Hope Arrives in Bethlehem - Sermon for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost               
October 12^th, A+D 2025
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
Hope Arrives in Bethlehem
Ruth 1:1-19, Luke 17:11-19

 Audio of the Sermon is available HERE.

     I wonder what they’ll do in Bethlehem?             

     The book of Ruth tells a great story, full of faith, hope, and love.  We heard just the first part this morning, which concludes with the display of Ruth’s remarkable love and faithfulness to her mother-in-law, Naomi.  The end of our reading rings out a grace note of hope, as the two women make their way toward Bethlehem. 

     Bethlehem.  Everybody knows that name.  Bethlehem is perhaps the most famous small village in the world.  I wonder what Naomi and Ruth will do there? 

     Do you know the connections that our Old Testament reading only hints at this morning?  If you don’t remember the connections, this story may seem a bit random, and out of place. 

     It is a lovely story, to be sure.  Even unbelievers love the book of Ruth; it is simply gorgeous literature.  And Ruth is certainly a praiseworthy figure, who will not give up on tragedy-struck Naomi.  But, what does our Old Testament reading have to do with the story that normally occupies our time here, as we gather in Jesus’ Name?  Jesus Christ is the object of our faith, the One who has loved us, the Risen Savior who gives us hope.  But how do the opening verses of Naomi and Ruth’s story connect to the story of salvation?  It’s just about two women, their struggles in this dying world, and of course, the faithfulness of Ruth.  If you don’t know the connections, be patient.  God will bring all things back together before the end.  Be patient.  Be patient, and start by considering the things everyone loves about this story. 

     I pray that you can relate to the love shared between Naomi and Ruth.  I pray that into your life God has brought people whom, even though they aren’t blood relatives, you have come to love and cherish as much as you love and cherish your parents, your siblings, your children.  Such love between former strangers is a beautiful thing.  How common do you think it is? 

     I know many of you can relate to the suffering of Naomi and Ruth, maybe all of you.  Eventually, all of us will.  All of us, if we live long enough, will in some measure relate to the great sadness that fell on Naomi and Ruth.  I imagine these women trudging out of Moab, sadness weighing them down like a lead suit, making each day, each step, heavy and painful.  The death of loved ones is a tremendous burden.    

     Naomi had been dealing with the brokenness of this world for many years.  Drought and famine drove her and her husband Elimelech away, away from Judah, away from their hometown of Bethlehem.  The name Elimelech means “My God is King,” but I imagine that was hard to believe, as the threat of starvation drove them to a foreign and unappealing place: Moab. 

     The Moabites had food, that was good.  But, they were also ancient enemies of Israel.  And, if Elimelech and Naomi had been listening closely when Genesis was read to them, they would know that the founding of Moab was a scandal.  Faithful Israelites would not wish to live in Moab. 

     But all that history became unimportant, because there was a famine in Judah, but in Moab they could find food to live.  In Moab they could survive.  And so, with their two sons, they left for Moab, trying to make the best of a bad situation. 

     Then the LORD took Elimelech.  Now Naomi is a widow, a single mother of two sons, a foreigner in a strange land, facing very difficult circumstances.  Not much time for grieving; it’s time to act, to make adjustments and accommodations.  “Boys, Mahlon, Chilion, find yourselves wives.  It doesn’t matter that your wives will be Moabites; the LORD has left us here.  Following His command to only marry other Israelites is impossible.  We must eat, we must live, you must marry.”  So they do.   

     Then comes the unwritten suffering.  Ten more years they lived in Moab, Naomi, Mahlon, Chilion, and their wives, Orpah and Ruth.  Ten years of waiting, but no children, no grandchildren for Naomi to spoil.  Is this the unkindest cut of all for Naomi?  Is this the final straw?  She would soon wish a lack of grandchildren was her biggest problem, because worse is coming.  Suddenly, Mahlon, and Chilion, her two boys, both of them die.  Naomi’s hopes are dashed.  She is bitter, her faith in the LORD God of Israel is hanging by a thread.  Still, Naomi manages an attempt at loving her daughters-in-law, or so she thinks. 

      Rain and grain had returned to Judah, so Naomi, embittered by all her suffering in Moab, decides to return home.  Orpah and Ruth are both willing to go with her; it seems their struggles have bonded them together.  But Naomi knows better, she claims.  She tells her daughters-in-law to go home to their mothers, to go back to their former gods.  Maybe they can find new husbands, and forget about Naomi. 

      Orpah reluctantly agrees, kisses Naomi and returns to her mother’s house.  But Ruth will not leave her mother-in-law.  Naomi urges her to go, but Ruth will not be swayed, finally convincing Naomi with one of the most beautiful professions of love and faithfulness ever spoken by a human being: "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.  Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you."    

      Anti-Christian critics, many speaking from positions within nominally Christian institutions, have proclaimed for decades that the Bible is misogynistic, that is, woman-hating, and oppressively patriarchal.  It sure is strange how often the supposedly women-hating Biblical writers record marvelous things being spoken by women. 

