Saint James UCC of Hamburg, NY

Ruth1:6-18, 2:3-13

Preached by Rev. Robert Matlack
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Ruth is one of my favorite women in the Bible. If you are not familiar with her, I would suggest taking the time to read the book of Ruth, the entire book being only five or six pages long, depending upon the edition. It's a short book, but one that brings a powerful message of love and devotion.

Ruth is also a story that is filled with pain. Even though that pain is not emphasized, it's always there lurking in the background, and if you listen to it you begin to appreciate some of the hardship which people like Naomi endured.

The first cause of pain in the book of Ruth was the famine in Israel, a famine that was so bad that Naomi and Elimelech decided to take their two sons and move to the land of Moab. Uprooting a family and moving to a country that speaks a different language, has different customs, and worships a different God is never an easy task. That Naomi and Elimelech would even consider such a move speaks volumes for the pain and hardship caused by the famine. These were desperate times that called for desperate measures.

While they were living in Moab and their family was growing up, Elimelech died, leaving Naomi with her two sons. Now, being a widow is never easy or pleasant, but in Naomi's day it was even more difficult than what we're used to today. The grief and the sense of loneliness are probably equivalent, but financially it was a much tougher road back then. There was no welfare or Social Security, there were no pension plans or for most people even bank accounts to provide a safety net. Naomi and her family lived on what they could earn. Because they lived in a foreign land, they had no family near by to help them out when times were tough. For Naomi and her family this was a difficult life indeed.

Naomi's sons Mahlon and Chilion decided to marry women of Moab, which they did, but then about ten years later, both Mahlon and Chilion died. Naomi was now truly alone in a strange land where she had experienced the pain of losing first her husband then both of her children.

Even after living for many years in Moab, Israel is still Naomi's home, and so when she hears that the famine there has ended, she prepares to return home. Moab has been for her a land filled with pain and sorrow. With the death of her sons, there is nothing to hold her there, so she prepares to depart.

Naomi's daughters-in-law are prepared to leave Moab with her, a readiness which speaks volumes about the strength of the love which they had for her. For Ruth and Orpah Israel is the strange land. They had never been there. They didn't know the language or the customs, and in each of their cases they still had their own families living in Moab. To leave would mean to leave all of their family and friends behind, for they had never lived anywhere else. It meant going to a strange land. Naomi encouraged them to stay in Moab with their mothers, and with the hope that they might find new husbands there.

Reluctantly Orpah kisses Noaomi goodbye and turns back towards home, but Ruth will not leave her. When Naomi encourages Ruth to go back to her family as did Orpah. Ruth replies, "Don't ask me to leave you! Let me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried. May the Lord's worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death separate me from you!"

Ruth demonstrates an uncommon loyalty to her mother-in-law. She is willing to give up everything - her home, her family, her friends, all of the customs and traditions that are familiar to her, and more - she is willing to give them all up to travel to a strange land with this woman whom she has come to know and to love as her mother-in-law.

While Naomi sincerely encouraged Ruth to go and stay with her family, she was fortunate that Ruth would not listen to her. Without a legal protector, the position of a widow in Israelite society was precarious. They were often neglected or exploited. Many people even believed that widowhood was a reproach from God.

When Naomi returned to her hometown of Bethlehem, the people were excited to see her, but Naomi said, "Don't call me Naomi, call me Marah, because Almighty God has made my life bitter." In Hebrew the word naomi means pleasant, while marah means bitter. Naomi was expressing the bitterness that she felt at the loss of her family, and of her security. Ruth was literally all that Naomi had left. Now Ruth was a wonderful source of strength and of love, but even Ruth's love could not take away the bitterness of Naomi's loss.

As their remaining resources began to dwindle, Ruth volunteered to go out and glean in the fields. One of the customs in Israel was that widows were allowed to walk behind the harvesters and to gather any grain that they missed. As you might imagine, this was very painstaking work. It was all done by hand, and a widow who was gleaning in the fields spent the day bent over, picking up a piece of grain here and one there. It was not an easy way to feed yourself, but it was better than starving, so Ruth undertook this task willingly.

Ruth went to glean for grain in the fields of Boaz, a rich relative of Naomi who treated Ruth very kindly and thanked her for her devotion to Naomi. Boaz offered Ruth protection, water, and kindness, three gifts that were not assured to widows when they went to glean in someone's fields.

Ruth's story is one that has a happy ending. Ruth and Boaz fall in love and are married. Naomi has a new home and a family who love her. She is well taken care of in her old age. Naomi even becomes a grandmother and experiences the joy of helping to care for her grandson.

I enjoy reading the book of Ruth, but not just because it has a happy ending, for far more important than the ending are the qualitites of Ruth that are lifted up when they face difficult, painful times. Ruth was not an ordinary woman, and her love for Naomi was not ordinary love - though perhaps it should be far more common! Most daughters-in-law would have done as Orpah did - reluctantly, shedding tears, they would have returned to their own families and friends, leaving Naomi to return to Israel by herself. After all, Israel was not Ruth's land, and while she felt close to Naomi, her own mother and father still lived in Moab.

Ruth not only loved Naomi. She saw the bitterness of loss that Naomi was feeling and knew that she needed someone who cared for her, someone who would go wherever she went, and in love would be there for her. In one sense, we don't know the true depth of our love for someone until that love is really tested by difficult times. Ruth's love for Naomi was sorely tested, and it passed every single test!

That love stands as an example for us in an age where many people are far more concerned about themselves and what they want than about anyone else, and what they might need. We need the example of people like Ruth, who cared not just for her husband, but for her mother-in-law as well. We need the example of someone who didn't think of herself first, but who cared so much for Naomi that she willingly gave up all that she had to be with her, and to see that she was taken care of. In an age where families are scattered and sometimes forgotten, we need the example of Ruth's commitment and love.

Ruth is a genuine model of love who reminds us that when someone we love experiences pain, their pain becomes our pain as well, and that sometimes all that we can do to help them is to be there for them, to walk the road of life with them, so that they do not walk alone.

In our own congregation and community we see examples of that kind of love. We see husbands and wives caring for each other through difficult circumstances, parents sacrificing for their children or grandchildren, children caring for aging parents or grandparents, friends reaching out to be there for one another, young and old genuinely concerned about and caring for each other, a blessing that we should all be grateful for!

One of the qualities which Boaz respected in Ruth was that she made the world a better place by her presence. She had received a powerful gift of love from God, and she gave that love to the world around her. As we go forth today, may each of us commit ourselves to do the same. May our love for others, and our willingness to live out this amazing gift from God, indeed make this world a better place!

Amen.