Blessing Revealed
Sermon
Sermons On The First Readings
Series I, Cycle B
"Trouble comes in threes," so many people say. Every time something goes wrong, those people expectantly look for numbers two and three to hit them, full force, taking a huge sigh of relief after number three. "Pessimists" we sometimes call them.
In our story, Naomi and Elimelech experience a famine in their homeland Judah. The couple goes to Moab, a neighboring country east of the Dead Sea, with their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Elimelech dies in Moab. The two sons each marry Moabite women, Orpah and our heroine, Ruth, and then the two sons both die.
Added to the famine (disaster number one), we now have to add the death of Naomi's husband and both of her sons. One plus three equals four. Ruining a perfectly good jingle; for Naomi, trouble came in "fours."
After sustaining four massive blows to her life, Naomi hears that things are going well back home in Judah, and she decides to return there so she can eat (so that she can continue to live). Her two daughters-in-law start out with her, but she seems to feel that this is selfish, so she tells them to go back to their mothers, so that they could have a chance to get new husbands. All Naomi had left were her two daughters-in-law. Even though this is painful, Orpah decides to go back, but Ruth (Ruth means: the "compassionate" one) clings to her mother-in-law, and is adamant about staying with her and adopting the life, country, customs, and God of her late husband.
"Where you go, I will go;
Where you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
and your God my God." -- Ruth 1:16
This is no simple, superficial, short-lived, ill-considered, flippant choice that Ruth makes. She goes on to say:
"Where you die, I will die --
there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!" -- Ruth 1:17
Rarely is there seen a more beautiful, powerful, touching, and loving devotion of one person for another in biblical literature. When Naomi sees the love and devotion that Ruth has for her, she accepts the love and they return to Judah.
When you look at this story, you will see that it is "famine driven." What set the whole story in motion was famine. Famine drove Naomi and Elimelech from their homeland Judah to Moab. Famine was a big issue back then. When you didn't have food, you died! There were no food stamps, social assistance, welfare systems, or food banks. You would be at the mercy of friends or relatives, hoping that they had some extra and were willing to share it, or you just starved and died. If crops failed, it took a long time to plant, grow, and harvest more. There were no overstocked supermarkets, with clerks filling the shelves as fast as shoppers could empty them.
This was a different world.
As different as it was, there are still times when we can experience the total lostness that drove Naomi and Elimelech to Moab, or the devastation that comes from losing three breadwinners with nowhere to turn. There are monuments to sons and fathers lost to war all over our country; 200 million people in the world died in the last century to war; there are monuments erected near the ocean to honor fishermen who gave their lives to the sea to bring in fish for our tables; there are monuments to thousands who died in the mines and at the workplace to avoid modern-day famines for their families.
We also have "famines of the heart"; experiences of starvation of the heart that drive us to places outside of the familiar: our personal Moabs; the places where we seek refuge to survive the fears that we face. There are places of loneliness, estrangement, and addictions where we go to survive, and like Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth, we may even face more tragedy and pain.
We have the luxury of standing back and looking at this ancient story from a distance and seeing how things were to develop. Don't overlook the significance of the details: "... a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah...."
Bethlehem is the place where King David and later, Jesus, was born. We know that Ruth, the Moabitess, eventually married another man of Judah, Boaz, and Naomi would become the great-grandmother of King David.
Consider if it was "famine driven" that Naomi would find the blessings of solace, love, family, comfort, and food so that she would not starve, all arising from the connection of her daughter-in-law, Ruth, and that tearful event on the road home. Was it "famine driven" that Ruth, a Moabitess, would be blessed in becoming the great-grandmother of a king?
Even though Naomi had tragically lost her husband and two sons, she was blessed with the love and devotion of her daughter-in-law, Ruth. And blessing was revealed for the Jewish people in the continuance of the royal line of David.
Even though Ruth lost her husband and the relative comfort of her own country, life lead her to the blessing of becoming the wife of Boaz and the great-grandmother of a king. For both of these women, blessing was, indeed, revealed.
What is the point for us?
Are we to say when bad things happen to people, as we know they will, "There is a silver lining in this cloud. God will bless you in your pain"?
No. There are no examples of anything like this in the scripture we have just studied. We are not called to make people feel worse by ignoring or minimizing their pain. But we do need to know that at any time in our lives, blessings from God are waiting to be revealed, just as blessings eventually became revealed to Naomi and Ruth!
The scripture tells us several things that are helpful. When Elimelech and Naomi were having difficult times in Judah, they took the initiative to move outside of their local comfort zones and do what they needed to do, even if it meant challenge and change. All of the characters in this story got on with their lives. They didn't sit and mope. They moved on as best they could. Ruth, our heroine, treated her mother-in-law with absolute respect, love, and devotion. Naomi accepted the love that Ruth offered her. All of these people were people of faith; their lives were grounded in faith in God. The language is laced with references to God's presence in their lives.
The message for us today is that by being faithful to God and, like Ruth, treating others with great love, reverence, and respect, and taking actions as we are able, we will be guaranteed that the blessings of God will be revealed to us in our lives. We are not promised eternal good times, but we are promised that the glory and blessings of God will be revealed in our faithfulness to God, no matter what. Amen.
