How 1 act of kindness can change your life: 3 great women of faith

The legacy of Abraham’s wife Sarah, the focus of Torah reading חיי שרה Chayei Sarah (“Sarah’s life,” Gen. 23:1–25:18), is not only her future daughter-in-law Rivkah (Rebecca) but also distant relatives Ruth and the Samaritan woman Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) met at the well.

These women, just as Sarah before them, extended acts of kindness and mercy to a stranger who would change their lives forever and they were rewarded for their kindnesses to strangers with a permanent connection with the Messiah.

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This is part 2 of a study comparing Abraham with David and Rivkah (Rebecca), Ruth and Photini (Samaritan woman at the well). See part 1.

Toward the end of the Torah reading חיי שרה Chayei Sarah (“Sarah’s life,” Gen. 23:1–25:18), we meet Sarah’s future daughter-in-law Rivka (Rebecca), whose faithful walk with God started with a simply act of hospitality and kindness to a stranger.

There’s a reason that the life stories of Rivkah, Ruth and the Samaritan woman in John 4 (known via tradition by the name Photini) resonate with us.

All three of them are connected to the Messiah Yeshua in concrete ways. Choices they made brought them into relationship with Messiah Yeshua, either biologically or spiritually.

Rivkah, Ruth and Photini all prevail in their faith because of their kindness and their willingness to abandon their past life and to live a different life, a life their training and eduction did not prepare them. They had no control over where they were born, over who their relatives were, over which gods they were taught to worship, but they did have control over their kindness to strangers and their willingness to abandon their past lives when confronted with an opportunity to live in a completely new way in a completely new place.

Because of this, Rivkah, Ruth and Photini all received the Messiah as a blessing.

To abandon one’s past is to have faith in the unknown future. This is why Rivka, Ruth and Photini were such great women of faith.

Here are some of the many parallels between these three women:

Rivkah (Rebecca)	Ruth	Samaritan woman (Photini)
Living in a foreign land	Living in a foreign land	Living in a foreign land
Related to Abraham’s family	Related to Abraham’s family	Related to Abraham’s family
Worshipped foreign gods	Worshipped foreign gods	Worshipped foreign gods
Main character trait: Kindness to Eliezar	Main character trait: Kindness to Naomi	Main character trait: Kindness to Messiah Yeshua
Blessed by Eliezer	Blessed by Boaz	Blessed by Messiah
Seeks permission from Laban and father to leave	Seeks permission from Naomi to leave	Seeks permission from relatives to follow Messiah
Marriage	Marriage	Unmarried, but should have been married
Abandons her past life	Abandons her past life	Abandons her past life
Blessed to be an ancestor of Messiah	Blessed to be an ancestor of Messiah	Blessed to speak with the Messiah face to face

Similarities between Rivkah, Ruth and the Samaritan woman at the well

Kindness and a willingness to abandon one’s crazy, weird, messed up past life, is an inherent characteristic in the life stories of Rivkah, Ruth and Photini. Just as God is inherently kind and loves humanity people, these women were the same. They were inherently generous and kind and loved people.

These women were not highly educated in theology, this is not why God blessed them. He blessed them because they were kind to others, they were flexible and willing to walk away from their past life and live their lives the way He wanted them to live.

Our behavior matters, even if we know nothing about the Torah, God will look with kindness on us when we extend kindness to others. He will also acknowledge our faith when we exercise the willingness to give up our crazy, mixed up past and trade it in for a better future with Him.

Summary: Tammy