An Alien in Our Midst

Ruth 1: 1-18
Mark 12: 38-44

Ruth’s story is one of trials and adversity and begins with her mother in law, Naomi. Naomi and her husband were living in Bethlehem when the city that actually means “house of bread” had no food to offer its people. They decided to pack up their things and move to a land that was considered a place to be avoided at all costs – Moab. Nothing good ever came from Moab. And yet, in this strange land Naomi, her husband, and two sons not only find food and shelter there, they also find wives for their sons. Moab was the enemy and yet Naomi’s family found a home with that very enemy.

Then the unthinkable happens like it always does in life. Tragedy strikes. Naomi’s husband falls ill and dies. Ten years later, both of Naomi’s sons also die; leaving three widowed women which at that time in the world could be a death sentence because women had no way to provide for themselves. Being resourceful, Naomi begins to pack up the home she has made in Moab and decides to head back to her homeland which is now doing better economically.

Her two faithful daughters in law help her pack up their things and they head down the road. Naomi must have been scared, but she sees her two daughters in law, and she loves them so she turns and says, “Go back. Go back to your families and may the Lord bless you with new husbands and children.” But this story is about relationships and how God’s hand is deep within our relationships even when we do not realize it. These two women have come to see Naomi as a mother and they love her deeply so they do not want to leave her side.

But Naomi also loved them and she insisted they go back and so Orpah kissed her goodbye and headed back to her family. Ruth, however, is not going to be dissuaded from her mother in law’s side. She had accepted this woman as part of her family and believed deeply in the vows she had made to her husband. Ruth forsakes all that is familiar, all that is known to her to enter the enemy’s land and make a home there with her mother in law.

What we do not know yet in the story is that Ruth, this enemy woman from a land that nothing good ever comes from, will be the saving grace of a nation that hates the blood that runs in her veins. They hated her because she was different in every way. She looked differently from them, she spoke with an accent, she dressed in different clothing and even her gods were not the same. She was foreign; an alien. Ruth knew it was not going to be easy to leave behind the comfort of home, but she also knew that her place was with Naomi.

The promise Ruth makes to Naomi is one she fulfills. She tells Naomi, “Your people will be my people, your God my God. Where you die, I will die.” Ruth comes to Bethlehem with Naomi and begins a life there that has many consequences for the nation of Israel. From this foreign, alien, enemy woman came the line of descendants that give birth to King David, and consequently, the line Jesus was birthed from.

America is considered the great melting pot out of all the nations of the world. We tell ourselves and the world that immigrants are welcome to come and be a part of our society. We tell them that their ideas will be heard, and their differences will be accepted, even their religious differences. But then, the country of their birth will do something that negatively affects our nation and all of a sudden we look at these people not as immigrants, but as foreigners - different, strange, and perhaps our enemies.

Every generation in America has their own biases against people different from them. Many people who experienced WW2 still have a hard time accepting Japanese people as friends rather than enemies. The people who grew up in the 50’s and 60’s know what it is like to experience segregation and the terror of now having to integrate your life with people who you were sure hated you. Whether black or white, the fear was hard to fight. Those who experienced the terror of the Cold War look at Russians with distrust and fear. Then with what happened on 9/11 many people fear Muslims or anyone with darker skin or a turban on their head, assuming they must be Muslim or a terrorist.

Ruth’s story reminds us that not every foreigner is our enemy. Not every alien from a land we distrust is someone we must look on with fear. Ruth’s story reminds us that human beings are to be treated as individuals, that God has a far greater plan for each of us than we may ever know, and it reminds us that even when God is not directly mentioned in our life, that God’s guiding hand never leaves us.

The love Ruth felt for Naomi allowed her to face the fear of rejection, the certainty of isolation and discrimination all so she may help her mother in law reestablish her life with dignity in her old age. She could not in good conscience leave this woman to travel her new path alone and so she walks with her in faith and courage. From the enemy of Israel a new nation is birthed. From the homeless foreigner comes a home without equal. From the alien, widowed woman Jesus Christ our Savior is born.

As Christians, we all know intellectually that we should be like Jesus. Jesus who was as accepting of foreigners as he was of his fellow Jewish people. Jesus who understood a person may sin, but that does not make them evil. Jesus who loved each person on their own merits and not by what the world would say about them. In our heads, we understand this perfectly, and I think most of us even try to follow it.

It is when our hearts get caught up in our passion that the cool logic goes out the window. We all know that not every American is a good person just as we aren’t all bad either. We all know there are good Japanese people and bad Japanese people. We all know that there are good black people and bad black people as well as good white people and bad white people. We all know that there are good Russians and bad Russians and good Muslims and bad Muslims. But when a nation attacks us and kills those we love, that logic goes out the window as our hearts burn with vengeance, fear, and wounded pride.

It would be so easy to give in to our fear and hurt and pain. But in Ruth we are given a powerful reminder that God’s ways are not our ways. When we allow fear to rule us we make bad decisions. When we allow hate to cloud the facts, we inevitably do things we will regret. When we allow ourselves to only see a person’s differences we are never given the chance to find what we have in common. Ruth may have looked and spoken and even prayed to a different god than those in Bethlehem, but her heart was as pure as any to be found in that city. Her loyalty and love for an old woman saved a whole country and it saved all of us.

Through Ruth, we encounter the grace of God. Through that grace we have been given a second, a third, a hundredth chance to make it right. We need every single chance God gives us. It is time for us to start giving the same chances to those we deem different or strange or alien. It is time for us to remember God’s love is what makes it possible to be here today. It is time to remember that fear and hatred only take us farther from Jesus, and if Ruth had allowed fear and prejudice of those who were different from her to rule her actions, then our lives would be very different.

Amen.