Living Commitment

Texts: Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17 and Mark 12:38-44

Today we get the rest of the story about Ruth and Naomi that began last week when we heard about how Naomi and her husband Elimelech, along with their two sons, moved to the country of Moab in order to get away from the famine in Israel. While they were living there, the sons, Mahlon & Chilion, married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. Then the guys all died, leaving Naomi & her daughters-in-law without men to take care of them.

Naomi heard that the famine was over and decided it was time to go home. She told Ruth and Orpah they should go back to their own families. Orpah ended up doing that, but Ruth refused. She loved Naomi and pledged to go wherever Naomi went and that Naomi’s people would be her people & Naomi’s God her God.

So, they returned to Naomi’s home town, which happened to be Bethlehem, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Last week we heard how Ruth insisted on going back with Naomi to a strange land where she would be unknown. Plus neither of them had husbands or sons to take care of them.

These two women are very marginal. They have no means of survival. How will they be treated by Elimelech’s family? On top of that, Ruth is from Moab, which is just about like being a Samaritan. The Israelites looked down on anyone outside their own kin. It wasn’t a racial thing, it was a religious thing. Those who didn’t worship Yahweh, the one true God, were frowned upon and sometimes even considered unclean. Inter-marrying wasn’t encouraged because of the fear of losing the religious identity they had in worshipping the one true God. That fear still exists today because about 90% of children raised in mixed Jewish-Christian marriages aren’t raised as Jews but are assimilated into an overwhelmingly Christian/Protestant atmosphere.

But in any case, Ruth has pledged her loyalty to Naomi and to Naomi’s God. They went to Bethlehem and, apparently, the word of Ruth’s loyalty got around the community.

As the story continues, we learn that, of course, Ruth & Naomi needed food to survive, so Ruth suggested to Naomi that she allow her to go into the field belonging to Naomi’s husband’s kin, Boaz, who is a rich and prominent man. Ruth would follow behind Boaz’s workers and glean from what is left after they have harvested the ears of grain. Naomi gave her permission, and away she went.

Well, as you might guess, Boaz noticed Ruth and asked about her. When he found out who she was, he told her to stay only in his field and to follow closely behind his women workers. He would give instructions that no one was to bother her—meaning that the young men couldn’t take advantage of her. He also saw to it that she was properly fed and told his workers to leave her some of the good stuff as well as what was left over. When Ruth asked him why he was so kind to her, he explained that he had been told all that she had done for Naomi.

So Ruth was able to glean enough food for herself and Naomi. But it couldn’t go on like that forever. Naomi is determined to gain some security for Ruth—in other words, a husband. She tells Ruth that Boaz is a kinsman—meaning that there is a next-of-kin obligation to provide heirs for Elimelech (and for Ruth’s husband, Mahlon, although that’s not mentioned). Naomi tells Ruth that Boaz is winnowing wheat on the threshing floor and Ruth should go to him and uncover his feet—a sign that she is available to him.

Ruth does this, and according to our reading, they get married and live happily ever after. But we missed all the fun part in between! Boaz is quite shocked to wake up & find Ruth sleeping at his feet. Ruth tells him that she wants him to fulfill the role of next-of-kin and asks for his cloak, which is another sign, similar to the uncovering of his feet.

Boaz is willing, but says there’s another kinsman who’s in line before him. If he won’t fulfill the obligation, Boaz will. The next day Boaz goes to the city gate to look for this other kinsman. Once he finds him, he also gets witnesses. Then he says Naomi has land to sell belonging to Elimelech and will this next-of-kin redeem it? The man says sure, but then Boaz tells him Ruth is part of the deal and the deal is to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance.

The other man says, “I can’t redeem it for myself without damaging my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”[1] So Boaz declares that he will acquire Naomi’s field so that it may be kept in the name of Elimelech, Mahlon and Chilion. He sets everything out very clearly, including the fact that he will be taking Ruth as his wife, and does all this in front of the witnesses. They, in turn, bless him and they also bless Ruth, saying, “May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you produce children … and bestow a name in Bethlehem; and through the children that the Lord will give you by this young woman, may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” [2]

So Boaz took Ruth as his wife, and she bore him a son. The women of the neighborhood praised Naomi for finding a way to secure her own future, as well as that of her faithful daughter-in-law. We can be confident—from the rest of the story—that Ruth and Boaz will take care of Naomi. In fact, this child, who is named Obed, is called Naomi’s child and Naomi becomes his nurse.

And now, finally, we have the punch line! In the end of verse 17 of chapter 4, we are told that Obed became the father of Jesse and Jesse the father of David. And we all know the importance of that—Jesus was a descendant of David!

Naomi, Ruth and Boaz are all examples of living commitment. Naomi, even though she was bitter about her lot in life, cared enough about her daughter-in-law to figure out a way to make her life better and more secure. Ruth loved and trusted her mother-in-law and was willing to do whatever would help both of them. Boaz acted honorably—for all we know he did what he did at least partially out of sexual attraction, but he also apparently acted out of a true sense of justice, realizing his responsibilities towards those who were marginalized.

Our gospel reading also tells a story of living commitment. Jesus points out an impoverished widow who gives the only two coins she has to the temple treasury, believing that her gift, small as it may be, is significant when added to all the other gifts.

We all make living commitments to different things, such as our marriages, our families, our jobs and our church. We give of ourselves and our resources so that we AND others may thrive. It is in this giving that we demonstrate our faithfulness to God and demonstrate to others what God’s love is like. AMEN.

Endnotes:

[1] Ruth 4:6, NRSV.

[1] Ruth 4:11-12, NRSV.