- another day has come, another long morning of Anna waiting for her son to return.  She is staring at the road, the path her child had taken weeks ago.

 

She’s on about day 14, 21, 28 of no sleep.  Still, she waits; still she watches.

 

…and there, just there, in the horizon, she sees his shape.  It is unmistakable.  As a Mother, she knows, she know.  She shouts to her husband “Look, your son is coming!”

 

Then…she runs.  She runs and she runs, and she does not stop running until she sees the light of her eyes.  She throws her arms around him.  “Now that I see you, my child, I can die.”

 

She weeps.  As if 12, 21, 28 days of weeping isn’t enough, she weeps tears of joy, the tears only a mother can shed for a child she thought was dead.

 

Tobit stumbling through the courtyard door and the family is reunited.

 

We don’t hear any more words from Anna.  We know she lived her life as a contented mother and grandmother, and she outlives Tobit.

 

How intriguing it would have been if today’s book was called ANNA and all that occurred, we got to see from her lens.  How unique the story would be.

 

Unique, and yet not unfamiliar.

 

Anyone notice how much today’s story sounds like another story in the Bible?

 

We heard of a mother watching for a son she fears is dead.  He appears on the horizon; she joyfully runs to him.

 

About 300 years later, Jesus tells a similar story in Luke 15.  Except this time it’s about a Dad who is watching for his son, a Dad who runs out to him.

 

According to Jesus, the Dad says, “Let us celebrate, for my son was dead and is alive again, lost and is found!”

 

How interesting that 2 such stories can exist, different and yet so similar.  Both featuring a missing child, a waiting parent, both ending with a joyful reunion.

 

Makes one wonder- did Jesus borrow from Tobit?  If so, what would have happened if he kept the parent as a mother?

 

We ask because although there are images in scripture that refer to the feminine aspect of God, and there are parts of the Bible that feature feminine imagery, there is not enough, and one has to really search for it, and not many male preachers preach about it.

 

So often people refer to God as He, see God as a He, refer to God as Father, but how would it have been if this time, in Luke 15, Jesus had taken a clue from TOBIT and made the story about a mother who waits?

 

How different would our theology, our lives, our world be?

 

How different would our faith and our vision of God be if Jesus gave us a story in which we see God as the Heavenly

-Mother Who Waits?

-the Mother Who Runs?

-the Mother Who Weeps?

-the Mother Who Fights for her Kid?

-the Mother Who Never Gives Up?

 

How cool it would’ve been if Jesus made the Dad in his story a Mom, because then we’d have one more image of the Lord.

 

And the more images of God, the more we fully experience and understand who God is.  And the more diverse an image we have of God, the more we see God in the diversity around us.

 

I am thankful for this journey we took with Tobit.  It was unexpected.  It was short.  It was rich.

 

And I hope it has empowered us to rethink how we see God, how we see scripture, and how we see ourselves. 

 

Amen and amen.