Opening Up the Bible series

6. Ruth and Naomi 2008

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Cambridge ON

Sunday May 25 2008

10:00 a.m.

The sermon about Ruth

based on Sermonshop Sermons, note 151

<sermonshop.sermons.topic@ecunet.org>

“Beautiful Friend” by Bass Mitchell

Monday Oct 27 1997

Children's Message Preparation:

- a scroll made from “ruthandnaomi – Children's Story.html” (in “Bible Notes, Hebrew Scriptures” folder)

- handouts: Ruth and Naomi Bible Colouring Page 1-4.gif (in “Bible Notes, Hebrew Scriptures” folder), sized for Bible Book



Children's Message:

-So glad you're here!

-Long, long ago, before there were books,

stories were written on scrolls.

-Today we're going to read an old story from the Bible,

and since it's so old,

I've put it into the form of a scroll.

-The Bible was originally written on scrolls.

-Today's Bible story is called Ruth and Naomi.

(read from scroll)

-Naomi was Jesus' great, great, great, great, great,

grandmother.

Handout story of Ruth for Bible Books; can colour

Prayer thanking God for being with us when life is difficult. Ask God help us join in caring for others.

Sermon:

-The Book of Ruth

is a short story set during the time of the Judges -

about 3000 years ago!

-That was a much-troubled time during Israel's history.

- It was a time of war, famine, corruption, trouble.

-In our Bible,

the book of “Ruth comes after [the book of] Judges

because it is set in this period,

however it is extremely unlikely

[that] it was written in this period.

In the Hebrew [version of the First Testament,

the book of Ruth] comes in the writings section

at the end of the bible

as one of the five scrolls between Proverbs and Ezra.”¹

-Many scholars therefore believe

that this story was used as “an artful protest

against the exclusive nationalism

encouraged after the return from exile.”²

-At this point in time, government policy was to annul

marriages between Jews and foreign women.

-”The story of Ruth was [likely] told

in order to argue for a more-open policy,

and quotes the example of the great King David's

grandparents in its support.”

-Another possibility for the time period in which

this story was written-down,

might have been somewhat earlier, pre-exile.

-At that time,

detractors of the monarchy

could “have noted wryly that no better

could be expected of someone with Moabite blood

in his veins.

Was the story of Ruth first told in the time of David

to demonstrate that his ancestress

was no ordinary Moabite,

but a woman who could hold her own

in any company?”³

-Regardless of when the story was told,

it is a remarkable tale of a strong woman

and it pleads for a more-open understanding

of whom God will bless.

-Both themes are important in Scripture.

-The story of Ruth

is about a family facing one crisis after another.

-Elimelech and his wife Naomi live in Bethlehem.

-They have two sons - Mahlon and Chilion.

-Because the names sound like Hebrew words

for “illness” and “come to an end”

it's likely that both children

suffered various illnesses

right from the time of their births.

-Times were hard.

- Jobs were few.

- Food was scarce.

-Elimelech was likely laid-off from work.

- Hungry and desperate,

Elimelech packs his family up and goes to Moab.

-Yet Moab was no paradise.

- It was a rough, out-of-the-way kind of place.

- Even though the Moabites were distant relatives,

it was still a foreign country

and often there were hostilities between them.

-Moab was the kind of place you would go to

only if you had to, if you were desperate.

- Things were so bad at home

that even Moab looked good.

-They had barely unpacked when Elimelech dies.

- So Naomi is now a widow and a single parent

in a foreign land.

- Probably chosen for each other when small children,

Naomi and Elimelech had lived as man and wife

most of their lives.

- To have someone be such a part of your life

for so long,

and then suddenly not be there –

especially when times were already so bad –

must have broken Naomi's heart.

-But her troubles were just beginning.

-All too soon,

Naomi finds that her two sons

are dating Moabite women.

-That could not have been very pleasing

to a good Jewish mother.

- But after all, they were in Moab.

-Where would a young man find a nice, middle class,

church-going girl here?

-So, a few months later,

Naomi finds that she has two Moabite

daughters-in-law.

-But the troubles do not stop there.

- Son Chilion dies.

-Then Mahlon too.

-The persons who meant the most to Ruth –

her husband, her children – are gone.

-She's a childless widow in a foreign country.

-All she has left are two Moabite daughters-in-law

whom she probably doesn't even know well

and maybe doesn't even like.

Then, finally, a bit of good news comes:

Naomi learns that the famine is over back home.

- So she packs up

and tells her daughters-in-law that she's leaving.

- She notices that they were packing up too.

They are going with her!

- She shakes her head and says,

"No Orpah and Ruth, go back to your homes.

