Scripture: Ruth 1 and Acts 2: 37-39
Sermon: From the Fields of Moab
Topics: Bethlehem, Moab, emptiness, fullness, spiritual geography
Preached: April 22, 2007
Rev. Mike Abma
PREAMBLE
In the Jewish tradition, the entire book of Ruth is read during the feast of Shavou’t, or the Feast of Weeks – which we know as Pentecost.
Thus, the reading this morning from both Ruth and the Pentecost story.
We will not be reading the whole story of Ruth, but by all means, if possible, read the whole thing some time today. It is absolutely delightful. The more you read it, the more you notice how it is told with exquisite care.
If you do not mind, I shall read my own translation of chapter 1.
Ruth 1
1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man went from Bethlehem of Judah to live in the fields of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. 2The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They came to the fields of Moab and remained there. 3But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4These took wives of Moab; the name of one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there for about ten years, 5both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons or her husband.
6 Then Naomi arose along with her daughters-in-law to return from Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had remembered his people and given them food. 7So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the fields of Bethlehem. 8But 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 kindly with the dead and with me. 9The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.’ Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. 10They said to her, ‘No, we will return with you to your people.’ 11But Naomi said, ‘Turn back, my daughters, why should you come with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12Turn 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, 13would 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.’ 14Then 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.’ 16But 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.
17Where you die, I will die—
there will I be buried.
Thus may the Lord do to me,
and so may he do more as well,
if anything but death separates me from you!’
18When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped arguing with her.
19 So the two of them went on until they came to the fields of Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women said, ‘Is this Naomi?’ 20She said to them,
‘Do not call me Naomi, (pleasant one)
call me Mara, (bitter one)
for the Almighty* has dealt bitterly with me.
21I was full when I went away,
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 fields of Moab. They came to the fields of Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Acts 2: 37-39
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers,* what should we do?’ 38Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
INTRODUCTION “TO THE FIELDS OF MOAB”
I said Ruth is told in exquisite detail.
Let me give you a glimpse of this detail.
The opening verses which describe Naomi’s emptiness (chapter 1:1-5)
are exactly 71 Hebrew words;
the closing verses which describe Naomi’s fullness (chapter
4:13-17) are exactly 71 Hebrew words.
This symmetry reflects the theme of this story – an Easter theme, really:
from emptiness to fullness;
from sorrow to joy;
from death to life.
We catch a glimpse of this theme already in chapter 1.
It is reflected in the two main locations of chapter one:
the fields of Moab and the fields of Bethlehem.
Again, in astonishing symmetry, in the Hebrew text,
Moab is mentioned 6 times in chapter one,
and Bethlehem is mentioned 6 times.
The first 5 verses tell of the move from the fields of Bethlehem to the fields of Moab.
Why did the family of Elimelech move?
The text is rather silent. The only thing we are told is that there was a famine in the land.
But the fields of Moab were only about 60 kilometers/40 miles from the fields of Bethlehem — about from here to Lansing.
Would the climate and conditions be so different from one place to another?
And if it was truly a devastating famine, wouldn’t the whole village of Bethlehem have moved? But the whole village of Bethlehem does not move.
We are told that only Elimelech, Naomi, and their two sons move.
Perhaps, Elimelech was hungry for more than food.
Perhaps he was hungry for freedom, for independence.
The Jewish Midrash tradition gives yet another explanation for why Elimelech and his family moved to Moab. According to this Jewish tradition, Elimelech was a wealthy man in Bethlehem. When the famine came, he didn’t want every poor person knocking on his door for help. So he moved away.[1]
But the truth is, we simply are not given all the reasons why they drifted from the fields of Bethlehem to fields of Moab. All we know is that in moving from Bethlehem to Moab,
they were in fact moving away from their family,
away from their community,
away from their tradition,
and away from their inheritance.
They move to the fields of Moab, and, tellingly, they remain there.
Even when Elimelech passes away, they remain there.
The boys do not travel back to marry Bethlehem brides.
They marry Moabite women – a big no-no in the Jewish tradition.
The phrase “the fields of Moab” is more than simply a geographical location.
It is a spiritual location.
It is a place away from one’s people, away from one’s tradition, away from one’s faith.
“TO THE FIELDS OF MOAB” TODAY
We church people are familiar with this drifting away.
We know too many people who have drifted —
a son, a daughter, a brother, a sister,
a grandchild, a niece, a nephew, a friend —
someone who grew up in the fields of Bethlehem,
but at some point in their life
drifted off to the fields of Moab and remained there.
We know them, … and perhaps we even, at times, feel like we are one of them …
someone who isn’t anchored, who is drifting … drifting away….
In her book Leaving Church, Barbara Brown Taylor describes the confirmation rituals in the Anglican Church. Confirmation is a time adolescents affirm the promises made to them in their baptisms. It is the time they begin to make adult decisions for themselves.
She writes that the sad truth is this: for too many of them, the first adult decision they make is not to attend church anymore.[2]
Another author, Kathleen Norris, is a prime example of this. She confesses in her book, Amazing Grace, that in spite of having loved church as a child, she nevertheless found it remarkably easy simply to drift away from it all when she went to college.[3]
Why do people drift away?
Why the drift from the fields of Bethlehem to the fields of Moab?
Are people hungry for something else?
Are they perhaps hungry for freedom?
