RUTH 1:1-18

This week in the lectionary we find our way to Ruth, the little book with so much to teach us. It’s hard to find insight about this text that hasn’t already been said, but as I’ve been reading through and preparing for this commentary there are three themes that keep coming up for me in this text: Hospitality, Faithfulness, and Lament. Perhaps you could use one of these themes or maybe weave all three into a message for your people.

HOSPITALITY – Culturally when we think of hospitality, we typically equate hospitality with some kind of goods being exchanged. Whether that be a meal given to someone who has had a baby, the opening up of our homes to someone else for dinner, etc. This cultural understanding of hospitality can make it hard to see Ruth through a hospitality lens. In this sense, Ruth has nothing. No husband. No means to support herself. But we would be wrong in thinking that Ruth has nothing to give here; we would be wrong in thinking that Ruth cannot teach us about hospitality because what we see from Ruth in chapter one is that she gives the only thing she has to give to Naomi, and she offers it fully and freely – she offers her presence. She offers Naomi herself.

In this expression of hospitality from Ruth we discover a beautiful re-definition for us of what Christ-like hospitality looks like. As Christine Pohl says, “The practice of Christian hospitality is always located within the larger picture of Jesus’ sacrificial welcome to all who come to him” (Pohl 1999). Immanuel, the God who is with us, the God who puts on flesh. We see expressions of God’s hospitality to God’s people throughout Scripture, but none clearer than the hospitality we see in Christ. Ruth’s hospitality to Naomi is a reflection of the hospitality of God because God gives God – God gives us God’s presence in Christ. God is the God who stays, God is the God who journeys with us, God is the God who leaves behind everything to be with us. And this has been the story of God from the beginning – it is a story of hospitality.

In Ruth’s gift of presence, we discover an unexpected hospitality. But isn’t that how God works? Don’t we see God in the unexpected places? Don’t we see God working through people we would least expect – the disciples come to mind. Through Ruth God is showing us that the hospitality of God is also unexpected. That God would come to us, that God would live and serve and walk among us, that was unexpected too. But when we open ourselves to the gift of hospitality, we open ourselves to being present with others in a way that can be a source of comfort and peace, it can give the strength to move forward, it can bring a hope that was once lost – we see this in Naomi. I love how Martin Copenhaver puts it, “God often works through the most unlikely people – outsiders, strangers, and the outcast. Once again, God has been able to work in surprising ways through human hospitality. The book’s concluding verses might be summarized with a variation on the admonition in Hebrews (13:2): Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained the great-grandmother of a king” (Bartlett 2015). Who would have thought this simple act of hospitality would be used to further the purposes of God? I wonder how God can use our seemingly simple acts of hospitality, could they too be used by God to do more than we could expect? What if our people and our churches embraced a life of hospitality, seeking to be people of presence, people willing to stay, people willing to journey with those who need someone to just be there. I think too often we talk ourselves out of these expressions of hospitality because we think we do not have the resources – our houses are too small, too messy, etc. Yet, the only thing Ruth had to give was her presence – she didn’t have the resources either – she gave what she had – her time, her presence, her love. This is the hospitality God is calling us to!

FAITHFULNESS – what does Ruth teach us about faithfulness? Ruth, Naomi, and Orpah when faced with the depth of their loss all had a decision to make. What were they going to do next? In this time and culture life was difficult for widows, especially widows with no family left to take care of them. Naomi releases her daughters-in-law from their cultural obligations and tells them to go back home – go home to where their families were, go home to the people who could and would take them in and care for them. Orpah decides to do just that, but Ruth, Ruth decides to stay. In her decision to stay we see the depth of her faithfulness and love for Naomi. For Ruth, there is no choice but to stay. Not only does Ruth choose to stay, she also chooses to commit herself to Naomi. Ruth says goodbye to her past and embraces Naomi as her family. We see this in Ruth 1:16-17: “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, and there will I be buried” (NRSV). This type of fidelity was usually reserved for blood relatives, for family, but Ruth and Naomi are, for all intents and purposes, unrelated. Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi goes beyond traditional cultural familial bonds, Ruth is devoted to her mother-in-law, and she shows the depth of her love and faithfulness in her choice to stay and her choice to embrace Naomi. In this expression of faithfulness Ruth gives us a glimpse of the faithfulness of God.

