She was a Foreign Woman

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
December 11th 2005
Third Sunday of Advent
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“She was a Foreign Woman”
Isaiah 61:8-11; Matthew 1:1-5; Ruth 2-4

Naomi’s husband and two sons died leaving her all alone in a foreign land. Having nothing left she decides to return to Judah in hopes that she might find support from any remaining family in Bethlehem. As she leaves, her two daughter-in-laws prepare to return with her. Naomi turned to them and commands them to return to their families. While one of the women follows her instructions, Ruth does not. She says: “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge; I will lodge; your people shall be my people; and your God my God.”
This quote from the book of Ruth is possibly one of the most famous faith statements from the bible. It comes from our third women named in the genealogy of Jesus found in Matthew’s gospel. However, this statement of faith from this Moabite woman is not the reason she is included in the genealogy. Her inclusion in the family tree can only be understood with a closer look at her story.
When Ruth and Naomi return to Bethlehem, it appears they do not have any resources. As a result, Naomi instructs Ruth to go into the barley fields and gather the leftover grain. Naomi knew that food could be found there because God commanded the Jewish people to leave the edges of the grain fields for the poor, the widows, orphans and aliens. God apparently thinks hungry people should be fed. As a result Ruth and Naomi do not starve.
On her first day gathering grain, Ruth is noticed by Boaz who owns the field in which she is gathering. Boaz inquires of his workmen about this woman. When they meet, Boaz tells Ruth about his family ties to Naomi. He also mentions that he has heard about her great faithfulness. Boaz then instructs Ruth to gather grain only from his fields. It is his way of offering her security since she has no other family supports.
When Ruth reports the good fortune to Naomi she responds: “My daughter, I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well with you.” It turns out that the security Naomi is talking about is marriage to Boaz. She then instructs Ruth to pay a late night visit to Boaz. Naomi explains that the best time to do this is at the end of the harvest season when he will be sleeping on the threshing floor. So Ruth goes to meet Boaz on the threshing floor, late in the night after Boaz is well fed and after having had a few drinks. Following Naomi’s instructions, Ruth uncovers Boaz’s feet, lies down, and waits.
When Boaz wakes up, we learn why Naomi and Ruth have been living at a subsistence level since their return to Bethlehem. It turns out that there was another man, a close relative, who was supposed to support them. However, this other, unnamed man did not do his duty. It turns out that this other relative was unwilling to do his duty because of Ruth’s nationality.
Ruth was a Moabite. The word Moabite is actually a derivation of a Hebrew word which hints at the story of Lot and his daughters. In case you do not know this story it goes like this: Lot’s daughters were worried about not having children. So one night they got their father drunk and had sex with them, so the story is told. Their offspring become the Moabite people. Their very name acknowledges the shameful act of incest. So you can understand why an upstanding person might not marry a Moabite.
Since Ruth has gone to Boaz in this manner it has created a situation where Boaz can take the place of this other relative. Despite her background, but because of her faithfulness, Boaz promises to do his duty. Ruth’s faithfulness in this story stands in stark contrast to the other, unnamed man who was unwilling to care for the widows in his own family. In the Book of Ruth, it is a Moabite woman who is the most faithful. As a result of her faith and actions she becomes the great-grandmother of King David and is named in the genealogy of Jesus.
This week as we continue our study of the women named in Jesus genealogy, we meet another outsider, another foreign woman who is the epitome of faithfulness. In our study of these four women named in the geneology, there are striking similarities. All but one of the women is foreign. Despite using sex as a tool for survival, the bible presents these women as models for faithful action. Their inclusion in this genealogy is an indication about the radical nature of the birth of the Jesus, called Messiah.
Since the Roman Emperor Constantine thrust Christianity into a position of privilege, Christianity has struggled to deal with the scandalous nature of the one we call Messiah. As Christians moved from the margins of society into the national religion of the Roman Empire, the church has worked to sanitize the scandalous nature of the faith. This is evident in the way the church has downplayed the scandalous reality of the family tree of Jesus and overemphasized the limited stories, images, language, and theology which helps us remain comfortable with positions of privilege.
However, despite this, I do not believe that all has not been lost. We are, after all, living in an age where the vestiges of privilege which captivated the church in North America are beginning to erode. There is no doubt that the church in the United States no longer holds the privileged and influential positions it once held in our society. This is a situation which we as a community know as well since Westminster no longer holds the privileged positions it once held. No matter how we spin it, this is the reality. We must acknowledge this fact so we are prepared for the new thing God is doing in the church across our country and here at Westminster.
In many situations where churches are faced with the loss of privilege it is common that the community will spend time and energy trying to recapture the glorious past. However, the historical reality of the church in North America was that the glorious past was economically exclusive and deeply racist. It was ultimately glorious for only a few folks, namely white men. This conscious or unconscious work to recreate the glorious past is a natural human reaction.
When the very foundation of the world we know, or thought we knew, shakes and begins to collapse it is only natural to seek to rebuild what we know best. However, the reality is that in this rebuilding we have a choice. We can imitate the past doing things, doing things as we always have, or we could view the changing world around us as an opportunity provided by God. It is ultimately an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of a woman of faith named Ruth.
When her world was turned upside down she could have returned to her family and to the ways of the past. But she does not. Instead Ruth expresses a deep faith and love grounded in God. She does all this without any promise of security. Ruth has no idea what lie ahead when she goes with Naomi and proclaims: ‘Your God will be my God’ She was willing to go into new territory and to do whatever was necessary to survive in order to live out her faith. Her witness invites us to do the same.
As we edge closer to the birthday of Jesus these outsiders, these foreign women are reminders to us of the reality of the incarnation. The incarnation is our belief that God came in the form of a human being. And what we know about this human being is this: He was born to an unmarried teenager. When he was born he was placed in an animal feed trough because they were homeless. He was hunted by political power brokers and his family tree was full of people on the margins of society. If we understand nothing else about this season so captured by parties, cards, concerts and shopping, we must remember this: When God entered our world in the person of Jesus it was meant to be a scandal. It was meant to shock our expectations and invite us into a new way of living in the world.
That is the good news of the scandal. It means we are all included in God’s plan. We are all welcome, no matter what we may hear or no matter what we might believe. God loves us and calls us to follow the ways this scandalous family tree embodied in the final scandal: Jesus the Messiah.
May our life, personally and as a community of faith count it a privilege to be part of this scandalous story. May we live out our pride in the scandal in our work, in our worship, and as we express God’s earth shaking love to the world. Amen.