Are they hungry for independence?
Does faith and church life feel too restrictive, too much like a noose, like a tie tied much too tightly so they cannot breathe?[4]
Or are people simply tired of the weight, of the obligations of the Christian life?
Church attendance, giving, volunteering — they simply are tired of having all kinds of needs come knocking at their door?
The truth is, we aren’t always sure “why” this drift from the fields of Bethlehem to the fields of Moab happens. We simply know “that” it happens.
People drift from their tradition, their faith community, their spiritual inheritance.
“FROM THE FIELDS OF MOAB”
After beginning with this drift and emptiness, the whole story of Ruth begins to turn in another direction with the first word verse 6.
I want you to know what that the first word in verse 6 literally is.
It is the verb “arose” — and Easter verb.
Naomi arose to turn from the fields of Moab and head toward the fields of Bethlehem.
It is the defining word that changes the whole story
from sorrow to joy,
from death to life.
From this point onwards, Naomi will receive rather than lose gifts, gifts of grace:
* the first gift of grace is surprisingly, the girl from Moab, Ruth.
Ruth is tenacious in her desire to stick with Naomi —
for better or worse,
richer or poorer,
in sickness and in health.
If the first part of the story is about leaving things behind,
walking away, cutting ties, turning ones back,
Ruth is the exact opposite.
She will not let Naomi go.
She clings on to her.
If you know this story, you know that Ruth’s absolute commitment to Naomi is only the beginning of the gracious gifts Naomi begins to receive.
* When Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem, the whole village is abuzz. They remember her – they remember her name. They welcome her back. Having a remembering community is also a gift of grace.
* When Ruth goes out to glean grain, she finds herself in the field of Boaz. This field, this place, becomes a gift of grace – a place of generosity and hospitality, a place of safety and security.
* Eventually Naomi and Ruth receive the gift of grace in the person of Boaz. He is willing to take on the responsibility of Elimelech’s property and the care of Elimelech’s family, which includes Naomi and Ruth. In other words, he is willing to become the kinsman redeemer of the whole house of Elimelech.
So by the end of chapter 4, the 71 words of emptiness that began this book have been replaced by 71 words of fullness, and happiness that end it.
“FROM THE FIELDS OF MOAB” TODAY
We know stories of those who have drifted to the fields of Moab.
But thankfully, we also know stories of those who have returned from those fields.
Earlier this year, I conducted a funeral service for one of our members.
We did a fair bit of talking in the last month of her life. I always assumed she had been a church member from birth and baptism onward.
But she told me that even though her parents were raised in church,
they had drifted away as young adults.
Her father was a builder in the late 1920’s.
He would build houses on speculation and was doing well.
When they had children, none of them were baptized.
They never went to church.
Then their family hit hard times. The depression came.
They had nothing. They lost their house and ended up living in a garage.
It was terrible, really terrible.
Then something happened.
Someone from the church her parents were raised in invited them back to church.
Somehow they got on their feet again.
Her parents made profession of faith.
All the kids were baptized.
And, amazingly, they never missed a Sunday of church again.
Here was this 90 year old woman telling me that the day that deacon from that church visited their humble home was the day that changed her life dramatically.
It made all the difference in the world.
And she was always deeply thankful for that.
On Pentecost, the apostle Peter, stood up and preached a sermon about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. He proclaimed that the promise of salvation was made known to us in the risen Jesus Christ.
He then said a breath-taking thing:
this promise of salvation is for you,
for your children,
and for all who are far away.
For all who are far away…
for all the disciples who have drifted away and even denied Jesus,
for all the prodigal children who have ended up in a far away land,
for all the people who have somehow ended up in the fields of Moab.
The arm of the risen Lord Jesus Christ is long,
very long,
and no one is so far away that they are beyond his grasp.[5]
My oldest brother is 53 years old.
He went to Calvin College.
After Calvin, he moved to Vancouver British Columbia – the least churched city in Canada. He has not attended church or belonged to any faith community for the last 30 years.
He planned a trip to the Netherlands this past April with our mother. It was his first trip there. He was excited. He phoned me a week or so before leaving. He said that over the winter he was a little worried that his Dutch and Friesian was a little rusty. He thought he better go and find some immigrants somewhere and try get some practice. But where should he go?
He decided to give the First Christian Reformed Church of Vancouver a try.
So one Sunday, just after Christmas, he went to that church in search of Dutch and Frisian speakers.
My brother said to me on the phone,
“Mike, I don’t know what happened, but I suddenly found myself in a
New Members Class. And the weird thing is, I’ve been going ever
since.”
The promise is for you,
your children
and for all who are far away
even those yet in the fields of Moab.
Amen.
Prayer: Great God of the Resurrection, wherever we find ourselves,
with whatever burdens we are weighed down,
Raise us up, draw us to your Son,
and fill us with the brightness and joy of his life. Amen
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This interpretation is given in the Midrash to Ruth called Ruth Rabbah. See Kirsten Nelsen, Ruth, p. 18. ↑
-
Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church, pp. 201-202. ↑
-
Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace, p. 41. ↑
-
Norris, Amazing Grace, p. 80, religion is referred to as a “noose.” ↑
-
This point is made wonderfully well by Neal Plantinga in his sermon, “For All Who Are Far Off” preached, June 3, 2001 at Woodlawn CRC. ↑
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