Scripture Lesson: Ruth 4:1-20 WHY IS THIS BOOK IMPORTANT? (REFLECTIONS ON THE BOOK OF RUTH) (09/18/11) As some of you know, and all of you should know, this past summer Julie Cedrone of Pilgrim Church and I preached a series of seven sermons on the Book of Ruth. I was scheduled to preach the last sermon in the series but was unable to do so because of the hurricane. So this morning I am bowing to the overwhelming demand from so many of you and from the members of Pilgrim Church to share my insights on chapter 4 in order to bring some kind of closure to the series. If I were to be perfectly honest, however, I would probably concede that my having a perfectly good sermon already written, and that preaching that sermon today would cut me some slack in a very busy week, is possibly also a factor. Julie and I have different and, I believe, complementary styles of preaching. Her tendency to focus on a single theme and my tendency toward a broader focus illustrate how different people can approach the same passage of scripture in different ways. As if I needed further evidence of something I know to be true, a conversation I had with my wife several weeks ago left me with additional confirmation of how different people might bring a very different focus to a single passage of scripture. When I arrived home from church, Darlene asked me how the service went. I said that Julie had preached on the third chapter of Ruth. In this chapter Naomi advises Ruth that when Boaz is asleep on the threshing floor she should lie down at his feet until he awakens, discovers her, and declares himself as her protector. I noted that Julie amplified the theme of the threshing floor as a metaphor for the process of discernment. Darlene then asked me what I would have preached on. I told her I found myself drawn to the passage where the woman lies down at her man s feet and waits for him to tell her what to do. I don t know why, but I find myself drawn to that passage. Darlene had a little different take on the chapter. She said she liked the part where a daughter-in-law tells her mother-in-law All that you tell me I will do. She said she also liked the part where Boaz gives Ruth six measures of barley to take to Naomi with the admonition Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed. I don t 1
know why, but Darlene seems to be drawn to the verses that involve a daughter-in-law s loyalty and obedience to her mother-in-law. Darlene then said that there was another passage that caught her attention. In relation to Ruth lying at Boaz s feet while he slept, she said she would have noted how often women wait for their man to wake up and notice them, to realize they are there. She said that a sermon on that theme would speak to an awful lot of women. I guess this just goes to show how some people can twist the true meaning of scripture to justify their own point of view! In the sixth sermon of the series, Julie lifted up the theme of the threshing floor. This is the place where the wheat or barley is separated from the chaff, the worthless husks. The threshing floor is a holy place, a sacred place. It is a place of discernment. It is the physical, emotional, or spiritual place where we sort out the important from the unimportant, the valuable from the worthless. With the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, who is symbolized as wind and fire, we can do this in our lives, in our church, in our religious faith, and even in relation to the Bible, for some parts of the Bible are more valuable than others. The scripture lesson for this morning is the fourth and final chapter of the Book of Ruth. I confess that I don t find this chapter particularly inspiring. It s not like a good movie where the denouement, the final resolution or outcome moves me to tears. Boaz has fallen in love with Ruth and wants to marry her. However, a closer relative than he has the primary claim on Elimilech s property. Boaz needs to convince this man to renounce his rightful claim. Before a council of the elders, Boaz asks the man if he wishes to redeem what is rightfully his. When the man indicates his intent to do so, Boaz spells out for him exactly what this will entail. He points out that when the man acquires the land he also acquires Ruth. Ruth is still young enough to have children, and any son she might have would be considered a child of her deceased husband, Mahlon. The son would continue Mahlon s name and have a claim on his inheritance. This would complicate matters concerning the man s desire to leave the property to his own children. 2
When the man realizes that he cannot redeem the property without damaging his own inheritance line, he cedes his right to Boaz. As was the custom, he takes off his sandal and gives it to Boaz as a confirmation of the transaction. Boaz receives the blessings of the townspeople who have witnessed the transaction. He takes Ruth as his wife. Scripture says, The Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son. Then the women rejoice with Naomi at the birth of a son. They say, Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age. This is an interesting way to look at one s children and grandchildren, as someone who will restore your life and nourish you in your old age. Would that it were so. The women then praise Ruth. They tell Naomi that her daughter-in-law, who loves her, is more to you than seven sons. This was high praise, for sons were more important, more valuable than daughters. Seven was a special number indicating wholeness. High praise indeed, considering Ruth is a Moabitess, not an Israelite. Naomi becomes the child s nurse. Her relationship with her grandson is so close that the women of the village say, A son has been born to Naomi. The son, whom they name Obed, becomes the father of Jesse, the father of David. The Book of Ruth is an unusual book. It is unusual in that the other books of the Bible that were written during this period were about the people of Israel. The Book of Ruth is about a single family. It is also unusual in that it contains very few references to God. Why would you have a book of the Bible that makes almost no reference to God? In other early Old Testament books God acts. He creates the universe. He talks with people. He destroys the earth with a flood. He establishes a covenant with Abraham and his descendents. God appears in the form of a burning bush. He visits terrible plagues upon the Egyptians. He calls the Israelites forward into the wilderness, feeding them with quail and manna. He gives them the Ten Commandments as a guide for their emerging life and identity. God leads his people in the conquest of Canaan. He speaks through prophets to guide them back to the path when they go astray. He punishes them when they break the 3
