Ruth & Boaz

[Read Ruth 1:16-17]

Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

We shouldn’t even be talking about her. You know that, right?

She’s an outsider, a foreigner, one who shouldn’t even be part of the story, much less part of the genealogy the Savior of the world. But there she is, part of the family tree of Jesus’ family tree; “Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.” (Matthew 1:5-6).

At a time of famine, Elimelech and Naomi left Judah and lived for a while in Moab where there was food. Naomi lost her husband and both her sons, one of whom had been married to Ruth, a Moabite woman. When Naomi decided to go back home, she urged her two daughters-in-law to stay in Moab with their own people. Ruth refused. “Where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God.” So, this foreigner to the land and people of Judah follows Naomi home where Ruth becomes betrothed and married to Boaz, and hence is grafted in to the family tree of Jesus.

I find that pretty remarkable, knowing our human propensity to stick to our own and draw the distinctions between who is and who is not considered to be “our people”.

So, I wonder. In this time when we are drawn to think about our own family and friends, who are the outsiders whom God is calling you to invite into the circle of the beloved?

Pastor Jim Honig
Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran – Ellison Bay



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