Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time     November 8, 2009

Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17; Mark 12:38-44     Rev. Joel M.Krueger

 

“But she . . . has put in everything”

 

Our gospel reading today gives us the scene of everyday activity at the Temple in Jerusalem.  Jesus is seated somewhere with his disciples, across from the Treasury, where they could watch people bring and put their money into the coffers.  Jesus had just given a warning to the disciples to “beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces,” and so on and so forth, suggesting the hypocrisy in all they do.  And they watch many of these kind of people, rich folks, bringing in their offerings, some bringing quite hefty amounts which they, apparently with some degree of show, place into the Treasury.  

 

And then comes this little old lady.  A “poor widow”  who puts in two copper coins.  And Jesus’ remark is that she has put in more than all the others, even all those rich people.  Because while they have given out of their abundance, and have plenty left over to live on, plenty on which they can depend upon if they need it, she has put in all she had, even though all she had was only 2 pennies, and couldn’t have purchased very much for her anyway.  His point being, that she gave everything.  She gave everything she had and in so doing, showed her trust in God, her complete trust in God.  For it was clear, her money wasn’t going to do much for her, but she believed that her God, the God worshiped at the Temple, the God she worshiped in her heart, would care for her and give her all she would ever need.

 

Jesus’ point to the disciples was that, what is important, is where you place your heart, what you commit yourself to, and if you commit yourself totally, give of your whole self.  Do you put in everything of yourself or do you hold back?

 

And so, we have to ask ourselves, where is our heart?  What are we committed to?  Do we trust God?  And maybe more importantly, do we trust God when things don’t go the way we like?  When we’re down on our luck, down to our last penny?  When times are hard and we don’t know where the next dime, or the next meal, or the next job, or the next opportunity or whatever it is we need, is going to come from.  Do we then say, forget you God, where were you when I needed you?!  Where are you now when things seem so screwed up?!

 

Well, the story of Ruth is a story about someone in trouble.  Someone who by all accounts was at the bottom of the heap.  Ruth was a Moabite and had married a Hebrew man, whose parents and brother had come to Moab seeking food because of a drought in their own country.  But Ruth’s father-in-law died.  And then her husband and his brother both died, leaving Ruth, her sister-in-law (another Moabitess), and her mother-in-law, Naomi, left to fend for themselves in a culture where women really couldn’t survive without a male presence in their lives.

 

So Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, encourages the younger women to return to their families, but Ruth, whether or not she even has a family to go to, refuses, because she believes that Naomi will need her.  So Ruth commits herself, she gives everything to care for her mother-in-law, and go with her back to Israel, this foreign land, where she knows no one and where she will be an alien among the people.  So it is difficult.  Ruth and Naomi struggle, but they persevere, and ultimately Ruth is married to Boaz, and she bares a son.

 

Now, as Kate mentioned last week, this book was written during a time after the exile in Babylon, when the people of Israel had returned from captivity there, and were re-establishing their country.  And there was an emphasis on purifying the nation.  Husbands with foreign wives were told to divorce them and send them away with their children.  There is an emphasis on Israel’s being the “elect”, the “chosen” and we see this attitude reflected in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, contemporary writings with the book of Ruth, but with very different perspectives.

 

It’s not that much different from today, when we see the Christian Church divided on different issues.  And yes, the church can even get involved in politics!  Of course it can!  Whenever politics or politically related issues have to do with justice, with GOD’S JUSTICE in the world, the church must be involved!

 

So, here in this story of Ruth, we have this woman who gives of herself, her whole self, everything she has and is, persevering, not giving up, not giving up hope, working for justice for her mother-in-law and herself.  And we can imagine the audience to which the author of this book is writing to.  They are most likely skeptical of this foreign heroin, this woman from Moab, the enemy of Israel.  And by the time they get to the end of the story they may feel that sure, this woman has done a good thing for her mother-in-law, she is in effect a model for others to admire and emulate, and yes, God has smiled upon her and her family with the birth of a son, and the continuance of the family lineage.  But so what?

 

And it is here, that the author of Ruth drops the bombshell, the part that really grabs them.  Because right here, at the very end of the story, we hear in the most subtle and understated of ways, that this Moabitess, this foreigner, is the mother of Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David.  That’s right, Ruth is the Great-grandmother of KING DAVID!  In other words, the greatest king of Israel would not have been born were it not for the perseverance and commitment of this Moabite woman, this foreigner!  And she is just as important for us Christians too, as this is the same lineage from which Jesus was born.  

 

The message the author of Ruth is trying to get across is that God works through foreigners, those who may seem different, God works in us when we persevere and commit ourselves wholly to GOD’S JUSTICE, and the expanse of God’s influence and ability to achieve GOD’S JUSTICE in the world, is limitless!

 

But GOD NEEDS US!

We cannot give up.

We cannot give up when we’re down to our last penny.

We cannot give up when things get tough.

We cannot give up when the vote doesn’t go our way.

We cannot give up when it feels like the church, our church that we are a part of and in which we believe in, seems powerless, even impotent to accomplish any kind of change in the world, or have any kind of real impact.

We cannot give up even when another part of the Christian Church may be saying we’re wrong and takes up a stand against what we truly believe in our heart.

We cannot give up when the fight for justice is not done, when GOD’S JUSTICE is still waiting to be achieved!  

 

And whether we are involved as soldiers on the battlefield, or MASH workers healing the wounded, or caring for those who have slipped through the cracks of our societies’ safety net, the poor, the hungry, the disabled, or if we are involved in any pursuit of bringing justice to those who do not yet know justice, we can never give up!

 

Rev. David Gaewski, our Conference Minister, included these words at the end of a recent email:  “For those who work for justice, weariness cannot impede its pursuit.  If it does, then the value of life is lost.  And for followers of Christ, the value of life is everything.  Without it, we are nothing.”  (Repeat)

And then he ends with, “May you find the strength to keep knocking.”

 

Judy Williams, in an email some of you may have received, told of one of her students who said he doesn’t vote because he doesn’t think his one vote would make any difference.  This is a defeatist attitude.  As Christians, as those who believe in the power of God at work in the world, we must never take on a defeatist attitude.  Our hearts, our lives, must be about something greater!

 

The message of Ruth, the message of the gospel of Christ, that is, the power of love in the world, is that each one of us matters!  God works through each of us, particularly when we are forced to persevere, when we commit ourselves to the cause of GOD’S JUSTICE in our world!  

May you, may WE, never give up!  

Together, may we find the strength to keep knocking.

And may we give everything, everything we are, for the causes of justice to which we are called. Amen.