God’s love is everywhere and always and never exhausted. It is difficult for us to trust this Gospel truth because of pain and struggle in our lives or because we do not feel that we are ever enough. (Pick your category; whatever your category it is difficult to overcome.) The loving kindness that Ruth shares brings transformation to Naomi’s life. In our reading, we hear about the beginnings of a new day with the birth of a son to Ruth and Boaz. How may a new day be dawning in your life because of God’s loving kindness?
When we are desperate, we will do just about anything to make sure we survive. Naomi and Ruth are desperate as they face food insecurity, ongoing shelter, and the need for long term security. They do what they perceive they need to do to survive and potentially thrive. Even when we take over, God continues to work towards God’s intentions. God continues to make a way forward and works with us where we are.
Ruth and Naomi have returned to Bethlehem but their situation is little improved. This impoverished mother, Naomi, and this immigrant daughter-in-law, Ruth, have to find a way to sustain themselves. In the midst of the harvest, the extravagant generosity of Boaz secures the wellbeing of Naomi and Ruth. The storyteller introduces the intersection of Ruth and Boaz as an “As it happened” moment. This moment is where God enters into the story. We hear again how God prepares a way and opens up the future where there was none. We could write it off to chance, but God uses this moment to accomplish what God desires to accomplish.
You have choices about how you will live and interact in all of your relationships. Elimelech and Naomi tried to make it all work on their own. They leave the house of bread to go to the territory of their enemy. They discover that they cannot do it on their own. It is only when Ruth practices loving kindness that new possibilities begin to emerge. When you practice loving kindness then new possibilities will begin to emerge for you as well. The presence of God fills the space between us in our relationships. There, in that space, you will experience fully the love of God that is unending and unfaltering.
