Love your enemies

Katy Emslie-Smith September 26, 2022 0 0

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Ruth 1: 8-22 (NRSVA)

8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.’ Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. 10 They said to her, ‘No, we will return with you to your people.’ 11 But Naomi said, ‘Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, 13 would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.’ 14 Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

15 So she said, ‘See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.’ 16 But Ruth said,

‘Do not press me to leave you
    or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
    where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
    and your God my God.
17 Where you die, I will die—
    there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me,
    and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!’

18 When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women said, ‘Is this Naomi?’ 20 She said to them,

‘Call me no longer Naomi,
    call me Mara,
    for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
21 I went away full,
    but the Lord has brought me back empty;
why call me Naomi
    when the Lord has dealt harshly with me,
    and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?’

22 So Naomi returned together with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her from the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Two widows approach on the road to Bethlehem. The whole town is talking in houses, over meals, in workplaces. Was the gossip hostile or kind?

The older widow returns to her previous home in the land of her origin, but she returns a different woman. She is drained, worn by hardship, disappointed by her experience of life, made bitter by the emptying of meaningful belonging to family and community. She returns without the protective status of a living husband or sons, facing uncertainty as to what her circumstance will be here. Did she evoke a joyful reunion and welcome from previous friends and neighbours? Or was the response cold and critical, hostile towards a woman who abandoned the community with her family when times were hard? She seeks recognition of the trauma she has been through. It is now part of her identity. She has changed her name to signal the depth of loss in her life.

Through deep loyalty and faithfulness Ruth now finds herself an alien in a community historically deeply at enmity with her own. She is named repeatedly as a Moabitess which would have triggered by traditional reputation and suspicion associations of promiscuity and easy sexual prey. Despite her admirable traits, she arrives vulnerable to exploitation. How frequently do we hear of those today who seek refuge and safety in new territories, only to be exploited for financial or sexual gain?

Was the gossip hostile or kind? Think of the last time you spoke of those arriving in our country in need, with fragile security, with no immediate status, often deeply traumatised by the events of their preceding life? Were your words hostile and critical, defensive of our boundaries? Or were they about welcome, offering refuge and safety, working to create opportunity? Have you given time and patience to listen to those who need to articulate trauma before beginning towards healing?

PRAYER:

Lord Jesus, you call us to radical love, for enemies, the foreigner, the outsider, the other. Help us to listen first, then patiently work towards welcome, help, support, safety, and refuge. Amen.