The fingerprints of God’s faithfulness are found all throughout the book of Ruth. In fact, I think the word that may fit better is, hesed.  Hesed – is most often defined in relation to God’s faithful, steadfast love – God’s covenantal love toward God’s people. But, unlike the feeling of love that we usually think of when we think of love, Hesed is more than just a feeling, it is action; it is love in action. Sarah B. C. Derck describes it as “extravagant faithfulness” (Derck, Coleson, and Bernius 2020). We see God’s hesed on display throughout Ruth. We see it in the relationship between Ruth and Naomi, we see God’s hesed in the ways God provides for Ruth and Naomi in Bethlehem. We also see God’s hesed in the story of Ruth and Boaz. And because God is faithful, faithful to Ruth, faithful to Naomi, faithful to God’s promises and purposes and plans, we can look at the generations that follow and trace God’s hesed all the way to Jesus.

As I’ve thought about the faithfulness of Ruth and God’s hesed, it leads me to ask this question, “what would it look like for us to be faithful like Ruth?” What would that faithfulness look like today in our communities?

LAMENT – the final theme I see in Ruth is lament. Lament is an expression of deep sorrow and grief and yet it is not sorrow without hope – lament is deeply rooted in faith and trust in God. In Ruth chapter one we see the depth of Naomi’s pain and we hear her cries of lament. Naomi cries out to God in her lament – she cries out in her deep hurt and sorrow. She doesn’t just cry out, she, like Job, David, and others cries out in her anger – “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?” Naomi is angry and disappointed in God and what God allowed to happen in her life. And yet, even in this anger, she does not lose her faith, she does not turn her back on God, she leans on her trust in God and returns home – to the land of her people.

This passage points so clearly to the practice of lament. Pastor, we need to reclaim the practice of lament in our churches – our people need it! We have Naomi’s – not just widows, but we have people in our churches that do not know what to do with their hurt and their pain, they do not know what to do with their God-sized questions. As pastors we need to teach them how to grieve, how to wrestle with their doubts – we need to make space and hold space with those who find themselves in a Naomi-like situation feeling like everything is crashing in around them. We have people that are saying, “just call me Mara.” Jared Alcántara writes, “Those who have endured unimaginable suffering struggle to find light as they make their way through darkness. Their doubt verges on disbelief, and their inner turmoil leaves them hollow. As they stand on the brink of despair, they need someone to stand with them, to weep with them, perhaps even to believe for them when they struggle for believe for themselves. In Ruth, Naomi finds someone who will love her through the darkness, who will hold onto her as she struggles to hold on to God” (Green et al. 2021).

We have communities filled with Naomi’s, people who are longing for someone to hold on to them as they struggle to hold on to God; people who are longing for someone just to be present, someone who is willing to journey with them. This is who the Church has been called to be. How might God be calling us – our churches, our people to be present and journey with others like Ruth? How can we be a faithful presence with others – extending the faithful, steadfast love of God to those in our sphere of influence? What does hospitality look like for us in our communities? How might God be calling us to an “unexpected hospitality” that extends the hospitality of God to others?

References:

Bartlett, David Lyon. 2015. Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary. Year B. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.

Derck, Sarah B. C., Joseph E. Coleson, and Elaine Bernius. 2020. Ruth, Song of Songs, Esther: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. New Beacon Bible Commentary. Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=2676738.

Green, Joel B., Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby, and Carolyn J. Sharp, eds. 2021. Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship. Year B, Volume 3, Season after Pentecost. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=2912213.

Pohl, Christine D. 1999. Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.