Scriptures you may hear on Sunday address the journey between Business As Usual and the Promised Land. Never a one-way trip, this journey criss-crosses a median land which is both/and, yet neither…. At the risk of double-speak, those who inscribed these passages have embraced the complexity of Godly Living, and help us — comfort us? — in our travels.
Ruth and Orpah, widowed along with their mother-in-law, Naomi, concluded that a New Life awaited them in Naomi’s homeland in the area of Bethlehem. Knowing full well the Exodus tradition, they set out from Moab to change everything. At the frontier (that median land of which we spoke), Orpah turned back, but Ruth insisted on adventuring on: “your people shall be my people” (Ruth 1:16-17). Read ahead to find out how this’ll set up Advent and the Incarnation.
Psalm 146 contrasts earthly leadership and that of God. “Do not put your trust in princes….their plans perish….{but} happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob.” (verses 3 – 5) Unlike the politically astute, who court the well-off, Yahweh seeks out the oppressed, the hungry, the blind, the orphan, the widow… even that rogue Jacob! Praise the Lord!
The writer to the Hebrews is still busy comparing an earthly (fallible) high priest with Jesus, who by his death purified the Believer from dead works of a previous “land”. (9:11-14)
St. Mark remembers the occasion when Jesus discussed the “greatest” commandment with the local lawyers. (12-28 – 34) “Love the Lord your God totally ( the shema, as in Deuteronomy 6), and your neighbor as yourself.”: The first four commandments, then the following six. No more neglect of the community surrounding you, but getting right into it!
Can one ever turn back? How ya gonna keep ’em down on the farm once they have seen Paree? And what was Orpah’s story? Did she remarry and have a passel of little Moabites? Did she regret not staying the course? It’s not that simple: some days are better than others. Perhaps she made the journey to Bethlehem as an old woman — better late than never. Are we there yet?
God Bless Us, Every One H B King
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