covenant, often by arranging for a foreign nation to conquer and enslave them. In most of the books of the Old Testament, God is undoubtedly the main character. He is either the primary actor or the focus of people s attention. So where is God in the Book of Ruth? There is no description of God in this book. There is no teaching about God. God does not speak or act directly. At only two or three points do we have hints of God s interaction with Ruth and Naomi, but even here God is presented or described as definitely behind the scenes. So why is this book important? Let me suggest two possibilities. Each of them may help explain why I am so strongly drawn to this book and why I believe it was deemed important enough to include in our Bible. First, the Book of Ruth establishes an important link in the lineage that extends from Abraham to Jesus. Without what happened to Elimilech and Mahlon, without the decisions that were made by Naomi and Ruth, and without Naomi s clever scheming, Ruth and Boaz would never have married. This means that Obed would never have been born, and that the lineage from Abraham to Jesus would have been broken. I can t tell you how totally uninterested I am in genealogy. My family s distant history is of absolutely no interest to me. However, I am interested in the genealogy that appears in the Gospel of Matthew, the one that includes Ruth. This is because it documents Jesus humanity. It grounds him in the human race. As you know, a fundamental dogma of the Christian faith is that Jesus had both a divine and a human nature. This is why in the Christmas story he is presented as having had a divine father and a human mother. He partakes of both the human and the divine. Some theological streams in the history of the church have emphasized the divinity of Christ. Others have focused on Jesus humanity. In the early centuries, the belief in Christ s divinity at the expense of his humanity was known as the Docetic heresy. The belief in Christ s humanity at the expense of his divinity was known as the Nazarene heresy. The Council of Chalcedon, in 451 CE, attempted to resolve this in its proclamation, the Creed of Chalcedon, that Jesus Christ was very God and very man. Jesus, the Christ, was totally divine and also totally human. It may be a bit of an oversimplification, but I believe that the first three gospels, the synoptic gospels, focus largely on the humanity of Jesus. They present him as a 4
wandering teacher and healer. The fourth gospel, the Gospel of John, focuses primarily on his divinity. I believe that the writings of Paul also focus on Christ s divinity. Although I believe that Jesus the Christ is both fully human and fully divine, I confess that I find myself drawn more to the human side than the divine. I tend to think of having a relationship with Jesus more than I think of worshipping him. I talk with Jesus person to person in my prayer. I think of him as more of a guide than a savior. I think the Book of Ruth plays an important role in helping us to keep in touch with the humanity of Jesus. It shows that Jesus had human descendents all the way back to Abraham. I don t want to memorize the genealogy, but I think it s important. The second reason why I find myself drawn to the Book of Ruth is that it illustrates our evolving understanding of and interaction with God. As I mentioned, in the early books of the Old Testament God is very active. In the later Old Testament books, God speaks to his people through the prophets. In the gospels, God is largely present to the world in and through Jesus. Finally, Paul s letters contain a lot of teaching about God and Christ but not many descriptions of God s direct involvement with people. As we read through the Bible, we get the sense that God the Father, the God of Israel, is progressively stepping back from taking an active role in history. He is, so to speak, fading into the background. In the Gospels God speaks only a few times, e.g., at Jesus baptism, and then is only heard by one or two people. Jesus speaks to and with God, but Jesus disciples speak primarily to Jesus. The focus shifts from the first to the second person of the Trinity, from God the Father to Jesus as a revelation of God. What is important is not what God is doing in history but Jesus teachings and healings, what he says and does in his interaction with people. I find myself drawn to the Book of Ruth because its depiction of God is in keeping with the way that God is depicted in the Gospels. We have a sense that the mysterious ways of God are an important part of this story. We have a sense that God is working in the lives of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, but from behind the scenes. We have a sense that the hand of God is discernible in the famine, in the deaths of the men in Naomi s family, in what we would commonly consider tragedy. We have a sense that God is working to bring Ruth and Boaz together. The book challenges us to look for God, to listen for God s word, to open ourselves to God s guidance in subtle ways. 5
After Ruth and Boaz are married, scripture tells us, The Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son. This implies that it is God s will that Ruth conceives. There is a sense that God is working behind the scenes and through the characters of this story to bring something important into being. This is the sense that I have so often in my life and in other people s lives that God is working behind the scenes to bring something important, to bring a new creation into being. The Book of Ruth encourages us to open ourselves to this presence, to listen for the still small voice that would guide the unfolding of our life. I don t know if the evolution of the way that God is depicted in the Bible is attributable to an evolution of God, an evolution of the way we understand God, or an evolution in the way that God chooses to interact with humanity. We move from a God who thunders down from the mountain to a God who is present as a still small voice. We move from a God who seats and unseats kings, a God who is radically involved in the unfolding history of the people of Israel, to a God who is revealed in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is not interested in temporal power and kingdoms. He calls us to discover the kingdom of God within, that spiritual realm that was the primary focus of his teachings. As I understand it, biblical scholars are not of one opinion concerning the date when the Book of Ruth was written. Some scholars believe it was written before the time of the monarchy. Others believe it was written later. I would place it later, not because I am a biblical scholar or I have any evidence for when it was written, but because on a feeling level I connect with it as if it were a New Testament book. Finally, this story shows that God s concern, compassion and care extend beyond Israel to the people of every nation. I believe this is a lesson we need to take to heart as we move forward into a very confusing and, at times, conflicted relationship with our brothers and sisters of different cultures, different nations, and different religious faiths. We need to remember how Ruth, a Moabitess, became an important part of our unfolding and constantly evolving understanding of God. May each of us have the humility, the grace, and the openness to discover and rediscover God, just as Ruth and Naomi did, in the most unlikely places of our life. A sermon preached by the Reverend Paul D. Sanderson The First Community Church of Southborough September 18, 2011 6