Find yourselves husbands. May God bless you both,

for you have been kind to me and to my sons."

-Ruth and Orpah begin to cry and say,

"We're going with you."

-Naomi turns again to her daughters-in-law.

-This time she tenderly addresses them

not as daughters-in-law but as, "My daughters,”

and then asks, “why would you do this?

I have absolutely nothing to offer you.

Come with me, and you will have no hope, no future.

I have no more sons to offer as husbands.

I don't even have a husband!

Even if I did,

even if I conceived and bore twin sons this very night,

could you wait until they were old enough

to take as husbands?

No, my daughters, I have nothing to offer you.

It seems that I am under God's curse.

And if you stay with me, you will be too."

-Her argument was powerful.

- Orpah, still crying, hugs Naomi's neck

and then leaves to return to her home.

- But Ruth "clings" to Naomi.

-Naomi tries once again to convince her.

"See?" she says. "Orpah has come to her senses

and has returned to her people and to her gods.

You should do the same."

-But Ruth counters Naomi's arguments

with some of the most beloved verses in the Bible:

"Don't ask me to leave you.

For where you go, I will go.

Where you live, I will live.

Your people will be my people,

and your God will be my God.

Where you die, I will die.

Where you are buried, I will be buried."

-Ruth was willing to leave her own mother,

her own country,

and all the safety and possibility

of having another husband,

to go with her mother-in-law to a foreign country.

- Such love, such devotion, such friendship

left Naomi speechless.

-It's little wonder that Ruth's words here

have often been used in wedding ceremonies.

-But I wonder if this passage would be as popular

if future brides knew that when Ruth said these words,

she was not speaking to her husband,

but to her mother-in-law!

-The name "Ruth”

comes from a root word that means "to water fully,"

that is, a never-ending stream or spring.

-Ruth, this beautiful friend,

had a love and devotion that could never dry up.

-When times were toughest for Naomi,

when the future looked the bleakest,

Ruth stuck by Naomi.

-We can only imagine

what would have happened to Naomi

without this "beautiful friend," this Moabite woman

whom God had brought into Naomi's life.

-Would David had survived the murderous threats

of King Saul

if not for the protection of Jonathan, his loyal friend?

-What would have become of Helen Keller

without the "beautiful friend" named Anne Sullivan

whom God gave to her?

-God is always sending special people into our lives;

people who help us in time of need.

-People who sometimes come from places

we'd least expect.

-For Naomi, it's her foreign daughter-in-law, Ruth.

-For David fleeing from King Saul,

it's Saul's own son, Jonathan.

-For Helen Keller,

it's Anne Sullivan, herself nearly-blind,

and without any experience

working with deaf-blind-mutes.

-We may not know when or for what specific reason

the story of Ruth and Naomi was first told.

-But we continue to tell the story to this day.

-And to this day,

the story of Ruth and Naomi helps us

to take note of those special people

God sends into our lives,

people who help us in time of great need.

-Thanks be to God. Amen.

Hymn # 419 For All the Faithful Women

stanzas 1, 5, and last.



Sending Thought: God's Kindness Continues

-Ruth was a blessing to Naomi.

-And, Ruth herself was blessed.

-She was blessed by a political system

which cared for the poor,

and she was blessed by someone whom God sent

into her life: Boaz.

-When Ruth and Naomi return to Bethlehem,

they don't go hungry

because of something called “gleaning.”

-Last Sunday we noted that God's Laws

offer protection for the poor and the weak.

-Many of God's laws seek to redistribute wealth,

so that all have enough,

and no one has too much.

-One of these laws benefited Ruth and Naomi

in their time of need:

Deuteronomy 24:19-22 (NRSV)

¹⁹ When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings. ²⁰ When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.

²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. ²² Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this.

-God's laws

built a concern for the poor into the Israelites'

daily routines.

-So, Boaz allows Ruth to glean his fields.

-But not only does he allow this,

he actually rigs it so that Ruth gets more

than the welfare-law required.

-Out of kindness and concern,

Boaz instructs his harvesters

to “pull out some handfuls for [Ruth]

from the bundles [of grain]

and leave them for her to glean.”⁴

-Boaz also provided food and drink for Ruth

while she was gleaning.

-As we learned last week,

God's Laws

offer protection for the poor and the weak,

by redistributing wealth

so that all have enough, and no one has too much.

- “God's rules were intended to form a nation of compassionate, consistent, fair-minded people”

who act lovingly toward the neighbour –

and “particularly toward those in need.”⁵

-In Boaz,

we meet someone willing to go even beyond the rules

in caring for those in need.

-Why?

-Because God is loving, kind, and merciful,

God's people must be too.

The Benediction follows....⁶