Read Ruth 1:11–14
I WANNA KNOW WHAT LOVE IS
What’s your pick for the greatest Christmas movie of all time? Don’t judge
me, but one of my favourites is Love Actually, actually! It’s mainly because
the year it was released, I was preparing to leave home for six months
overseas. Unsurprisingly, the film’s opening scene at the arrivals gate of
Heathrow Airport has bittersweet memories!
But to the credit of writer and director Richard Curtis, it’s a romcom that
manages to capture a fairly rich and honest portrait of human love. We see
that love in its many forms and distortions: quiet devotion, consuming selflove, longing grief, besotted romance, destructive lust, brave loyalty…
We love the idea of love, especially at Christmas. In today’s passage in
Ruth, we begin to see a demonstration of love that Hollywood scriptwriters
would die for.
HOPELESS HEARTACHE
Grieving Naomi believes her widowed daughters-in-law should stay in their
homeland, rather than accompany her to Bethlehem. Part of her reasoning is
that she is ‘too old to have another husband … even if I had a husband
tonight and then gave birth to sons – would you wait until they grew up?’
(vv. 12–13).
This is a reference to the custom of levirate marriage, where the bereaved
woman would be cared for through existing family relationships. For
example, if a married man died, his brother would be expected to marry his
widow. That might sound like a social nightmare to us, but it ensured both
that the widow was provided for and that the deceased husband’s land was
passed on to the next generation.
But Naomi knows the idea of remarrying and then giving birth to sons
who in turn could marry Ruth and Orpah is fool’s talk. She’s simply too old
for this (v. 13)! She believes her situation to be hopeless and therefore urges
her daughters-in-law to cut their losses.
In fact, look how Naomi describes God’s role in this situation: ‘… the
Lord’s hand has turned against me!’ (v. 13).
KINDNESS ENFLESHED
It’s commendable that Naomi believes God is in control of all things, but is
the Lord really against her?
Notably, Naomi makes this declaration on two occasions in this chapter
(vv. 13, 20), and each time it seems that God responds to Naomi’s remark.
This doesn’t take the form of direct speech, but is through the events and
responses of other people. For example, look at what happens directly after
Naomi’s first remark: ‘Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but
Ruth clung to her’ (v. 14, my italics)
Naomi is on a journey of rediscovering the Lord’s steadfast kindness, but
the way that she’ll discover this kindness is as she experiences it embodied
in the actions of other individuals. In today’s passage, it’s particularly Ruth
who ‘enfleshes’ that covenant kindness, literally enwrapping herself around
Naomi in sacrificial commitment.
REFLECTION
In Advent, we prepare to celebrate God embodying his kindness to us in Jesus
Christ. Do you need to be convinced that God is for you? If you’re honest, are
there things that lead you to feeling that the Lord’s hand is ‘turned against’
you? As you picture Ruth clinging to Naomi, let your heart be reconvinced that
God will not let you go. Pray for the Lord’s help as you entrust yourself to his
love for you.
Listen to ‘Love’s Coming Down’ by Melanie Penn
Ham, Robin. Finding Hope Under Bethlehem Skies: An Advent Devotional. 10 Publishing, 2021.