Vulnerability and Redemption
(Free Version)- Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost- Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44
This week’s Lectionary texts can be found here.
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Our texts this week remind us that the Christian story functions radically different from the ways of the world. Our world is so often focused on the accrual of strength, influence, and power. We are told that it is not “about what you know, it’s who you know.” Life in 21st century America can easily devolve into a game of ladder-climbing, of influence, strategy, and accumulation. Each of these texts pushes back on this, each with a slightly different nuance. In his kingdom, God calls us in the midst of our weakness, our strangeness, the places where we can’t do it on our own. In these places, his grace shines through.
By all worldly accounts, there is no reason why Ruth should be in the line of David, or the line of the Jewish Messiah (Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17). She is from the Moabites, a people seen as Israel’s enemies. Her one connection to the story of the God of Israel was her husband, but he has died. Yet, this is just how God works: taking the unlikely thing and shaming the wise with it.
Ruth, the outsider to the story, embodies a kind of covenant faithfulness which points us to the faithfulness of the one true God, the God of Israel. Ruth and Naomi share a kind of trust in which Ruth is able to commit to Naomi with the words, “all that you say, I will do.” Later on in the story, Boaz says the same words to Ruth. Both Ruth and Boaz become vulnerable protectors, yielding their lives to another. Both Ruth and Naomi, by opening themselves up, acknowledging their dependence, make space in their lives for redemption.
Our Hebrews text (Hebrews 9:24-28) reminds us that our worship is greatly limited and always broken on its own. Part of the reason why the temple sacrifices were insufficient was because they needed to be offered over and over again, every year. These sacrifices were a signpost of that day when, in Christ, our sins were dealt with once and for all. This has happened only once and does not ever need to happen again. Jesus has gone ahead of us into the presence of God on our behalf. He will one day return again to save those who wait for Him.
Our gospel text (Mark 12:38-44) shows us that the things often seen as strengths, are actually liabilities in the kingdom of God. We can look strong, pious, and influential—we can have everyone fooled—while actually living contrary to the character and nature of God. By contrast, one can give what the world sees as nothing (a widow’s last remaining coins) and it is actually everything! Because God desires not just “alms,” not just the “extra.” God calls us to lay down ourselves. Of course, this is not like an emperor demanding fidelity. No, it is the one who himself is on the journey of giving all that he has, his very self to heal and save the world.
*Our Deep Dive this week features a more in-depth look at the background of Ruth and the role of the priest on the Day of Atonement. We include quotes from Fleming Rutledge, N.T. Wright, and Jerome. We also feature the work of James B. Torrance in the section on the Hebrews passage. We include several illustrations from family life. You can sign up for this in-depth version here.