A Model of Filial Piety
Pastor Tan Thai · May 10, 2020
This Mother's Day sermon from 2020 reflects on a mother's love and the duty of filial piety through the story of Ruth and Naomi. The pastor emphasizes that true filial devotion is not merely words but must be expressed through concrete acts of care, especially when parents are elderly and in need.
This sermon was delivered on Mother's Day, Sunday May 10, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pastor opens by affirming the incomparable importance of mothers in the lives of their children, drawing on Vietnamese folk poetry and lyrical imagery of a mother's love as vast as the Pacific Ocean — impossible to count, measure, or hold back.
The central section of the sermon expounds Ruth chapter 1, focusing on Naomi's grief after losing her husband and two sons, and Ruth's decision to remain with her mother-in-law despite having no obligation to do so. The pastor broadens the meaning of 'losing a child' beyond physical death to include children who go astray, abandon their faith, or become ungrateful and disrespectful. Through the story of Ruth Graham and a grieving mother who lost her son to a drug overdose, the sermon calls the Church to be a place of safety — a community that opens wide its arms to both suffering mothers and prodigal children.
The sermon establishes the biblical foundation for filial piety through the Fifth Commandment, explained by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:1-3 with its accompanying promise of blessing and long life. The pastor also cites Matthew 15:1-6 to show that even the Pharisees found ways to evade their duty to honor parents, and Proverbs 30:17 as a warning about the consequences of an unfilial child.
The application centers on Ruth as a concrete model of filial devotion: she sacrificed personal comfort, labored in the fields gleaning grain, saved food to bring home to her mother-in-law, and never complained. The pastor integrates Vietnamese cultural tradition — the etymology of the Chinese character for 'filial piety' and the legend of bánh chưng and bánh dầy — to underscore that filial duty is a universal value transcending religious or cultural boundaries.
The sermon closes with a moving story of a young boy who presented his mother with a bill for household chores, and the mother's response listing all her immeasurable sacrifices as 'no charge.' The pastor urges the congregation, especially those currently caring for aging parents, to continue in the way of filial love, with the assurance that God will bless them just as He restored and rewarded both Ruth and Naomi.