Ruth
1:1–19a— The Impartial God – A Gentile pagan-woman demonstrates faithfulness
Sunday’s Old Testament reading is the opening portion
of the book of Ruth. Ruth was not an Israelite, but a Moabite woman, whose
husband had died. During a famine, Ruth’s husband died, as did his brother.
When Naomi, the brothers’ mother, planned to go to Bethlehem, because she had
heard there was food there, she urged her daughters-in-law to remain in Moab
where, as still-young women, they might find husbands. Orphan did, but Ruth
remained with Naomi, resolutely declaring, “Where
you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my
people, and your God my God.” This strong foreign woman, who took the Lord
GOD of Israel—the true God—as her own God, would become an ancestress to the
Christ, the incarnate Son of the only true God (Matthew 1:5)
The lessons for this coming Sunday remind us that God
gives us the strength to endure all that the world, our flesh, and the devil
can throw at us. He is working in and through the very events that confront us.
God intervenes and has the ultimate control. He guides us through adversity, strengthens
us on the journey, and then rewards us at journey’s end. It is God who gives us
faith like that of the leper in the Gospel and Paul in the Epistle.
The book of Ruth is a short, yet poignant picture of
the ancestors of David. It tells of the uprightness and the purity of this
family as well as their single-minded devotion to the LORD.
This family
understood that God is present always, and in every situation. Regardless of
the problems before them, they could move ahead, assured of His presence, His control,
and His devotion to them. Name and Ruth understood that nothing in this world
can be depended on. Only our Father can be a source of hope and help.
Collect for
Proper 23: Almighty God, You show mercy to Your people in all their troubles.
Grant us always to recognize Your goodness, give thanks for Your compassion,
and praise Your holy name; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives
and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen [2]
[1] The Ten Lepers copyright © Ed Riojas, Higher Things
[2] Collect for Proper 23, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
[3] Collect for Wednesday of the week of Pentecost 17, For All the Saints, A Prayer Book For and By the Church, Vol. II © 1995 The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Delhi, NY
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