Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“But Ruth said, ‘Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!’”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, October 17, 2020
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
This is often read at weddings, but it has very little to do with marriage. It’s a declaration of commitment, yes, but it is from a young widow to her widowed mother-in-law. It is from one who has little to no standing in society, whose life and livelihood are in question, who has the opportunity to return to her father’s house where, if nothing else, she will have her basic needs met. It is to another who has little to no standing, and who, without Naomi’s youth and able-bodied-ness, will be fully reliant upon charity in order to survive.
This is not a sappy expression of marital expectation, but a cry of solidarity! “I will not take the easy path and go home to daddy. I will commit myself to you and our shared future, and trust that your God, who is now my God, will care for us both.”
This is our call, too. To stand in solidarity with the marginalized. To declare that we will not coast down the path of privilege while others’ lives are diminished by an unjust society.
Gracious God, grant me the same unyielding commitment to those in need that Ruth declared for Naomi. Amen.
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