Where is the Shema? Pastor Michael Blackwood United Church of Broomfield November 4, 2018

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1 Ruth 1:1-18 New King James Versin (NKJV) Where is the Shema? Pastr Michael Blackwd United Church f Brmfield Nvember 4, Nw it came t pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man f Bethlehem, Judah, went t dwell in the cuntry f Mab, he and his wife and his tw sns. 2 The name f the man was Elimelech, the name f his wife was Nami, and the names f his tw sns were Mahln and Chilin Ephrathites f Bethlehem, Judah. And they went t the cuntry f Mab and remained there. 3 Then Elimelech, Nami s husband, died; and she was left, and her tw sns. 4 Nw they tk wives f the wmen f Mab: the name f the ne was Orpah, and the name f the ther Ruth. And they dwelt there abut ten years. 5 Then bth Mahln and Chilin als died; s, the wman survived her tw sns and her husband. 6 Then she arse with her daughters-in-law that she might return frm the cuntry f Mab, fr she had heard in the cuntry f Mab that the Lrd had visited His peple by giving them bread. 7 Therefre she went ut frm the place where she was, and her tw daughters-in-law with her; and they went n the way t return t the land f Judah. 8 And Nami said t her tw daughters-in-law, G, return each t her mther s huse. The Lrd deal kindly with yu, as yu have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lrd grant that yu may find rest, each in the huse f her husband. S, she kissed them, and they lifted up their vices and wept. 10 And they said t her, Surely we will return with yu t yur peple. 11 But Nami said, Turn back, my daughters; why will yu g with me? Are there still sns in my wmb, that they may be yur husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters, g fr I am t ld t have a husband. If I shuld say I have hpe, if I shuld have a husband tnight and shuld als bear sns, 13 wuld yu wait fr them till they were grwn? Wuld yu restrain yurselves frm having husbands? N, my daughters; fr it grieves me very much fr yur sakes that the hand f the Lrd has gne ut against me! 14 Then they lifted up their vices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mther-in-law, but Ruth clung t her. 15 And she said, Lk, yur sister-in-law has gne back t her peple and t her gds; return after yur sister-in-law. 16 But Ruth said: Entreat me nt t leave yu, r t turn back frm fllwing after yu; Fr wherever yu g, I will g; And wherever yu ldge, I will ldge; Yur peple shall be my peple, and yur Gd, my Gd. 17 Where yu die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lrd d s t me, and mre als, if anything but death parts yu and me. 18 When she saw that she was determined t g with her, she stpped speaking t her. Tday s lectinary lists the Jewish scripture reading frm Ruth, which yu ve heard. Tday s lectinary reading frm the gspel cmes Mark, chapter 12, verses I d like t read yu that nw 28 Then ne f the scribes came, and having heard them reasning tgether, perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first cmmandment f all? 29 Jesus answered him, The first f

