Scripture Lessons: Ruth 2:14-22 Philippians 4:4-14 THE UPS AND DOWNS OF LIFE (REFLECTIONS ON THE BOOK OF RUTH) (08/14/11) As you may have noted, Julie and I are in the fifth week of our seven-week summer series on the Book of Ruth and we haven t even finished chapter 2. This is actually the way I like to do a Bible study. In our Sunday morning Bible study we have yet to finish any book of the Bible in less than two years. We read each book slowly and carefully because we wouldn t want to miss anything. It is truly amazing how much wisdom for living is contained in a few short passages of scripture. I recently ran across an adult Bible study curriculum that is structured to enable people to read the entire Bible in a year. I admit to being somewhat skeptical that this can be achieved, at least on the basis of meeting once a week. In addition, even if it could be accomplished, this isn t the way I want to read the Bible. I would rather take a single book, a single chapter, even a single passage and read it slowly and prayerfully. This way the passage of scripture has the opportunity to work on us, to shape our soul. We have already touched on several themes in the Book of Ruth. There is the matter of the famine that was mentioned in the first chapter, what it might symbolize, and how it led Elimelech and Naomi to travel to the land of Moab. There is the theme of what was missing in the culture and religion of Judah that led them to undertake this journey to the land of the Great Goddess, and what they needed to bring back. There is the theme of spiritual emptiness and fulfillment. There is the theme of loyalty Ruth s loyalty to Naomi even though Naomi was not equally loyal to Ruth. When Naomi returns to Judah, she tells the people that she went away full. This is not exactly true since her sons cannot find wives in Judah and, as a consequence, their family line is in danger of dying out. Naomi also tells the people of Judah the Lord has brought me back empty, which is also not exactly true. Naomi did lose her husband, her two sons, and one of her daughters-in-law, but she didn t come back empty. She came back with Ruth. The Book of Ruth is a love story. It is the story of the love between Ruth and Naomi and the love between Boaz and Ruth. It emphasizes the importance of taking the 1
initiative when you want something to change. Ruth, who is looking for a husband, takes the initiative to glean in the fields of Boaz. She places herself in a situation where she is apt to be noticed. Sure enough, Boaz notices this beautiful young woman. He takes her under her wing, directs his servants to leave her enough gleanings to support her and her mother-in-law, and he makes it clear that no one is to sexually abuse her. From this directive, it appears that not only the exploitation but also the sexual abuse of immigrants was not uncommon. I regret that this is still not uncommon today. I recently read of a husband and wife who brought a woman to this country and kept her as a virtual slave for many years. The woman was afraid to report her abuse to authorities because she was not aware she had any legal rights; she knew she was here illegally and the couple might deport her. So the book of Ruth provides us with a directive concerning the exploitation and abuse of those segments of our population that are most vulnerable. Last week Julie led us in an exploration of the ancient practice of gleaning. I had never thought about the importance of this theme, though I recall that my Children s Bible had a picture of Ruth gleaning in the fields. This practice of not taking everything, even that which rightfully belongs to us, but setting aside a certain portion to be shared with those who have less, is a powerful guide for our mission outreach as a church. In our scripture reading this morning, Boaz invites Ruth to sit with the reapers and to eat with them. When Ruth has eaten and goes back into the fields, Boaz instructs his reapers to let Ruth glean even among the standing sheaves and to leave handfuls of grain for her to take. This is over-the-top in caring for the immigrant or the poor. It is obvious that this attractive young woman has caught Boaz s fancy. At the end of the day Ruth returns to Naomi with her gleanings. When Ruth tells Naomi that she worked in the fields of Boaz, Naomi informs her that their benefactor is one of their nearest kin. Naomi advises Ruth to accept Boaz s invitation to glean alongside his young women and not to go off on her own, for this would not be safe. So Ruth stays close to the women and gleans until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. Let me just step aside from this passage of scripture for a moment to ask you a question. Please raise your hand if your life to date has turned out pretty much the way you originally planned: if there were no unexpected illnesses, misfortunes, tragedies, 2
failed marriages, set-backs in your vocation, difficult crosses to bear, or the loss of someone whom you loved. If you life has gone pretty smoothly, please raise your hand. I thought so. I m not seeing many hands. There are always a few people who pass through life relatively untouched by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, but most of us do not emerge from this life without a certain amount of physical or emotional scar tissue. Now let me ask you another question. Please raise your hand if you feel that you could describe your life, with all its ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies, pain and sorrow, good years and bad as having been a good life. All things considered, do you feel you can say yes to your life? When you are on your deathbed, will you be able to look back on your life and say amen to the life that you were given and that you lived? I thought so. I m seeing a lot more hands. For those of you who could not raise your hand in affirmation of your life, the Book of Ruth may have a lesson for you. I recently had the good fortune to discover a book entitled Tales From the Tao. It is a collection of teachings from the ancient Taoist masters, in particular Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu. I would love to use this book for a study group. This morning I would like to share one of these stories, one of these teachings. It is entitled We Shall See. There was once an old man who had one son and one horse, both of whom he valued very highly. One day the horse ran away and his neighbors came over to console him. Oh what great misfortune, they said. Your horse is gone! How will you ever afford to get another? The old man sat and smoked his pipe and only said, We shall see. Then, a few days later, the horse came back, accompanied by two wild horses, thus tripling the man s herd. Again the neighbors arrived, this time to congratulate the old man on his great luck. Again he merely sat and smoked and said, We shall see. A short time later, the man s son was thrown from one of the wild horses and broke his leg in several places. The neighbors all arrived, calling out, Ah, great misfortune, your son will never walk again! But again the old man merely sat quietly in front of his house and, between puffs of his pipe, said, We shall see. Some time after that, the army came through the village, rounding up all the young men to press them into military service in the battlefield far away in the frozen 3
