In our scripture readings for today, we are introduced to Ruth, a young woman from the country of Moab, which sits east of Israel, and is a sometimes enemy of Israel. Ruth married a Bethlehemite named Mahlon who came to live in Moab during an extended famine in Israel. And in a set of tragic circumstances, Ruth's husband Mahlon AND his brother Chilion both died, leaving Ruth and her sister-in-law Orpah to care for her mother-in-law Naomi. Ruth is given the choice to return to Bethlehem with Naomi, or stay in Moab with her family and look for a new husband. And Ruth chooses to go with Naomi, because Naomi's God has a plan for her....
Starting in 1891, approximately 170,000 people from the country of Ukraine came across the Atlantic to the fledgling country of Canada, leaving behind possessions, family members, and customs. They did this to escape oppression under Austro-Hungarian rule. Starting in 1979, more than 60,000 Boat People came across the Pacific via the Philippines and Thailand to arrive in Canada. They found refuge here after the Communist victory in the Vietnam War. And in 2016, approximately 44,000 people from the country of Syria were airlifted to Canada. They were fleeing the results of the Syrian civil war. In general, it takes world events that are pretty bad, to convince people to give up their home, family, friends, and even language, to go live in a foreign land as a refugee....
Not so for Ruth! In fact, Ruth had everything going FOR her in Moab, with the exception that she was a young, childless widow. Her mother was still alive and could provide for her in the interim. She was still young, and had not been married long enough to bear children, so remarrying was entirely feasible. She had the god of her youth, Chemosh to worship, she had her familiar friends for company, and she had other relatives for support. Ruth had it good in Moab, despite the tragedy that had afflicted her. Orpah recognized this, and she stayed behind.
And what could Ruth look forward to as a refugee in Bethlehem? She would be a second-class citizen, at best, and a despised foreigner at worst. If she were to remarry, it would have to be under the Levirate marriage system of Israel that kept land inheritances intact in the family. Her new husband would have to be a relative of her father-in-law Elimelech, and he, and she, would have to be willing to consider her first child as belonging to Mahlon, and raised as Mahlon would have wanted. Maybe the BEST thing Ruth had to look forward to in Bethlehem, was a lifetime of looking after a bitter, widowed mother-in-law. And yet, Ruth was adamant that she was going back to Bethlehem with Naomi.
How do WE respond to the tragedies in OUR lives? The experts on the videos we use in our GriefShare program lean to the Orpah model. “Don't make any major decisions after a significant loss for at least a year,” they forcefully recommend, “Stay put, don't sell the house if you don't have to, wait until you have healed enough that you can think straight.” And even that's much better advice than following the Naomi model. “Don't even call me Naomi any more,” she says, “I have claimed this tragedy as my new identity. For the rest of my life I will be capital-B Bitter, with the Almighty as my primary target.” In a way, this response IS a response of FAITH – we recognize God's sovereignty in all things, and so we can attribute to him the malice... or neglect... of causing... or allowing... our tragedy. But bitterness is not a response of TRUST – it cannot see a PURPOSE that a loving God would have in our tragedy. And that is why times of tragedy test our trust in God severely, and why it is important to develop that trust in God before tragedy occurs.