"Clinging to Hope"

Ruth and Naomi by Paul Cumes

November 4, 2012: All Saints' Observance

OLD TESTAMENT READING RUTH 1:1-18

¹In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. ²The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. ³But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, ⁵both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

⁶Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had considered his people and given them food. ⁷So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. ⁸But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back each of you to your mother's house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. ⁹The LORD grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband." Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. ¹⁰They said to her, "No, we will return with you to your people." ¹¹But Naomi said, "Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? ¹²Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, ¹³would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the LORD has turned against me." ¹⁴Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵So Naomi said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law." ¹⁶But Ruth said, "Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. ¹⁷Where you die, I will die-there will I be buried. May the LORD do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!" ¹⁸When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

SERMON: “Clinging to Hope”

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  No, scratch that…it was just the worst of times.

Biblical scholars like to call it the “Post-Exilic Persian Period” where the people of Israel were oppressed, along with other foreigners, and corruption, violence and hunger were rampant.  Whatever fancy name you like to give it, the truth is, life was hard. 

A famine in the southern deserts of Israel forced a family to migrate to Moab, a tiny town east of Bethlehem.  They crossed the Dead Sea and marched high into the mountains to reach that town…all in the hope of finding breakfast.  And the meal after that, and the meal after that.

But as I said, these were the worst of times.  Things grew even darker.  That family was led by Naomi, the mother, and Elimelech, the father.  They had two sons.  But far from her home, desperate for her family to survive, Naomi woke up one morning and her husband had died.  His name had meant “God is King” but with a crumbling, starving kingdom like this, what kind of King could this God be? 

But she was not left alone.  Her two sons had married local Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth, and for about ten years Naomi managed to hold on, to almost be happy.  But then those precious sons died as well. 

With nothing left for her in this foreign land, no blood family, no food, Naomi left in search of home, whatever that was.  Ruth and Orpah came with her, but the fog of her grief lifted long enough for her to see how hopeless life would be for them if they did.

“Go back!” she said.  “Go find husbands and security.”  But they would not go.  Then, like trying to scare away an animal you can’t afford to care for, she says, “Why will you go with me?  Do I have sons you can marry?  Or is it even possible that I would be able to have sons again?  Would you wait until they grew up and then marry them?  I have nothing to offer you!  I am nothing. Leave.” 

Orpah, wounded but obedient, kissed her goodbye and departed.  But not Ruth.  Ruth clung to her.  This is the same word used in Genesis when it’s said that a man will leave his Father and Mother and cling to his wife, that the two shall become one.  Ruth still had the tears of losing her husband running down her hollow cheeks, but yet she clung to Naomi, letting Naomi’s grief and sorrow overtake her own.

Then, Ruth gave one of the most beautiful speeches in all of scripture, a brilliant ray of light in the midst of a dark, desolate time in Naomi’s life:

"Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. ¹⁷Where you die, I will die-there will I be buried. May the LORD do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!"

When we hear “where you lodge, I will lodge” we often picture two women cozy in front of a warm fire, chatting the night away and drinking tea.  But in Naomi’s language, it means “where you pass the night, I will pass the night.”  Where Naomi passes the night of her sorrow, Ruth will cling to her in that darkness.  Ruth even prays that God would cause her suffering if she abandons Naomi as she suffers. 

Naomi is so overwhelmed by such an outpouring of hope and love that she is rendered speechless.  And the two widows, one young and one old, continue down the path in search of food, clinging to one another all the way.

Saints are those people who cling to us as we pass the night together.  Ruth was one such saint.  She clung to Naomi though it promised no guarantee about her survival and though it put her welfare at risk, because that’s just what you do in the worst of times.  You cling to hope, to those in your life, to God.

As we’ll explore next week, that clinging did bring healing and hope for both Ruth and Naomi, though the road before them seemed bleak.

God has, for each of us, placed saints like Ruth in our lives: those people who cling to us no matter how much we push them away, who place our own needs above their own, who, when we cannot see beyond the worst of times, hold our hand and walk beside us. 

We do not call them “saints” because they have lived perfectly, or prayed constantly, or never doubted or raised their voice in anger.  We call them saints because they have clung to us. 

That’s the thing about saints: they never leave us.  Even after they’ve departed this life for life eternal, they still somehow, in ways we do not fully understand, cling to us.  And in those moments when we love sacrificially and say to those facing floods of waters and worries, “Where you go, I will go; Where you pass the night, I will pass the night; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” we cling right back to them. 

We, like that Moabite widow so many years ago, like the people who have left an indelible mark of hope on our lives, in holding tightly to those facing the worst of days, become saints ourselves.

Thanks be to the God who clings to us like a determined daughter, who walks beside us like a steadfast friend and who never, in this life or in the life to come, lets us go.  Amen.