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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Tina and Jeromy, members of the Stephens and McMurray Families, other wedding guests, and Brothers and Sisters in Christ of Pilgrim Lutheran Church,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Certainly for longer than I have known you, Tina and Jeromy, you have at least talked about getting married, and, despite your having what is arguably a “common-law marriage”, your brothers and sisters in Christ here at Pilgrim and I as your pastor rejoice with you, that so quickly after you joined the congregation in December, you are making your commitments to each other official and seeking the Lord’s blessings on them. The First Reading you and I picked for us to hear a few minutes ago contains a classic and complete commitment of loyalty and love, albeit not a commitment between a husband and wife. Nevertheless, that Reading has been used at weddings through the years; my mother even tells me that my grandmother, who died before I was born, often used to sing at weddings a song based on the Reading, called “The Song of Ruth”. This afternoon we primarily consider that First Reading, and we do so under the theme “Commitments for Eternal Life”.
While some may know those words that Ruth spoke to her mother-in-law Naomi, not all may know the broader account, with the other relevant figures and events. According to the book of Ruth, in the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and so a man of Bethlehem named Elimilech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion went to the country of Moab and remained there. Elimilech died, and the two sons married Moabite women named Orpah and Ruth, but, after about ten years, the two sons also died (Ruth 1:1-5). Naomi heard that the famine was over back in Judah and so was returning, but she tried to send both of her daughters-in-law back to their mother’s houses, succeeding with Orpah but not with Ruth (Ruth 1:6-18). As you heard, Ruth would not go back, for she was committed to live and die with Naomi, especially seeing herself as part of the people of Israel and confessing the Lord their God, even swearing an oath to Naomi by His Name.
Somewhat understandably, Naomi at this point was pretty bitter. When she and Ruth got back to Bethlehem, she told the women not to call her “Naomi”, meaning “pleasant”, but “Mara”, meaning “bitter”. For, she said that the Almighty had dealt very bitterly with her, that she went away full and came back empty, and that the Lord had testified against her and brought calamity upon her. (Ruth 1:19-22.) Even if we have not suffered the death of a spouse and of two children, you and I still might relate to Naomi, when we consider things that we have suffered in our lives. Somewhat understandably, we might also be bitter and blame the Almighty Lord, Who at least permits the things that happen to us. Yet, death, broken relationships in the past, sickness and other suffering are all the results of sin in the world: of our first parents’ sin in the Garden of Eden, of the consequences of their sin visited upon us in the form of our inherited sinful natures, and of the actual sins that we in turn commit. All of our sins warrant death here in time and torment in hell for eternity—apart from God’s calling and enabling us to turn from our sin, to trust Him to forgive our sin, and to want to do better than to keep on sinning. For, when we so repent, then God forgives our sin—our sin of being bitter, our sin of blaming God, whatever our sin might be. God forgives all our sin, for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ. Made alive in Christ, like Ruth and Joshua before her (Joshua 24:15), we can commit ourselves and our households to serving God.
Now, Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. From Boaz’s fields, Ruth gleaned grain left for those in need, and Boaz showed mercy to Ruth and dealt graciously with her in other ways, too, eventually redeeming Elimilech’s land and marrying Ruth. And, like his ancestors Judah and Tamar before him, he raised up a son for the deceased, in this case the son was Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David, an ancestor of Jesus. (Ruth 2:1-4:22; confer Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38.) Jesus was not only David’s Son but also God’s Son, given out of His great love for the world unto death on the cross in order to redeem the world, including you and me, from sin. As we heard Jesus essentially say in the Third Reading (John 15:9‑13), there is no greater love than His so laying down His life. Jesus died in your place and my place, so that God would forgive our sin. And, as we repent, God does forgive our sin; He forgives our sin through His Word in all of its forms.
The Divinely‑inspired author of Ruth does not tell us, but maybe we can safely assume that, in her time with her husband Mahlon and his immediate and extended family, she would have heard Old Testament scriptures, have benefitted from being brought into a household of a circumcised man of the covenant people of the Lord, have had her sins forgiven by the Lord’s representatives, and have partaken of Passover meals. Similarly we hear Old and New Testament scriptures read and preached, ourselves benefit from being baptized into the covenant people of the Lord, individually have our sins absolved by the Lord’s representatives, and partake of the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world. Even as grain and wine figure prominently in the book of Ruth that ends with her wedding, so bread and wine figure prominently in the Sacrament of the Altar—whereby we receive forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation—and no doubt bread and wine also figure prominently in the wedding feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom that has no end, of which we have a foretaste now, and in which we who so commit for eternal life will forever participate.
As far as we know, Ruth throughout her life remained faithful in her commitment to Naomi and thereby also to God and to His people. No doubt she made and kept a similar commitment to Boaz as they married, and, at their deaths, any who gained eternal life did so by grace through faith in the Savior Who would come from their line as Jesus Christ. Tina and Jeromy, this day you will make similar commitments to each other, freely giving your consent and solemnly making your vows, but your union is more than that consent and commitment: God also acts to join you together into one flesh, which one-flesh union Jesus elsewhere seems to teach lasts through earthly death into eternal life (for example, Matthew 22:23-33). As we heard St. Paul tell the Colossians in today’s Second Reading (Colossians 3:12-17), put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, as the Lord has forgiven you. Above all those, put on love, love like that of Christ for His Bride, the Church, which love binds everything together in perfect harmony. With His Church, always seek and receive the forgiveness of sins through Word and Sacrament, singing psalms and hymns, as we are doing this day and as we will do for eternity.
Ruth’s commitments to Naomi and to the Lord ultimately led to her eternal life, as your previous commitments to the Lord and this day to one another will ultimately lead to your eternal life. God worked through the messiness of Naomi’s and Ruth’s life in order to accomplish His plan of salvation, and God likewise has worked, works now, and will continue to work through the messiness of your and our lives in order to accomplish your and our salvation. By the end of the account, Naomi was filled again, Ruth had a husband and all she needed, and so do you have each other and we all have all that we need. As the Lord did for them, so the Lord has done, is doing, and always will do for the two of you and for all the rest of us, in the words of our Psalm antiphon (Psalm 121:8), the Lord will keep our going out and our coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +