Faithful (Ruth 3:1-5,4:13-17)

How far would you go to keep a promise?

We all make promises to people at some stage or another in our lives. Some of those promises can be relatively minor, such as saying that we will pick up something from the shops, take the rubbish out, or be somewhere at a particular time. Some promises, however, can impact our whole lives. For example, a significant promise we can make is our marriage vows when we promise to be faithful to another person as long as we live.

Whether the promise we make is relatively short term and minor, or longer term and majorly significant, how do we go with keeping our promises? We might make a promise with the best of intentions and start out determined to keep that promise, but do we remain faithful to our promise when it goes for longer than we expect, when it becomes difficult, or when other things take our attention? It’s one thing to make a promise, but sometimes it can be really hard to remain faithful to the promises we make.

The biblical book of Ruth is an amazing story of one woman’s faithfulness to a promise she made to another. If you’re not familiar with the story of Ruth, it is only four chapters long and definitely worth reading. It is set in the time of the Judges, sometime after the Israelites entered into the Promised Land about 3,400 years ago. Ruth was from the nation of Moab, one of Israel’s neighbours and enemies. She married one of Naomi’s sons after Naomi and her family moved to Moab because of a famine in Israel. After Naomi’s husband and sons died, she decided to move back to Israel. Ruth wanted to go with her and after Naomi tried to discourage her, Ruth responded by making this incredible promise:

“Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” (Ruth 1:16,17 NLT)

There was no reason for Ruth to make this commitment to Naomi. In fact, the wife of Naomi’s other son, Orpah, left Naomi to go back to her home instead of travelling to Israel with her. Ruth, however, promised to go with Naomi, to leave her life behind and to start a new life with her. She gave up her cultural identity and her religion to embrace Naomi’s, promising to stay with her for the rest of her life. Ruth’s commitment to Naomi was so strong that she gave up everything to go with her into an uncertain future. The rest of the book of Ruth then describes what happened to these two women from that time on. Ruth’s faithfulness included following Naomi’s instructions to marry Boaz which we heard in this morning’s reading from Ruth 3:1-5 and 4:13-17.

In Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi, we have a picture of God’s faithfulness to us in Jesus. Just like Ruth left her homeland of Moab to go to Israel with Naomi, Jesus left his home in heaven to come to earth and walk with us in our journey through life in this world. In a similar way to Ruth adopting Naomi’s cultural and religious identity, Jesus embraced our human identity by taking on flesh and blood just like us. Ruth worked long and hard, making significant sacrifices to provide for Naomi. Jesus sacrificed everything on the cross to provide for our spiritual and eternal needs in this life and the next. Throughout the story of Ruth, she was faithful to the promise she made to be with Naomi for the rest of her life. Jesus makes us promises, too, and gave everything in faithfulness to them. These promises include forgiveness (John 20:19-23), unconditional love (Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:9,10), a new identity as God’s children (Galatians 3:26; 1 John 3:1), and life to the full both in this world and the next (John 10:10). As we read the Bible, we can hear these and more promises God makes to us in Jesus. Just like Ruth promised herself to Naomi, Jesus promises himself to us for this life and the next.

In the same way that Ruth was faithful to her promise, Jesus will always be faithful to his promises to us. It wasn’t easy for Ruth to work in the fields in the hot sun, picking up the left-over grain to feed herself and Naomi. Meeting Boaz, her future husband, out on the threshing floor in the middle of the night was a very risky move which could have gone horribly wrong and ended up with a serious moral scandal, both for herself and for Boaz. However, Ruth took that risk as an act of faithfulness to Naomi. Even marrying Boaz was an act of faithfulness to Naomi as it provided for both women for the rest of their lives.

Ruth’s faithfulness points us to the faithfulness of Jesus. At no stage in his life did Jesus deviate from his path to provide for us in his death and resurrection. Even though it cost him his life, Jesus remained faithful to us by carrying our sin and brokenness to the cross to set us free and give us a new identity as God’s dearly loved children. In Jesus’ death on the cross and God raising him to new life we can see that God can be trusted to keep his promises to us. Even if we think about giving up on God, God has never and will never give up on his promises to us. And because of his faithfulness to us, we can go into an uncertain or even risky future confident in his presence with us, just like Ruth and Naomi.

Trusting God’s faithfulness to us in Jesus gives us the capacity to be faithful in our own lives. Keeping promises, both small and large, can be hard, especially when the pressure is on, and we wonder whether it is worth it. Our culture tells us to do what’s best for us or take the easy way, even if it means breaking our promises to others. However, God’s faithfulness to us in Jesus means that we can be faithful to him and to each other in our lives. Trusting that God has always and will always keep his promises to us in Jesus means we can be faithful to each other, take risks, venture into unknown territory and reach out to each other relationally, just like Ruth did. Believing that God will take care of us and provide for us because of his promises and faithfulness to us in Jesus helps us to be faithful to others.

Being faithful to our promises is difficult for a lot of reasons. There are times when we can struggle to keep our promises, especially when others break their promises to us. Ruth made a huge promise to Naomi and because of her faithfulness, Jesus entered the world through her descendant. God will always be faithful to us and reveal his saving love to us through Jesus. Because of his faithfulness to us, we can be faithful to God and to each other, even when it’s hard or costly, and share his faithful love with others.

More to think about or discuss:

• What is a promise you have made to someone else? Was it easy or difficult to be faithful to that promise? Can you explain why…?
• How did Ruth’s faithfulness result in blessings for her and Naomi? How does that illustrate God’s faithfulness to us in Jesus?
• How can trusting God’s faithfulness to us in Jesus help us to be faithful to others? How might it help you remain faithful to the promises you have made?