Our text is from Ruth 1:6-13 While Naomi was in Moab, she heard that the Lord had helped his people. He had begun to provide food for them again. So, Naomi and her two daughters-in-law prepared to go from Moab back to her home. She left the place where she had been living. Her daughters-in-law went with her. They started out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Both of you go back. Each of you go to your own mother's home. You were kind to your husbands, who have died. You have also been kind to me. So may the Lord be just as kind to you. May the Lord help each of you find rest in the home of another husband." Then she kissed them goodbye. They broke down and wept loudly. They said to her, "We'll go back to your people with you." But Naomi said, "Go home, my daughters. Why would you want to come with me? Am I going to have any more sons who could become your husbands? Go home, my daughters. I'm too old to have another husband. Suppose I thought there was still some hope for me. Suppose I married a man tonight. And later I had sons by him. Would you wait until they grew up? Would you stay single until you could marry them? No, my daughters. My life is more bitter than yours. The Lord's power has turned against me!" Yesterday, Pastor Anthony reflected on the chunky soup of God's holistic salvation, rich with real meat and vegetables! Good soup is more enjoyable when accompanied with freshly baked bread, our appetites having been whetted by the aromas of the oven mingling with the savory scents of the stove top. I have good memories of Saturday mornings with my hands deep in a sink full of dough, kneading and kneading. Ten people sat around our kitchen table, devouring that bread. Saturday morning bread baking was a necessity. Bread was and is a staple. It fed the people of Naomi's day, of Jesus' day, and much of the world today. And here we begin to see the messes that sin brings into human living. Messes for which we need a saviour. The story begins in Bethlehem. The word literally means, "the house of bread". But there is no bread. There is famine. The granaries are empty, the fields are bare, the harvesters have no work. That's why Elimelek took his wife and sons to Moah. It was the days of the judges, when "everyone did what they saw fit" (Judges 21:25), the last word of the book of Judges. This was a time of national disobedience. Israel did not follow God's ways. As a result, God withheld the blessings of the covenant. The world was created good and full of life. Sin causes deprivation. There is not enough to go around. Elimelek goes to look for bread in places he should not go. Moab was not a place where an Israelite ought to look for help. But this is not a story about Elimelek. Its not a story about Israel's disobedience. Even though Ruth is mentioned in Matthew's genealogy; our main character is Naomi. Already in verse 3, we find something odd, "Elimelek, Naomi's husband". In this story, he becomes subordinate to his wife, making her the main character. He dies, his sons marry Moabite women, another "no, no". They die. And then this in the Hebrew text, "the woman was left bereft…the woman started to return…" (5,6). This is a story about a woman in a man's world. With her husband and sons dead, this woman is in a foreign country with without income or support. She decides to return home, to cast her lot in with her own people and her own God. Will she find anyone to care for her there? Will Israel's God save her? This is the question we are invited to ask as we journey with Naomi back to her home. This is a story about a voiceless woman in a male world. God has come to the aid of his people, but will he come to the aid of a woman like Naomi? Will there be bread for her in Bethlehem, 'the house of bread?' How thick is the soup of God's redemption? Is it savoury enough to redeem a woman like Naomi? She senses the hand of God is against her. Will it stay that way? This is our Advent story. For today, go 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.

Ver todos los episodios