Ruth Part 1: Ruth 1: 1-5; Luke 15: 11-19
Recently a friend of mine decided to try something new. He had been going to the same old, boring barber shop for years. The same guy had been cutting his hair the same way in the worn and somewhat, shall we say “vintage,” shop. It was old, familiar, and he was treated like family. But just up the street, this fancy new barber shop opens. It’s glitzy and glamourous. It has large television screens and nice lighting. It’s about as fantastic and fabulous as you can get in a men’s barbershop. Allured by all the glitz and glam, my friend decided to try it out, because, of course, something that nice has to be better, right?
When he went he was overwhelmed by all the sights and sounds, how modern and nice everything appeared to be. He was given a warm welcome and treated like a king as opposed to family. He sat down in the chair and had this sleek, silver cape wrapped around him for the haircut. The barber, dressed in a casual suit like something out of a movie gets the cut underway. As the clippers come alive with a buzz, my friend feels plain, cold metal touch the back of his head as the clippers go through his hair. Then he hears the barber say, “Oh no, no. Oh man. Oh no.” The barber forgot to put a guard in the clippers and just shaved part of my friend’s head bald. The grass is not always greener on the other side.
We begin this week a four part series on Ruth which is a story of strength even in the midst of adversity. But the story is also just as much about Naomi and her struggle as it is about Ruth and her faith. Both of them faced strong difficulties, persecutions, and possibly varying levels of regret, but both of them grew in their faith and found God’s hope, restoration, and even redemption in the end. When we pick up the story we realize an important lesson from Naomi and Elimilech, that sometimes we are going to have to endure while our own house is in a mess or a state of disorder.
Israel, we are told, was in the midst of a famine. In those days a famine was a very serious and frightening thing. It could mean a food shortage, and there would be no other place to gather food leading to starvation. Whereas now we have ways of predicting weather and crop cycles, in Naomi’s day there was no way to tell how long a famine would last. It could be simply an off year for the harvest, or it could last seven years like in the story of Joseph. The rules in those days said that the Israelite people were not to intermingle with the Moabites, yet Elimelech did this anyway, moving his whole family to Moab where things seemed better instead of staying where he was and trusting God.
Likewise, in the story of the prodigal son, I imagine the young man was bored at home, wanted something new and exciting or was seeking a lot more pleasure out of life than working on his father’s farm. He thought life would be much more fun if he could just get away and move to a nice, exciting city. Sometimes, though we have to be prepared to deal with a little bit of mess in our own house. We often face two choices—stay or leave. It’s a recurrent choice in life. Now, suppose you come home and your realize that your house is a complete disaster, a total mess. What do you do? The answer is you clean it. You can’t just close the door and walk away—you stay and you put the house back in order. Elimilech and Naomi didn’t want to endure the struggle at home with their family and friends, staying and trusting God; they wanted to toddle off to something they thought was nicer and better. The prodigal son didn’t want to stay and make his father’s farm the best he could—he walked away from his home and family, thumbing his nose at them.
The problem with this is we have to discern whether we are being led by God’s call or by our own temptations. For Naomi and Elimelech it was clearly temptation. They did not trust God to provide and bear them through the famine. Moab wasn’t struggling with a famine, so the family uprooted and walked away from home and from obedience to God. The prodigal son, likewise, was tempted away by the excitement of a far off place where he could get all he wanted with his riches. And I imagine with a sizable inheritance, he was quite popular wherever he landed.
But walking away has consequences. For Elimelech it was death, and Naomi suffered the loss of practically her whole family. I can’t imagine the suffering and desolation she felt at having her husband die, then her two sons dying also. The prodigal son also had to pay the consequences. He squandered everything he had and was left broke, desolate, and hungry enough to eat the slop fed to pigs. And yet we read elsewhere that the disciples heard God’s call and left their homes, jobs, and everything to follow. Abraham heard God call and left his home to travel to the promised land, so what is the difference?
The difference is the motivation—why are we doing what we are doing. For Naomi, Elimelech, and the prodigal son, they wandered off for selfish reasons whether it be their lack of trust, desire for a world of sinful opportunities, or even because they just thought they knew better—their motives were wrong and selfish. Abraham and the disciples devoted themselves to following God. They left everything to work for the kingdom, to sacrifice for Jesus’s mission of love, grace, and building a loving, welcoming church that saved the soul and body from struggle.
Our society today is rife with this same kind of restless selfishness. It comes in all shapes, sizes, races, ethnicities, and political persuasions. For every action we take, for every thought that leaps out of our mouth, for every comment we speak, post on social media, or debate in person, what is the motivation? Are we trying to point people to God? Or like Elimelech, Naomi, and the prodigal son, are we looking to be right, to prove our point, or to live however we want to regardless of whether it’s what God would have us do? Sometimes God calls us to be quiet, to clean and get our own house in order, to wait and endure if there’s a famine and struggle around us, and to work where we are because it’s the job God has called us to do. Naomi and Elimelech should have stayed in Bethlehem. The prodigal son should have stayed at home and tended the farm. If we always live our lives in the “should haves,” we will forever be struggling against God.
But the good news is that no matter how far we walk away, wander away, or even stubbornly refuse to be obedient, God will always welcome us home. A friend tells me how her mother used to counsel that no matter how many steps you take away from God, it’s always just one step back. The prodigal son was welcomed not as a punished servant, but as the beloved son. For Naomi, the road was a lot longer, and we are going to journey with her over the next few weeks. But, she also finds redemption and healing in the end.
Unfortunately in life, the grass is not always greener on the other side. But we are often difficult and stubborn and even jealous people at times. But what I know is this: no matter how selfish, stubborn, or difficult we may have been, “there’s a wideness in God’s mercy. There is welcome for the sinner. There is mercy with the Savior; there is healing in his blood.” Though the grass may not always be greener where you go with selfishness and disobedience, I can promise you something on the opposite side. The grass is always green, and the soil for God’s love and grace will always be fertile where God leads you.