Mothers of Jesus: Ruth
For Meditation
This week, we continue our study of the Mothers of Jesus - a look at the five women mentioned in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus. Ruth is the unlikely third woman, and her story, along with those of Naomi and Boaz, are told in the Old Testament Book of Ruth.
Even people who are not churchgoers might know the most famous verse from the Book of Ruth: “Don’t urge me to leave you or turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and wherever you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my god.” (Ruth 1:16) Countless married couples have “Ruth 1:16” engraved on their wedding bands. And for good reason. This statement is the deepest commitment made by one human being to another in the Bible.
And those who grew up in a church context may recall being taught that the Book of Ruth was the Christian equivalent to a Disney movie, where poor Ruth is rescued by Boaz, as the kinsman-redeemer, foreshadowing Jesus as the Redeemer of all mankind. And for good reason.
But Christian scholars over the past 20 years have returned to the Book of Ruth with fresh eyes, mining depths the church has previously missed - an astonishingly rich and beautiful picture of the Gospel displayed in the lives of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz as they push the boundaries of Jewish Law and model what it means to love others with no exit strategy.
In the Book of Ruth, we find the ultimate outsider, a poor, barren, foreign widow brought into the family God and into the lineage of the King of Kings. And we find ancient echoes of what would become Jesus’ most famous words - the Sermon on the Mount. In the lives of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz, we find living examples of “You have heard it said . . . but I tell you . . .”, the pattern by which Jesus taught His followers on that Galilean hillside that grace is love beyond the boundaries of the Law. Love with no exit strategy.
In preparation for worship this week, read the through the four chapters of the Book of Ruth, which reads like a well-crafted play.
Matthew 1:1-5a
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth...
Ruth 1:16–17
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”