Kindness, Devotion, and the Power of Love

Sunday, November 3, 2024 – Mark 12:28-34, also Ruth 1:1-18, Psalm 146, Hebrews 9:11-14

It seems to me the world is made up of two different kinds of people: those who are kind even when it may not be expected, and those who aren’t. I’ve always thought it was a major red flag when I was on a date with someone if they were unkind to the wait staff.

How we treat the people in front of us is a major indicator of our character. Now there are times when we’re understandably distracted or when we’ve just been cut down by someone else, and so we may be short tempered with the next person we meet. But I know I want to spend my time with people who are generally kind and who are loyal to their friends.

There are people still in my life who I met when I was in grammar school or high school and college. I would do just about anything for them, and I know I can count on them too.

The story of Ruth and Naomi from our first reading today is a well-known story of love and devotion. In fact, Ruth’s promise that “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God,” is a commitment often read at weddings even though Ruth is speaking not to a husband but to her mother-in-law.

But Ruth’s story is about much more than just family devotion. It’s a compelling story about how an insignificant foreigner can become a key player in the grand narrative of God.

When we enter the story, we learn that Naomi, her husband Elimelech, and their two sons must leave their home town of Bethlehem because of a famine. Like many of the desperate refugees we see all around the world today, they were forced to leave their home country just to survive. Naomi and her family go to Moab, a country which had often been at war with the Israelites, because there was food there. They were forced to humbly go to a place where they might not have been welcome.

But in Moab, they found refuge and food, and Naomi and Elimelech’s sons married Moabite women in that place. Within a matter of years, all the men had died, leaving the widows without any support. Because Naomi had no other family in Moab, she had no choice but to return home. But Naomi encouraged her daughters-in-law to return to their families of origin in Moab.

Neither woman wanted to leave. Orpah finally agreed to go, but Ruth stayed, sacrificing her own security to face an uncertain and dangerous future. Her love for Naomi kept her there, even though every societal convention would have supported her leaving. The fact is, neither Naomi nor Ruth would have survived had it not been for the kindness of strangers and the devoted support of family.

This is the human story. We don’t live as independent individuals disconnected from others but as members of a larger human family.

That’s basically where our reading ends, but since we won’t be returning to this text next week, I want to share the rest of this great story. Naomi and Ruth return to Judah, where Ruth carries the identity of “the foreigner.” Because of this status, her prospects for marriage and a future are limited. She has no guaranteed means of support.

To help Naomi, she goes out to work in the fields. But since she doesn’t own the land and isn’t even a hired hand, she can only gather up the slim pickings that are left in the field after the harvest has already been done – what’s called the “gleanings.” She ends up gathering in a field owned by Naomi’s rich relative, Boaz. Because of this family connection, Boaz takes Ruth under his wing and gives her permission to gather what she needs.

It seems Ruth has caught Boaz’s eye, and she is also impressed by his kindness. So, she and Naomi cook up a plan for Ruth to end up at Boaz’s feet after he’s had a good bit to drink, to “indicate her availability” for marriage. He wants to marry her and works out the necessary arrangements.

Not long after, Ruth conceives and bears a son, who was named Obed.

But here’s the best part. Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David. What a turn of fortune! The young woman who should have been left widowed in her homeland and who would have never been mentioned again in the story of Israel became the ancestor of Israel’s greatest King and, through David, a forebear of Jesus of Nazareth.

What a beautiful story of the power of love! And then Jesus tells us that, ultimately, it’s all about love.

Remember the rich young man who couldn’t bring himself to sell his worldly goods, give the money to the poor, and follow Jesus? Through him we learned how hard it is for one with many attachments to enter the kingdom of God.

But Jesus tells the scribe in today’s gospel that he is near to the kingdom. Why? Because he knows the power of love. He knows that there is no sacrifice or offering, no religious ritual, no doctrine or creed, no hoops to jump through that will earn us a place in God’s heart.

Like Martin Luther finally realized after all of his study and anguish – our identity in God is not something we earn. It is already assured because of God’s grace. And it’s then proven to us in the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ.

All we need do is to love God with everything in us, love our neighbors – meaning all the members of our human and non-human family – and love ourselves. There are no more burnt offerings necessary, because Christ gave his life as the final sacrifice, he was the final scapegoat who took upon himself every last bit of the world’s sorrows and suffering to demonstrate God’s solidarity with humankind.

Love is not a one-way street. We aren’t just asked to give our love and our praise to God; we are also given God’s outpouring love for us in the suffering one upon the cross, and in every moment of our lives.

As our Psalm tells us, don’t put your trust in the power of rulers, who live one day and die the next. Their power doesn’t last. Place your trust instead in the one who God raised, who shows us the power of sacrificial love. That Christ is the one who draws us eternally into God’s presence, and that is the only place where true and dependable power is found.