When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. So, the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?" "Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me." So, Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning (Ruth 1:18-22). This chapter is filled with tragedy, encapsulated by Naomi's lament, "Call me Mara." Things went from bad to worse. Elimelech, "God is King", left the king's country, turning away from the "House of Bread" (Bethlehem) because there is nothing to eat. His attempt to stay alive in Moab ends in his death. His wife, Naomi, meaning "pleasant", suddenly finds herself in a very unpleasant situation. Unpleasant but not destitute -- she has two married sons who will support her. This unpleasant state descends into a worst-case-scenario when both of her sons die before any grandchildren are conceived. Naomi's lap is empty. The hunger that brought her family to Moab was nothing compared to the sick, black, void in the pit of her stomach. Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth--each widow stares blankly into the future across an empty lap--their family extinguished. Widows indeed -- all three of them. At least Orpah and Ruth have options. They can find new husbands. Naomi offers them the blessing of the God of Israel, "May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest (security) in the home of another husband" (1:9). She does not want them included in the curses of the covenant which God has set against her. She must return alone, desolate without hope. But, as we saw yesterday, Ruth, the Moabitess, refuses. Moab's origin story is one of deception and manipulation, drunkenness and incest (see Genesis 19:30-38). But Ruth does not selfishly manipulate circumstances to survive at any cost. She adopts her mother-in-law! This is one of the most striking examples of the loving and sacrificial loyalty contained in the word "mercy". Ruth's devotion to Naomi caused her to cast aside all concern for her future and security and to break the bonds even of community and religion. She has committed herself to the life of an old woman rather than the search for a husband in a world where life depends upon men. And so, the two "bound-together-for-life" widows arrive in Bethlehem. In her extreme despair, Naomi returns to the country of the very God that she names as afflicting her. Full she went away, but empty has God brought her back. Her future has flickered out; her life is bitter. Naomi is home, empty barren, desolate, without husband or son. No longer Naomi, pleasant, but Mara, bitter. In her bitterness, Naomi cannot see that she has a daughter-in-law, who, oddly enough, has committed herself to Naomi, to Naomi's people, and to their God. Also, it is barley harvest. God has removed the famine from Israel. These two, Ruth and barley, are the beginnings of the thick rich feast of God's redemption for Naomi and for all of us. But Naomi cannot see it yet. And that is encouraging for all of us. She has returned to her country, her people, her land, her God. But she has no hope for laughter, no hope for fullness; no hope that the bitterness will be taken away. But that does not stop God from assembling the ingredients that will fill Naomi's emptiness and turn her bitterness to laughter. God does not need us to notice what he is up to, just to receive it when it comes. Go now with God's blessing: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

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