The third woman mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus is Ruth, whose life can be read in the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament. Many say that the book of Ruth is the best love story every written. But it is not the love story of a man and a woman. The story of Ruth is the remarkable story of sacrificing one’s desires for someone else. In Ruth’s story, that someone else is Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi.
The story goes like this: There was a famine in Judah and Naomi and her husband, along with their two sons, came to live in Moab till the famine got over. However, during their stay in Moab, Elimelech, Naomi’s husband died. During the stay in Moab, her sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Unfortunately, Naomi’s sons also died in Moab. Thus, Naomi was left a widow with two widowed daughter-in-laws. As, we saw earlier in the life of Tamar, widowhood and barrenness were the worst things that could happen to a woman, here we have Orpah and Ruth who had the same plight, widowed and without children.
After this, the news reached Moab that the famine in Judah has passed away and thus, Naomi plans to return to Moab amongst her people. Therefore, she asks her daughter-in-laws to return to their own people so that they could be with their own people. Orpah quietly obeyed Naomi but Ruth couldn’t imagine leaving her mother-in-law all alone. Ruth is remembered so much because of the family bonding she created. She placed Naomi’s well-being before herself. She tells that nothing except death could separate her from Naomi. Ruth willingly accepted the Ephrathites (Naomi’s tribe). She sacrifices her desires and leads a holy and respectable life. Her patience and kindness towards Naomi bears fruit. According to the custom of the land, the closest relative gets the right to marry a widow in the family. Boaz happens to be the second closest relative from Elimelech’s side. As a respectable woman she goes to Boaz’s fields to glean during harvesting and ultimately Boaz marries her after redeeming her from the closest kin.
However, the story is not that simple. Ruth is urged by her mother-in-law to meet Boaz in the threshing floor at night. It is not a respectable thing for a woman to go to the threshing floor and that too at night. She must have been scared though it was not wrong. She only intended to ask a favour i.e. to redeem her by marrying her as he was their kinsman redeemer. She would have been scared at the thought of being misinterpreted or being rejected. She would have been scared that people would see her as a prostitute if she was found out. However, she trusts God and also her mother-in-law and ultimately she is rewarded by finding a place in Jesus’ genealogy.
It is her simple but profound faith in God that makes her take the decision to follow Naomi as she plans to return to Judah. It would have been a very risky decision to accept the life of a widow without any dreams of having her own family and mind you she had her whole life in front of her. What would have happened after Naomi’s death? She was in a foreign land amidst strange people. She would have been all alone. Yet she sacrificed her happiness and future for her mother-in-law and instead she was blessed with a better future than she could ever have dreamt of.
We need to question ourselves how do we make decisions. Do we ever think of sacrificing our happiness for someone else if that someone else needs us more? It feels great to receive but the Bible says that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Lets try to come out of our selfishness and become instruments for God’s purpose.
Let’s pray:
Loving Heavenly Father, thank you for the manifestation of great love through the life of Ruth. We pray to you to fill our lives with such immense love and compassion that we may be able to see the hatred and selfishness within us and around us and wash them with the healing power of selfless and all encompassing love. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, AMEN.
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