      Like Ruth’s profession of faithfulness to Naomi.  Or Hannah’s song of joy at the birth of Samuel.  Miriam adding to the victory song of her brother Moses, after they crossed the Red Sea.  Elizabeth and Mary rejoicing over the conception of Jesus in Mary’s womb.  Or Mary’s final words recorded in Scripture, when she tells the servants at the wedding in Cana to “do whatever [Jesus] tells you to do.”  Good advice, indeed.   

      From where do such faith, hope and love spring?  In particular, how can Ruth express such marvelous commitment?  She too, has been through a lot.  No one, least of all Naomi, would have faulted Ruth for returning home.  And yet, faced with leaving her home, facing the prospect of living in a foreign land as a hated outsider, and with little reason to expect great things in Judah, Ruth nevertheless reveals tremendous love, commitment, and undying faithfulness.  She makes a confession of faith we should all envy.  How?  Can you and I ever know such love and faith?  How did these things come to this woman, and she a Moabite, not even a member of God’s chosen people? 

      Jesus asks a similar question concerning the Samaritan leper who came back to thank Him for healing his wretched, sore-covered skin, the only one of the ten healed lepers who returned to give thanks to Jesus.  Rhetorically, our Lord asks:  "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"  Jesus knows the answer.  But He’s trying to teach, to teach His disciples, and us, about faith, and the love, hope, joy and confession that flow from true and saving faith. 

      Jesus knows.  He’s known all along that faith comes by hearing about Him.  Faith comes from being wrapped up in His story, the story of the Messiah, the Christ, the promised Savior.  Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ, faith that believes in the promise of a Savior who loves the whole world, who offers hope to all who suffer.  Jesus asks His question to teach us, to make us ponder and think about what it truly means to be a Christian.  But He knows, and now you know, that the Samaritan leper’s faith, like the faith of that other foreigner named Ruth, came from Jesus.  Faith comes when the Spirit of Christ reveals the glorious truth of the Gospel, life-giving truth spoken into the heart of a dying sinner. 

      God wills to work out His plan for saving faith through the lives of sinful people who also need that faith in order to be saved.  God chooses to work faith in and through desperate people, without regard to their pedigree, where they’ve come from, or what they’ve done in the past. 

      In the mystery of God’s plan and foreknowledge, in the mystery of God’s faithfulness and love, God chose and moved Ruth to love and serve Naomi, in order to bring this woman of faith to Bethlehem.  There God, through Naomi’s matchmaking, brings her to Boaz.  Boaz was an important man, a faithful Judahite who married Ruth in large part because he saw her faithfulness to Naomi. 

      And from this swirl of God-caused human goodness, the Lord brought forth fruit: a son, named Obed.  And Obed would have a son, named Jesse, who would have a son, named David, who would be the King of Israel, and much more.  David, shepherd boy anointed to be King of God’s people, is a forerunner of the Christ, the promised Savior.  Like he promised to his ancestors Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah, the LORD promises that the Seed of the woman, the serpent-crusher, would come also through King David.  God loves David.  He even calls David a man after His own heart.  And David’s imperfect but ultimately faithful heart got its start, because Ruth clung to Naomi.

      So, we see how God goes to extravagant lengths to work out His plan to save sinners.  Like He did for Naomi, the LORD even overcomes the weakness, doubt and bitterness of sinners, to move His plan forward.  God held onto and worked through bitter Naomi, in order to bring Ruth to Judah and her husband Boaz, so the LORD could bring to completion His plan for the human ancestry of Jesus Christ. 

      Some refuse God’s plan.  Naomi seemed to be on the brink of rejecting her LORD.  Nine of the lepers didn’t believe they should return and thank Jesus for healing them.  They didn’t understand that the true temple, the true dwelling place of God with His people was now in the flesh of the man Jesus, the Son of God, and the descendent of Ruth, and David, the Son of the Virgin Mary. 

    Many people suffer great pains and sadnesses, and end up cursing God, or forgetting Him.  You have suffered, and you will suffer many more pains and sadnesses.  But hear Ruth’s story, hear David’s story, for these are also your story.  Hear God’s plan of salvation, bringing blessing and a future out of suffering and desperation.  Hear God’s plan for you, worked though faithful Ruth, so that you will not think to curse God when you suffer. 

    You will suffer, and it will be hard.  Maybe you are suffering right now.  Suffering stinks.  But when you suffer, do not curse God.  Instead, follow Ruth to Bethlehem.  Know that the Lord who gave Ruth blessings she never expected has also given these same blessings to you.  Cry out in your suffering to the Master, Jesus; ask Him to help you.  Hear, see, and believe that He has become your salvation, in the most unlikely way, through suffering, through His death on a tree, by bleeding and dying for you.  Believe in His plan, which was to fulfill the law for you, right down to keeping the Sabbath rest in the tomb, so that upon His resurrection He could share all His glory with you.  Jesus can share the Father’s glory with you because your sins are forgiven, your suffering has been overcome, and your future is full of hope and love. 

     All these things are yours in that Descendent of Ruth, your Savior and her Savior, Jesus of Bethlehem, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of the cross and empty tomb.  The same Jesus who is right now praying for you at the Father’s side.  Jesus, who is preparing a place for you, in His heavenly home.  He is the object of faith, the reason to believe, the hope that you have, the hope that never fails.  Rejoice, His love is for you, Amen.