north. But with his crippled leg, the old man s son was left behind. Though crippled, he managed to care for his elderly father until his death many years later. What is the message of this story, the lesson of this teaching? It may be that life has its little ups and downs. But we already know that. The question this story raises for me is how the old man is able to remain so tranquil despite the ups and downs of life. No matter what happens to him, no matter how he is assailed or blessed by forces beyond his control, he retains his equanimity. How could he do this? And how can I do this? This is an important theme, certainly worthy of a study group. I say this because I know of many people who suffer, not because of the difficulties, illnesses, losses, and hurts that have been their lot in life, but because of the attitude they have taken toward these physical and emotional injuries. As the Buddhist masters teach us, hurt and pain are inevitable; suffering is optional. These stories, whether they come from ancient Buddhist and Taoist teachings or our own Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition, try to help us ameliorate if not remove the dimension of suffering. For it is suffering, not pain, that leads to anxiety, depression, and despair. Let s look at the book of Ruth. There is a famine in the land of Judah. Bad thing. So Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon and Chileon go to Moab. That turns out well, not in the way they envisioned but as part of the bigger picture. Mahlon and Chilion get married. Good thing. Then they die and their father Elimelech dies. Bad Thing. Naomi returns to Judah. This turns out to be a good thing. While in Moab, Ruth marries one of the sons. Good thing. Then the son dies. Bad thing. Ruth decides to remain with Naomi and return to Judah. Good thing. Naomi arrives home a poor widow, filled with despair. Bad thing. She has to depend on Ruth to provide both of them with the necessities of life. Though initially bad, this turns out to be a good thing for both of them. Ruth is initially an immigrant farm hand, lower than the reapers and the servants. Bad thing. But Boaz takes her under his wing. Good thing. Boaz marries Ruth and they give birth to Obed, who continues the lineage from Abraham to Jesus. This is a very good thing. There are, you may note, several ups and downs in this story. Aside from the despair that Naomi expresses at the time of her return to Judah, when she describes herself as bitter, the lesson of this story has a certain parallel to the story of the little old 4
Chinese man. It leads us to think about how we can attain the sense of inner peace to which the apostle Paul witnesses when he says, I have learned to be content with whatever I have. There are several ways that we might find this sense of inner peace in the midst of a turbulent life. The first, the option taken by many people, is to ground one s acceptance of life in the belief that everything that happens is the will of God, that everything is planned and orchestrated by God. This belief is accompanied by the conviction that there is a reason for everything that happens to us and to our loved ones. We may not know the reason, but that does not mean that there is no reason. A common expression of this belief system is the assertion that There are no accidents in this life. Although I know people whose steadfast grounding in this theological perspective enables them to live a beautiful and meaningful life in the face of what I would consider overwhelming tragedy, I confess that I am unable to embrace it. I find it difficult to reconcile this theology with the concept of free will, which I believe was bestowed upon us by God. I find it difficult to believe that God micromanages the universe. If Jesus is correct in his depiction of God as a loving parent, I question why God would want to micromanage our lives since we would not do so to our children. To micromanage someone s life is to take away their freedom, their individuality, and consequently their meaning in life. Let us return to the Taoist lesson we just heard. In Taoist terms, I think the old man is at peace no matter what befalls him because he is centered in the Tao. In Christian terms this would be described as finding our center in our relationship with God through Christ. Whether weal or woe befalls us, a person of faith, a person of inner peace will become attached to neither. The person who is centered will greet what is normally called fortune and what is called misfortune with equanimity, with the attitude of We shall see. Because of this philosophy, because of this religious or psychological viewpoint, the little Chinese man does not become attached to the things that go well. He accepts his blessings in the context of his knowledge that this, too, will pass. When tragedy befalls him he, likewise, does not become attached to it. He accepts it as an integral part of life. And he judges this life, with both the good and the bad, as essentially good. 5
Think about it. Is it the difficult, painful events of our life that lead us into despair? Or is it our clinging to them? When we hold onto our hurts, to what we perceive as the injustices of life, we are essentially enshrining them within our heart. If we do this, it will shape the way we view life and the way we view our life. We will end up seeing life as cruel. We may cling to the hope that everything will be corrected or restored when we get to heaven, and it may very well be. But we will have missed the opportunity to lovingly embrace this life, the life we have been given, as a gift from God. There are ups and downs to life. We experience pleasure and pain, weal and woe, triumph and tragedy, health and sickness, fortune and misfortune, the joy of being with those whom we love and the pain of losing them. I think the secret of life is not to try to increase pleasure and decrease pain, to hold onto the good and eliminate the bad. This is a recipe for failure, frustration, anxiety, depression, and despair. The secret of inner peace lies in our recognition that this wonderful, miraculous, mysterious life that God has created contains all these opposites. They are an essential part of life, not an injustice. With this realization, and out of the context of our relationship with God, we can affirm this life and love it. We can love it because, in a far deeper way than we can grasp, in a transcendental way, it is good. Do not become attached to either the ups or the downs of life. Accept each as it comes. Embrace it. Then let it go. As the Book of Ruth illustrates, you just don t know how things are going to turn out. When the package of your life falls apart and plunges you into chaos, this chaos may provide a space for a new and healthier life to emerge. This is why it is wise to do what we can to make life better, to make our life better, and then wait quietly and with an open heart to see what unfolds, knowing that God is always working within us, through the accidents of life, and through other people to help this life unfold in a beautiful way. A sermon preached by the Reverend Paul D. Sanderson The First Community Church of Southborough August 14, 2011 6