1 Deeply upset in my heart, I sighed and wept and began to pray with sighs:
2 “You are just, Lord, and all your deeds are just; mercy and truth mark all your ways. You judge the world.
3 “Now, Lord, remember me and look upon me. Don’t punish me for my sins and the mistakes I made in ignorance, nor for those of my ancestors. They sinned against you, 4 and I disregarded your commandments. So you have handed us over to plunder, captivity, and death. We have become a parable and the object of chatter and scorn among all the nations to which you have scattered us. 5 You are right in your many judgments, holding me responsible for my sins; for we didn’t observe your commandments, and we haven’t behaved faithfully toward you.
6 “And now, deal with me as you wish. Command that my spirit be taken from me so that I might be set free from the earth[a] and become dust. It is better for me to die than to live, for I have heard false insults, and I’m full of grief. Lord, command that I might be set free from this distress. Set me free to go to the eternal place. Don’t turn your face from me, Lord, for it is better for me to die than to experience this distress in my life and to endure insults.”
Sarah’s plight and her prayer to die
7 On the same day in Ecbatana of Media, Sarah, Raguel’s daughter, also heard insults from one of her father’s female servants.
8 Sarah had been given in marriage to seven husbands; and Asmodeus, an evil demon, killed them before they could lie with her as newlyweds do.[b] And so the female servant said to her, “You are the one who keeps killing your husbands! See, you have already been given to seven husbands, and you haven’t carried the name of any of them. 9 Are you beating us because they have all died? Go with them, and may we never see a son or daughter of yours!”
10 On that day Sarah was deeply upset in her heart and wept. She went upstairs to a room in her father’s house, and planned to hang herself. But she had second thoughts and said, “They will never insult my father by saying to him, ‘You had but one dearly loved daughter, and she hanged herself because of her troubles.’ If I did this, I would bring my old father down to the grave in sorrow. It is better for me not to hang myself, but to beg of the Lord to let me die so that I no longer hear insults during my lifetime.”
11 At that moment, she stretched her hands out toward the window and prayed:
“You are blessed, merciful God, and your name is blessed forever! May all your works forever praise you![Footnotes:
Tobit 3:6 DSS Heb; LXX1,2 land
Tobit 3:8 Gk according to what is prescribed for wives]
Tobit 3: Raphael helps Tobit and Sarah
16 At that very moment, the prayers of both Sarah and Tobit were heard in God’s glorious presence. 17 Raphael was sent to heal the two of them: Tobit, by removing the white spots from his eyes to see God’s light with his eyes again, and Sarah, Raguel’s daughter, by giving her as a wife to Tobias, Tobit’s son, and by ridding her of the evil demon. It was Tobias’ right to inherit her before all the others who wished to take her. At that very moment Tobit returned from the courtyard back into his house, and Sarah, Raguel’s daughter, also came down from the upstairs room.
Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, MartyrsBlessed are you in all your works forever! (Tobit 3:11)
“On the same day” in two different cities, two desperate people call on God’s mercy. The aged Tobit laments his blindness, and young Sarah contemplates suicide. Both are tired of being blamed and insulted for circumstances beyond their control, when each is just trying to do the right thing.
Because all God’s ways are mercy and truth, “at that very time, the prayer of these two suppliants was heard in the glorious presence of Almighty God” (Tobit 3:16). Responding out of love and compassion, God sends the angel Raphael to heal Tobit’s blindness and to deliver Sarah from the constant threat of demonic attack. And he does it through Tobit’s son, Tobiah.
At first Tobiah views himself simply as an obedient son setting off to retrieve an investment for his father. Little does he imagine that he will become God’s instrument of healing and deliverance. He just puts one foot in front of the other and deals with challenges that confront him along the way—with the help of the angel, of course! Because of Tobiah’s faithfulness, God is able to do great things through him and for him.
Like Tobit and Sarah, we too are God’s beloved people. And like them, we too experience setbacks, sicknesses, and spiritual temptations. But also like them, we have a “Tobiah” who can help us. His name is Jesus. Like Tobiah, he has healed us and opened our eyes. And like Tobiah, he has bound our enemy, the devil, and set us free from his harassment and threats.
Like Tobiah, Jesus walked, step-by-step, from Bethlehem to Nazareth to Galilee to Jerusalem. He put one foot in front of the other and faced every challenge that came against him. He would allow nobody and nothing to keep him from fulfilling his mission.
But here is the best part. Jesus not only saved us; he married us. What Tobiah did with Sarah, Jesus did with us. He calls us, the Church, his bride. He betrothed himself to us forever. How blessed we are! May we, the bride of Christ, long for the day when we will be fully united with our bridegroom. And until then, may we all remain faithful to him and pray, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
“Thank you, Jesus, for saving us and marrying us!” Amen!
Psalm 25:2 I trust you, my God.
Don’t let me be disgraced,
don’t let my enemies gloat over me.
3 No one waiting for you will be disgraced;
disgrace awaits those who break faith for no reason.
4 Make me know your ways, Adonai,
teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth, and teach me;
for you are the God who saves me,
my hope is in you all day long.
6 Remember your compassion and grace, Adonai;
for these are ages old.
7 Don’t remember my youthful sins or transgressions;
but remember me according to your grace
for the sake of your goodness, Adonai.
8 Adonai is good, and he is fair;
this is why he teaches sinners the way [to live],
9 leads the humble to do what is right
and teaches the humble [to live] his way.
Mark 12:18 Then some Tz’dukim came to him. They are the ones who say there is no such thing as resurrection, so they put to him a sh’eilah: 19 “Rabbi, Moshe wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and have children to preserve the man’s family line.[a] 20 There were seven brothers. The first one took a wife, and when he died, he left no children. 21 Then the second one took her and died without leaving children, and the third likewise, 22 and none of the seven left children. Last of all, the woman also died. 23 In the Resurrection, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife.”
24 Yeshua said to them, “Isn’t this the reason that you go astray? because you are ignorant both of the Tanakh and of the power of God? 25 For when people rise from the dead, neither men nor women marry — they are like angels in heaven. 26 And as for the dead being raised, haven’t you read in the book of Moshe, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz’chak and the God of Ya‘akov’?[b] 27 He is God not of the dead, but of the living! You are going far astray!”[Footnotes:
Mark 12:19 Deuteronomy 25:5–6
Mark 12:26 Exodus 3:6]
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