Advent 1, Ruth & Naomi
A special guest post from Joy Moore
Fellow Pilgrims,
As we enter into the season of Advent, preparing for the coming of Jesus, I’m honored to bring you the first in a series of posts about the four women named in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew Chapter 1.
FIND MY INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES HERE
Today’s guest post is from the Rev. Dr. Joy Moore, President of Northern Theological Seminary. Joy writes about Ruth and Naomi.
Dr. Moore joins Northern Seminary with a distinguished background in both academia and pastoral ministry. An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, she most recently served as Professor of Biblical Preaching at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, and as Visiting Professor of Religion and Chapman-Benson Scholar in Residence at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, AL. Dr. Moore has co-hosted the Working Preacher podcasts Sermon Brainwave and I Love to Tell the Story, a podcast of the Narrative Lectionary.
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“Ruth,” a digital collage by Beth Felker Jones. Feel free to use and share this image. Hi-res images, without the watermark, are available for purchase here.
Pleasantries in the Time of Judges
by Joy Moore
The simple greeting, “Happy Advent,” reminds us we hold our days as a peculiar people living in the world with a different perspective. The season of Advent invites us to pause, gather closer, and recover the marks of being a people loved deeply by a faithful God. Fleming Rutledge reminds us that Advent asks the most important ethical questions, presents the most accurate picture of the human condition, and above all, orients us to the future of the God who will come again (Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ, Eerdmans, 2018. p.20)
So, Happy New Year to all who mark time by the Christian seasons.
Moving forward and moving on catapults us toward what comes next. Rhythms pace how we humans acknowledge that the moment we call now is linked to what was and sets the direction for what will be. Tomorrows come no matter how tragic the day has been. So how we remember matters.
Places and people capture the memories of moments for years to come. Was this the Thanksgiving our son died or the season we learned how deeply friends and family care for us through both triumph and tragedy? It is not a simple either/or question. It really does matter how we rehearse it. Is this day, this moment, about you or others? Might it even be about God? Let’s ask some important questions as a peculiar people, like Naomi, an Israelite in Moab, whose story is told in someone else’s book.
It was the time of the judges. Like the witness of the people of God, even this time cannot be contained in a single book. Both Moses and Joshua have died, as had, it seems, the entire generation of those who experienced the presence of the living God up close and personal. Nonetheless, in those days, which Israel would describe as a time when they had no king, God shows up … again and again.
When God shows up, incredible events occur, and obscure persons become heroes. We remember their names and moments from their lives. So, the story moves along, introducing us to Ehud and Deborah and Gideon. And then, we get this little book, which really is a story of a mother-in-law (did someone say: happy holidays?) The book we call Ruth takes a closer look at the circumstances of the people of God during this time. I think this book asks the most important ethical questions, presents the most accurate picture of the human condition, and orients us to the future of the God who will come …a gain and again.
It was a time of famine. Just as the descendants of Jacob had to enter into the land of their enemies to survive, Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, knows they must do the same. Without fanfare, they too will experience the presence of the living God up close and personal. They leave their home in Bethlehem to go to the country of Moab, now the land of plenty. The story is told quickly, and left with two sons, Naomi is soon a widow in a foreign land. They seem to have found some favor there as the boys find wives and the future seems promising.
Until it doesn’t. The boys die. Both of them. How quickly promises of prosperity perish. Now, Naomi, a foreigner, has two daughters-in-law, who have left their own families to marry into hers, and she has nothing of a future to offer.
It’s time for her to go back home. Naomi has remembered Bethlehem and so it seems has God. In one last gesture of generosity, Naomi lives into her name as one who is pleasant. Releasing her daughters-in-law back to their own families, Naomi seeks to return to hers. Even in this moment of uncertainty, Naomi’s act can be seen as one of confident kindness. Maybe something about Naomi was also evident in her sons, who covenanted in marriage with these two Moabite women. Maybe her daughter-in-law Orpah had learned from Naomi to use her own agency to seize the day, even when it seems bleak. Even Orpah’s departure may be a sign of hope rather than hopelessness.
Naomi’s reputation was remembered by those in Bethlehem. She got back to her old neighborhood, and her friends and family call out to her by her name and character – is that the pleasant one?
But Naomi no longer believes that about herself. She is a changed woman. Her actions may be kind, but she wants to say that God has made her bitter. Her daughter-in-law Ruth wasn’t buying it. Is seems no one else is either – no one ever calls her Mara, which means bitter!)
Though Naomi tried to name her life as tragedy, the image in God evident in her let others glimpse the rainbow behind the storm clouds. We might suppose that, despite her tragedy, Naomi’s confidence in the promise of Israel’s God, inspired her daughter-in-law Ruth chose to exercise her own agency to, likewise, seek an encounter with this God.
Do you know someone like Naomi? Someone so filled with the spirit of God that regardless of their vernacular, you still see Jesus through and through? Someone who is honest about their situation and equally honest about God’s faithfulness? Someone who reminds us, nothing can separate us from the love of God? (Romans 8).
Is your life a reminder to others to orient themselves toward God’s future? Have you lived your day-to-day moments in such a way that when tragedy strikes, others will not only grieve with you, but trust you through it? Is the image of God compellingly evident in your life? Are you humble enough to let the story of your life be remembered as someone else’s story?
Advent is the season we prepare ourselves to anticipate that the same God who once came, taking on human flesh in Jesus, is coming again. We look back in order to orient ourselves toward God’s future.
Let’s reread Naomi’s story as an Advent Story. This woman, named as the mother-in-law of the foreigner in the genealogy of Jesus, lived a life so filled with the presence of God that even her words of doubt couldn’t overshadow the unfolding promises of God.
“The geneaology, water” a digital collage by Beth Felker Jones. Feel free to use and share this image. Hi-res images, without the watermark, are available for purchase here.
The collages in today’s post and the entire Advent series are available for purchase as digital downloads (hi-res, watermark free), and proceeds will be shared with the guest authors.
Grace & peace,
BFJ
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