Commit!

Ruth 2

I believe that the book of Ruth has a very simple moral for us, which is this: Be committed. To something, to anything, preferably to someone. Just be committed.

Last week, I talked about how Ruth’s love for Naomi defies cynicism and is a reflection of God’s love for us. After all, who could be cynical about a daughter-in-law taking care of her mother-in-law. This week, the seeds are planted for something different—a different kind of love.

            But we need to hit the brakes here for just a minute. This is not a story of commitment in terms of romantic love, at least not how we think of love today. We shouldn’t romanticize the relationship between Ruth and Boaz. From the start, this is about protection and safety, and, in this case, you could make the case that there may be all sorts of ulterior motives brewing. Ruth and Naomi need a clan to belong to, and Ruth needs safety from these mongrel men, who apparently go around bothering all the women unattached to a man. Meanwhile, Boaz can lay claim to whatever woman he wants; he has all the power in the world over her—clearly, this is not a simple case of love winning the day.

            Yet, in the midst of a society that is obviously imperfect, still there are hints of something better. This starts with the reason Boaz finds Ruth attractive. Boaz finds Ruth attractive not first because of her looks (there’s not a word here about her appearance); rather, he is interested in her for two reasons: 1. Her commitment to her work, and 2. Her commitment to Naomi. There are many reasons Boaz could have sent Ruth away. She was a foreigner, not related to the clan or anybody in it. That alone would have been enough for most. To that end, he could have essentially made her a slave. He doesn’t do any of that, and the only reason we are given is because of her commitment.

            I’m cautious to make any moral claims based on biblical historical accounts, especially in the Old Testament, because, whoa boy, was the world a wacky place back then! Yet, again, in the midst of a terrible world, there are glimpses of something better, some hint that these things we now take for granted—freedom and liberty and love and mercy—that these may in fact win the day. Every time I hear somebody complain about how terrible the world is nowadays I think, “Man, they really must have never picked up the Bible.” The world was a mess—from the day Cain killed Abel to slavery in Egypt to David and Bathsheba and on and on until Jesus was crucified, at which point things started to straighten out… well, after the persecution of the Christian church, hundreds of years of wars, the Dark Ages, the Crusades, the Reformation, reconstruction, women’s suffrage, the Civil Rights Act. Heck, most things probably aren’t still that great, but compared to the society in which Ruth and Boaz lived we do actually look fairly enlightened today. Still, it is in part because of that, that Boaz and Ruth stand so starkly contrasted against other people from their time, not to mention other characters in the Bible, as they show us something we might not expect—love that transforms, that doesn’t even start out as love. It all starts with commitment.

            Ruth is not attracted to Boaz because he’s a hunk; she is using him to protect her mother-in-law (and herself). Boaz is not attracted to Ruth because she’s a supermodel; he is using her for her hard work. Nothing about this ideal, but neither is anything we experience this world.

            Our world is full of things like this: Broken systems, power structures that elevate some people over others—slavery and its long-term ramifications, gender inequality, class warfare, religious and ethnic persecution. The way of the world is inequality. Yet, in this amazingly imperfect world, there are hints of the things that matter: Love and commitment to good work and self-sacrifice, not because the powerful say so, but because those things are good and wonderful, in and of themselves. Ruth reminds us of two realities simultaneously: 1. We are part of a terribly messy world where people have power over one another for reasons that are nothing but sin, and 2. The only way to begin to mend this broken world is through little acts of kindness and love.

            Start there. I’m all for tearing into the systems of oppression that led to Ruth and Naomi being in the situation they were in. I’m all for tearing down every system that lifts up one kind of people against and over another. Yet, for most of us, that can feel like an overwhelming task and we don’t know where to begin. Ruth reminds us to start with commitment—in her case, to Naomi. This book may be heading toward love, but it is love born from commitment. Be committed to things. Choose to be things. Commit 100%.

            One of the things the church has bemoaned for the last fifty or so years is the gradual decline in commitment, but it’s not just the church any longer. The school feels it, so do local clubs, so do regular events, and it’s not only because there are fewer people around; it’s also because the people who are around are so much busier. I’ve talked about busy-ness before, but what busy-ness can sometimes be is a lack of commitment. You find yourself doing so many things that you don’t commit to any of them.

            Nobody in the biblical times could have imagined a world where you could drive a hundred miles to the lake and be back in time for a golf outing, but the story of Ruth does speak to this universalizing need for commitment to the things that matter. To that end, I’m not even going to say that the thing that matters is the church! I mean, not only the church. Be committed to something, anything! If it’s the church, great, but if it’s your family, that’s fine, too. Just find things that capture your heart and take a chance on them.

I quote from Wendell Berry all the time, but I’ve only realized recently that one of the reasons I love Berry so much is that he is so attuned to this commitment phenomena. He is constantly preaching commitment to good work but also to family, and through those things we practice discipleship. It comes down to attunement to things that will make a difference. It’s fighting against that Netflix mentality of just surfing for hours and never actually choosing anything to watch; we are paralyzed by choice. Instead of leaving doors open, commit to something.

For Ruth, it was commitment to her family and to her work, and that commitment made all the difference. Come to think of it, everybody who we know in history committed to something, and it’s a host of different things, but the only character I know of who can’t commit is Jonah. God uses him anyway precisely because he’s an idiot, but don’t be Jonah. Be somebody who commits. If Ruth teaches you anything, let it be commitment to things that matter. If you can commit to little acts of kindness and love, all the time, every day, then all the better. But commit, regardless. Be attuned to the world.

It’s little wonder Ruth is read so often at weddings. That is what it’s all about.