2 all the cmmandments is: Hear, O Israel, the Lrd ur Gd, the Lrd is ne. 30 And yu shall lve the Lrd yur Gd with all yur heart, with all yur sul, with all yur mind, and with all yur strength. This is the first cmmandment. 31 And the secnd, like it, is this: Yu shall lve yur neighbr as yurself. There is n ther cmmandment greater than these. 32 S the scribe said t Him, Well said, Teacher. Yu have spken the truth, fr there is ne Gd, and there is n ther but He. 33 And t lve Him with all the heart, with all the understanding with all the sul, and with all the strength, and t lve ne s neighbr as neself, is mre than all the whle burnt fferings and sacrifices. 34 Nw when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said t him, Yu are nt far frm the kingdm f Gd. But after that n ne dared questin Him. I m reading this als because I want t start with this passage. This passage frm Mark is ur instructinal manual. It s the BASIC, cndensed, business card manual fr all f Jesus teachings. Regardless f the tpic, the issue r the prblem, yu can refer t this manual fr guidance n what t d. First lve Gd with all f yur heart, sul, mind and strength. Secnd lve all thers as yu wuld lve yurself. Yu ve heard me reference this scripture numerus times and rightly s it s ne f Jesus greatest hits and ught be heard ften. What s s great abut this passage IS its simplicity, its timelessness and its applicatin. In this passage frm Mark, Jesus is in the middle f teaching, using parables. And we all knw that parables aren t necessarily absrbed withut sme effrt AND that s the nature f parables; they are lessns inside f stries that can be challenging and easily misunderstd. In the midst f these lessns, the Pharisees and Sadducees (bth elite Jewish schlars f the time) chimed in with specific questins, details and nuanced examples, clearly in rder t test r trap Jesus. While these debates ensued, a scribe stepped frward; Wha, wha, wha. Jesus, what is THE first cmmandment f all. Jesus respnds by quting and teaching frm Deuternmy 6:4-9, knwn in Judaism as THE SHEMA. JESUS KNOWS HIS STUFF RELIGIOUS LAWS, MOSAIC DOCTRINES, JEWISH TRADITIONS ALL OF IT. AND HE TEACHES IT ONLY IN A NEW WAY/A NEW INTERPRETATION WHICH THE ELITE SCHOLARS FIND UNSETTLING. The scribe affirms Jesus knwledge, understanding and applicatin f THE SHEMA. Yu re right, Jesus. Lving Gd and thers with ur hearts, suls, minds and strength is mre pwerful than any burnt ffering r sacrifice alne culd ever be. And Jesus respnse? Yu are nt far frm the Kingdm f Gd. In the days f Abraham and in the days f Jesus, the SIMPLE fact was that the Kingdm f Gd WAS lving Gd and lving each ther with all f yur heart, sul, mind and strength. S, nw is the time in my sermn where I present t yu a stry, an anecdte r a real-life example that illustrates this passage frm Mark (and Deuternmy) in actin. S, here it is Nw it came t pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man f Bethlehem, Judah, went t dwell in the cuntry f Mab, he and his wife and his tw sns. The

3 name f the man was Elimelech, the name f his wife was Nami, and the names f his tw sns were Mahln and Chilin Ephrathites f Bethlehem, Judah.. Oh yeah, yu ve already heard that, haven t yu? There are several stries in the Bible that exemplify the SHEMA, but the stry f Ruth is an especially wnderful example Elimelech, Nami and their tw sns leave their hmeland f Bethlehem because f famine. The famine must have been pretty devastating in rder them t uprt themselves frm their families and their familiar surrundings t trek ver 30 miles t Mab. Let s nt frget that in the eyes f the Israelites, Mab/Mabites were the wrst f the wrst. The Mabites were the incestuus descendants f Lt and his eldest daughter s sn, Mab. The tw tribes have a lng histry f hatred, deceptin and fighting between them. Hw desperate must Elimelech and Nami have been t take such a risky and dangerus jurney. Assimilating with their new land, the tw sns, Mahln and Chillin marry Mabite wmen, Orpah and Ruth. Within a decade all three f the men, Elimelech, Mahln and Chillin died, leaving the wmen widwed and childless. Wmen are prperty f men. Withut children they are wrthless. Withut men r their families, they re vulnerable; in this case, especially Nami since she is a freigner in Mab. Hw d widwed wmen with n family r prtectin survive? Prstituting r begging. Nami assesses her situatin. There s wrd f the famine being ver in Judah. It s best (i.e. safest and best chance at survival) t return t her land and her peple. Best fr her daughters-in-law t return t their families and hpe t remarry and have children. Orpah returns t her peple. Ruth des nt. RUTH Because f her lve fr Nami, Ruth makes the decisin t abandn her hmeland, her peple and the Mabite gd, Chemsh. Chemsh, which translates as the destryer, had a taste fr human bld which is why in 2 Kings 3:27, the King f Mab sacrificed his first-brn sn t Chemsh in rder t defeat the Israelites in battle. Ruth chse the Gd f Israel. Simply frm her relatinship with Nami, she knew the Gd f Israel enugh t cmmit, withut hesitatin, whle-heartedly. That s faith! Ruth chse Nami and cmmitted herself t her. Ruth chse t g t a freign land t becme the freigner. She was already in a vulnerable state as a widwed, childless wman and nw she s willing t take n mre risk. When Nami and Elimelech arrived in Mab a decade earlier they clearly assimilated well enugh t survive but wuld the same happen fr Ruth ging t Judah? Hw safe wuld she be? Hw culd Nami prtect r prvide fr her? The answer is she culdn t. Nami culdn t guarantee any f that! Remember, she had n pwer. Ruth had the chice f returning t her land and her peple r t g t Judah with Nami. Chsing the Gd f Israel and chsing Nami was a life and death decisin fr Ruth in which the dds weren t necessarily in her favr. But unlike the

