Lectionary 423: Ruth

423.docx

Lectionary 423. Scripture:  August 21. Ruth 1:1.3-6.14-16. 22. Psalm 146: 5-6,7. 8-9.9-10.  Matthew 22:34-40:

We begin the book of Ruth today and tomorrow.  I would encourage each one of us to take the time to read this short scroll, second among the five scrolls on which special Jewish festivals are celebrated.  Ruth is read at Pentecost or the Feast of weeks after the Passover.  Since it consists of only four short chapters it would be easy for us to set aside time for reading it in one sitting.  It is a beautiful story of fidelity and friendship, conversion to faith in the Lord, and to fulfilling the levirate law for marriage of a widow left childless.

Ruth comes after those formidable events of Joshua and Judges and is a pleasant breather from the wars and violence seen in those two books.  Often couples love to choose this first chapter for their wedding.  Movie producers have given us, at least, one good film on this book.  Who is not moved by these first words from Ruth in the book/scroll named in memory of her:

Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

The person of Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, is a model for all mothers-in-law.  It shows the tenderness, the vision necessary for hope, and the wisdom of Naomi with regard to both of her daughters-in-law.  The fidelity of both Ruth and Naomi is edifying and the Lord blesses them with the birth of the first ancestor of the messianic lineage.  It is interesting that the harvest takes place in Bethlehem which also happens to be the birthplace of Jesus, our Messiah.  The family is again started in Bethlehem (house of bread) with the marriage of Ruth to Boaz.

I meditated how Ruth’s response is similar to what the Gospel is teaching us through the words of Jesus about the greatest commandment which is deeper than the ordinary understanding of the golden rule often commented upon with this passage.  Jesus knew the meaning and depth of the twin commandments and proclaimed it on several occasions when being questioned about it.

A good peaceful and meditative reading of this small book would bring joy to us and is really worth the effort of reading it in its entirety.  I saw it reflected in the Gospel of Matthew for today and also in the first two chapters of Matthew called the Origins and Infancy Gospel.  Bethlehem appears in chapter two and Ruth is one of the five women mentioned in the origins or genealogy of Matthew.  Amen.