Ruth.

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.  The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah.  They went into the country of Moab and remained there.  But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.  These took Moabite wives; the name of one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth.  When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

Then she started to return with her daughters in law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had considered his people and given them food.  So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah.  But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back each of you to your mother's house.  May the LORD deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.  The LORD grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband." Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud.  They said to her, "No, we will return with you to your people." But Naomi said, "Turn back, my daughter, why will you go with me?  Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands?  Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband.  Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, why would you wait until they are grown? Why would you refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me."  Then she wept again.  Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

So she said, "See, your sister in law has gone back to her people and to her god; return after your sister-in-law."  But Ruth said,  "Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die - there I will be buried.  May the LORD do thus and so to me, and more as well, even if death parts me from you!"
When Naomi say that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.  So the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem.  When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women said, "Is this Naomi?" She said to them,
"Call me no longer Naomi,
call me Mara,
for the almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
I went away full,
but the LORD has brought me back
empty;
why call me Naomi when the LORD has dealt harshly
with me
and the Almighty has brought
calamity upon me?"
So Naomi returned together with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her from the country of Moab.  They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Ruth 1:1-22

The Book of Ruth is set in the time of the Judges. God's people had been in the promised land for less than a generation when they turned away from the Lord and worshipped the various gods of the peoples around them. They fell headlong into a world of sin: idol worship, violence and immorality.  They disobeyed, ignored and forgot God.  So the hand of the Lord turned against them and they were plundered and oppressed by their enemies.  They were in great distress and they cried out to God.  Then the Lord raised up a judge for them. The Lord was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies for as long as the judge lived.  But when the judge died the people returned to their corrupt ways until another judge came along and saved them, this continued for 400 years.  In this dark time we are given the Book of Ruth. Our story opens with a history of Naomi and Elimilech; it tells how they travelled from Bethlehem to Moab with their children hoping for relief from the famine that swallowed the land.  But not long after they arrived, Elimilech died and Naomi and her two sons had to make their way in a foreign land.  The boys married women from Moab and settled down but before many years had passed Mahlon and Chilion also died.  Famine had shaped their lives and left its' mark on them forever.

For thousands of Edmontonians food /economic security is not just a term but a struggle that carries with it vivid memories of pain and loss.  It is a reality that has defined and re-defined their lives. Many have moved to Edmonton with nothing but a flickering hope that life might be better here; that their children will live in safety, receive an education and have a future. Perhaps this struggle has shaped a part of your story too.  In our family, four of our Grandparents watched family members starve and suffer in Russia after they were kicked off their land. Many of the Mennonites who fled Russia came as orphans and were separated from their siblings upon arrival; they depended upon the kindness of extended family and the larger community for their survival. They had only their faith in God, their community and the memory of those they loved to carry with them and sustain them in this foreign land. I wonder what stories of faith were instructive or gave them hope?  I wonder if Naomi remembered the story of Joseph as her world was falling a part? I wonder if she remembered how God made a way for Jacob and his family in the time of famine?  I wonder if she remembered how God redeemed the betrayal and the loss of Joseph's family during those years in Egypt, in the embrace of Joseph and his brothers?

What can be done when the life we know is shattered? When all the points of reference are gone and you move through the day like a shell of your former self? Decisions press us and need to be made - life plods on. Orpah and Ruth had no children, they could go back to their mothers, they could marry and begin again.  For Naomi it felt different, this was the end of the road for her; she was an old woman, her husband and her sons were dead and she was in a foreign land.  She asked her daughters-in-law to part from her, after all they were Moabites, they were not her people.  She would return to her home in Bethlehem, empty.  What would become of them?  How would God work his purposes in the bitter grief of Naomi? How would God work in Ruth, a Moabite woman, an outsider? This is a wonderful tale of selfless devotion, of grand reversal, of ordinary people who overcome adversity with initiative and ingenuity.  It is a story of race, of gender and social class.  It is a story of the providence and the redemption of God.

In our story, Ruth provides an interesting foil to Naomi.  Ruth, the outsider, is loyal to Yahweh.  While Naomi feels the hand of the LORD is against her and weeps bitter tears, Ruth is willing to risk her future to be faithful to Naomi and the Lord. What does Ruth see that Naomi doesn't see?  What does she know of God that Naomi doesn't know?  Who is the outsider and who is the insider?  This is a question that resonates in the New Testament, in Jesus, in his radical redefinition of family: "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers.  And pointing to his disciples he said, "Here are my my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." (Matthew 12:46-50) or "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not pick up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Those who find their life will lose it and those who lose their life will find it." (Matthew 12:37-40)

Hear again, Ruth's inspired words to Naomi, her mother in law:

"Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go; I will go;
Where you lodge; I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die -
there I will be buried.
May the LORD do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
even if death parts me from you!"

Ruth acts with a radical and selfless devotion to Naomi and to the Lord in leaving her land and her family; cleaving to Yahweh and the bitter, old widow and setting off for Bethlehem.  How could Ruth have known the fullness that God would bring her and the place of honour she would have in the lineage of Jesus?  This is who our God is.  He is a God who can bring a future and a hope from the most dead end, hopeless situations. He blessed these poor and vulnerable women with a home, he provided work and a kinsmen redeemer. He brought forth a child from barrenness.  Naomi's empty arms and empty heart were full and filled with a joy that she never could have imagined.

The kids in your class might be curious as they read Naomi's strange words about having more sons for her daughter-in-laws to marry! These verses are telling us of a custom in Israel for widows to marry a brother of their deceased husband.  This was a way of taking care of the widows and their children and preserving the family line.  However, these verses are also foreshadowing something that is yet to come in the story of Ruth.  Naomi thinks it is hopeless for Orpah and Ruth to remain committed to her; she doesn't remember that there is another relative named Boaz, who might perform the duty of a brother, who just might be a kinsmen redeemer.  Boaz from Bethlehem comes from the line of Rahab; the woman who hid the Israelite spies under the flax on her roof, who spared their lives and whose own life and that of her family was spared because of her faith in God.  Do you see the larger story of God at work here?  In this story there is a subtext of obedience and faithfulness, mercy and grace and wonderful surprise, isn't there?  We find these strands all throughout the story of God and his people and if we look, we can find them in our own lives too.

There in an earthy spirituality in this story, "earthy in that it deals with ordinary people coping with everyday life, spirituality in that the characters of the story are alive to God."(Andrew E. Hill)  Following God is not neat and tidy or simple and straight forward or black and white.  Following God happens in the context of our messy lives and in fact, this is where God meets us: when we are too bitter to see straight, when we can't speak the language or when we are confronted with the need of a neighbour.

Ruth is a beautiful example of a woman who gives herself to another and to God, she is loyal and faithful.  She works diligently in the fields, follows Naomi's (sometimes) strange advice and has an unwavering trust in God.  In the Hebrew Bible the book of Ruth follows Proverbs, so that the story provides an illustration of the noble woman commended in Proverbs 31:10-31.  (Hill)

There are many themes to pick up on in this story:

the reality of dislocation due to food or economic insecurity
welcoming new people into a family or a community
the vulnerability of those who are widowed
who takes care of us and who do we take care of (and why we do this)
the love that keeps us going, the way we show love to others

May God be with you as you share this story with your classes this week.