4 circumstance that brught Nami t Mab (a famine), the circumstance taking Ruth t Judah was faithfulness. Ruth lved Nami with all f her heart, her sul, her mind and her strength. Where yu g, I ll g. (wherever that may be). Where yu ldge, I ll ldge (abut whatever yu want-cmplain). Yur peple will be my peple (hwever that may turn ut). Yur Gd will be my Gd (whether yur Gd accepts me r nt). Where yu die, I ll die. We ll bth be buried there. Is it any surprise that Nami was speechless and had n mre t say? When we lk at the SHEMA illustrated thrugh the stry f Ruth, we see that she was an unlikely persn thrugh whm Gd wrked. Like Nah wh was a drunk, Abraham and Sarah wh were ld and barren, Mses wh was a stuttering murderer and David wh was an adulterer and murderer, Ruth the Mabite was a wman, a widw, an alien and an enemy f Israel wh Gd used t bring frth Jesus and t be an example f hw we may get clser t the Kingdm f Gd. Tday, there are many circumstances in which the SHEMA and the example f Ruth can help us. Understanding the plight f Ruth, the alien, migrating t a freign land unknwn, hw timely is it fr us t cnsider the caravan f migrants in the news. There is a caravan f migrants and refugees (numbering ver 4000) wh are trekking nrthward frm Hnduras t the U.S. because f rank pverty, gang threats and a glbalized ecnmy that has left 1 them behind Fr Nami and Ruth, the jurney frm Bethlehem t Mab was 30 miles, but these peple are s desperate they re walking 1400 miles. During this jurney they have experienced (r will likely experience) abuse frm smugglers, shakedwns by pprtunistic human traffickers and price-guging. The dds that sme wn t survive are very real. They re leaving behind family and friends t cme t a cuntry that has histrically dealt with immigrants by claiming, Give me yur tired, yur pr, yur huddled masses yearning t breathe free, but is nw respnding by sending between 7,000 and 15,000 armed trps t the brder in a 2 military respnse called, Operatin Faithful Patrit. Yet, they keep walking. The president has said in regard t these asylum seekers that shuld anybdy [be] thrwing stnes, rcks [.] we will cnsider that a firearm because there s nt much difference.[and t] cnsider [the 3 rck as if it were] a rifle. The physical, emtinal and psychlgical tll is great, t put it mildly. This is certainly a difficult situatin with n easy answers. Immigratin int the United States is.well, let s be hnest cmplicated. I m nt suggesting that we lk at this situatin with Plyanna eyes, but let s nt lse sight that these peple are frsaking everything and willing enduring danger, risks and great harm

5 because f faith. Faith that simply by getting here, they and their family MIGHT survive. Ruth did n less. By cmmitting t the Gd f Israel and Nami she tk great risks, slely n faith. If these asylum seekers shuld make it t the U.S. brder, what is the ptential greeting they might receive? Hstility? Vilence? It wuld be farcical and illgical fr me t suggest that we simply allw all 4000 r mre migrants t enter the United States with n questins asked, but at the same time what wuld prmpt us t send armed military trps t the brder, ptentially t sht peple SHOULD they thrw a rck? Where is this fear cming frm? Wh are we talking abut again? These are men, wmen and children fleeing dire straits. Desperate fr help, shelter and an pprtunity t cmmit t this cuntry. Live a better life. Survive. Wuld it be crazy r impssible t send scial wrkers, psychlgists r lawyers t the brder? Peple wh might be able t actually help the refugees? In the way that we discuss and debate this situatin (and the many ther tpics, issues r prblems) When ur leadership discusses and addresses this situatin May we all remember Ruth, that gd-fr-nthing-mabite and friend f Nami, as well as Jesus instructin f the SHEMA. Then, nw and frever the SIMPLE fact is that the Kingdm f Gd IS lving Gd and lving each ther with all f yur heart, all f yur sul, all f yur mind and all f yur strength. Where is the SHEMA? AMEN.