Sermon Notes Ruth 1-Nov 4

Ruth 1-November 4, 2012 Naomi is the female version of Job. Death stalks her in this first chapter. (she lives out, in this chapter, the opposite of her name joy, pleasantness, beautiful,delightful) She flees with her family during a famine, so leaves the now ironically named Bethlehem, house of bread, and settles in Moab. That is usually enemy territory in Scripture, and it is the place of the burial of Moses.Will it be the burial place for her family and her faith? Her sons marry local girls. Their names predict trouble as they are named sickness/pestilence and tuberculosis.Then she is widowed. Then as Vice President Biden says, the crushing loss of having her two sons pre-decease her falls upon this widow. We are given no reason for the calamity that touches Naomi’s family. In response, Naomi cannot accept her name any longer. Instead she says to call her Marah, bitterness, bitter tears. She lays the blame on her plight directly at the feet of God. She speaks of leaving full and returning empty. Wait, she left because of an empty belly. So, it seems she means her life was full, a husband and two sons. Even having enough to eat loses its importance in the face of such terrible loss. Now what to do in those pre Social Security days? Time to trudge back home alone, and see what will be. My sense is that she is going back home to die. People in the age group of my mother would say that they did not want to be a burden to their children, or to anyone, really. Naomi knows her youth has long since fled; her future is clouded at best. She does move, however; she will not be a passive recipient of death closing in on her. She urges her daughters-in-law to try to find new lives. She places no burdens of the past on them, no demands for loyalty.Orpah (Back of the neck, but also perhaps fawn) makes the decision to stay home, and that is a good decision. Ruth ( friend, companion, but could be pasture or even longing) wants to stay, and Naomi resists, and Ruth responds with a fundamental declaration of loyalty to her.(I think of the Marc Cohn song, True Companion). I’ve wondered why the book is named for ruth and not Naomi. this pledge, this oath, this tontine shows why. Israel opens up to others in this book and finds humanity, grace, and nobility across a border. This people could find the assurance and confidence to name a book for a foreign, female protagonist in ancient times. This story is also a version of the Good Samaritan. Then as now ethnic prejudice existed. Could anything good come out of Moab? Now this daughter of Moab, who apparently worshipped the gods of Moab, demonstrates a spectacular loyalty. She lives out the meaning of loving one’s neighbor as oneself that sums up biblical human relations. This daughter of supposed perdition supports herself and her mother-in-law. She is the human embodiment of the steadfast love of God. On this first sunday after All Saints Day, we read of death and the decision toward life. n the end, this is a book about facing grief. Naomi faces it squarely: the angry and bitter feelings. she faces the so called secondary losses of the change in status that accompany loss. She somehow finds the strength to move into an unknowable future. she does not live in the past but draws the shards of a life together to face the future in spite of her loss.together, They choose to live.