In our story, Naomi and Elimelech experience a famine in their homeland Judah. The couple goes to Moab, a neighboring country east of the Dead Sea, with their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Elimelech dies in Moab. The two sons each marry Moabite women, Orpah and our heroine, Ruth, and then the two sons both die.
Added to the famine (disaster number one), we now have to add the death of Naomi's husband and both of her sons. One plus three equals four. Ruining a perfectly good jingle; for Naomi, trouble came in "fours."
After sustaining four massive blows to her life, Naomi hears that things are going well back home in Judah, and she decides to return there so she can eat (so that she can continue to live). Her two daughters-in-law start out with her, but she seems to feel that this is selfish, so she tells them to go back to their mothers, so that they could have a chance to get new husbands. All Naomi had left were her two daughters-in-law. Even though this is painful, Orpah decides to go back, but Ruth (Ruth means: the "compassionate" one) clings to her mother-in-law, and is adamant about staying with her and adopting the life, country, customs, and God of her late husband.
"Where you go, I will go;
Where you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
and your God my God." -- Ruth 1:16
This is no simple, superficial, short-lived, ill-considered, flippant choice that Ruth makes. She goes on to say:
"Where you die, I will die --
there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!" -- Ruth 1:17
Rarely is there seen a more beautiful, powerful, touching, and loving devotion of one person for another in biblical literature. When Naomi sees the love and devotion that Ruth has for her, she accepts the love and they return to Judah.
When you look at this story, you will see that it is "famine driven." What set the whole story in motion was famine. Famine drove Naomi and Elimelech from their homeland Judah to Moab. Famine was a big issue back then. When you didn't have food, you died! There were no food stamps, social assistance, welfare systems, or food banks. You would be at the mercy of friends or relatives, hoping that they had some extra and were willing to share it, or you just starved and died. If crops failed, it took a long time to plant, grow, and harvest more. There were no overstocked supermarkets, with clerks filling the shelves as fast as shoppers could empty them.
This was a different world.
As different as it was, there are still times when we can experience the total lostness that drove Naomi and Elimelech to Moab, or the devastation that comes from losing three breadwinners with nowhere to turn. There are monuments to sons and fathers lost to war all over our country; 200 million people in the world died in the last century to war; there are monuments erected near the ocean to honor fishermen who gave their lives to the sea to bring in fish for our tables; there are monuments to thousands who died in the mines and at the workplace to avoid modern-day famines for their families.
We also have "famines of the heart"; experiences of starvation of the heart that drive us to places outside of the familiar: our personal Moabs; the places where we seek refuge to survive the fears that we face. There are places of loneliness, estrangement, and addictions where we go to survive, and like Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth, we may even face more tragedy and pain.
We have the luxury of standing back and looking at this ancient story from a distance and seeing how things were to develop. Don't overlook the significance of the details: "... a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah...."
Bethlehem is the place where King David and later, Jesus, was born. We know that Ruth, the Moabitess, eventually married another man of Judah, Boaz, and Naomi would become the great-grandmother of King David.
Consider if it was "famine driven" that Naomi would find the blessings of solace, love, family, comfort, and food so that she would not starve, all arising from the connection of her daughter-in-law, Ruth, and that tearful event on the road home. Was it "famine driven" that Ruth, a Moabitess, would be blessed in becoming the great-grandmother of a king?
Even though Naomi had tragically lost her husband and two sons, she was blessed with the love and devotion of her daughter-in-law, Ruth. And blessing was revealed for the Jewish people in the continuance of the royal line of David.
Even though Ruth lost her husband and the relative comfort of her own country, life lead her to the blessing of becoming the wife of Boaz and the great-grandmother of a king. For both of these women, blessing was, indeed, revealed.
What is the point for us?
Are we to say when bad things happen to people, as we know they will, "There is a silver lining in this cloud. God will bless you in your pain"?
No. There are no examples of anything like this in the scripture we have just studied. We are not called to make people feel worse by ignoring or minimizing their pain. But we do need to know that at any time in our lives, blessings from God are waiting to be revealed, just as blessings eventually became revealed to Naomi and Ruth!
The scripture tells us several things that are helpful. When Elimelech and Naomi were having difficult times in Judah, they took the initiative to move outside of their local comfort zones and do what they needed to do, even if it meant challenge and change. All of the characters in this story got on with their lives. They didn't sit and mope. They moved on as best they could. Ruth, our heroine, treated her mother-in-law with absolute respect, love, and devotion. Naomi accepted the love that Ruth offered her. All of these people were people of faith; their lives were grounded in faith in God. The language is laced with references to God's presence in their lives.
The message for us today is that by being faithful to God and, like Ruth, treating others with great love, reverence, and respect, and taking actions as we are able, we will be guaranteed that the blessings of God will be revealed to us in our lives. We are not promised eternal good times, but we are promised that the glory and blessings of God will be revealed in our faithfulness to God, no matter what. Amen.
