A Story of Loyalty: Beyond the Call of Duty

A Story of Loyalty:
Beyond the Call of Duty
Stephen Van Kuiken
Community Congregational U.C.C.
Pullman, WA
October 30, 2022

Looking once more at the events as they are described here, we may well be astounded at Ruth’s courage.She, as an unattached Moabite woman, goes out under cover of darkness to a place of public celebration to look for a man. When the moment is right, she lies down next to him and, on being discovered, proposes marriage or sexual relations. Even by today’s tolerant standards, there would not be a great deal of approval for the woman in these circumstances.—Johanna W. H. van Wijk-Bos

Ancient Witness: Ruth 3:1-18

You know, we throw certain words around so easily—not just these days but through the ages.

Words such as “love.” “I love you” flows off the lips so easily but often carries with it no real dedication.

“Religious” is used often to describe someone who does not do certain things or who follows certain rules, such as going to church or someone who is “nice” or “kind.” (Some more of those too-easily-used words.)

For the past two sermons, I have talked about this word hesed that means “kindness,” “loyalty” or “devotion.” And we have seen that hesed is a divine quality and that it involves a special caring for the afflicted and the forgotten ones.

But in this story today, we see that being truly kind involves risk, to be truly loving means commitment, to be truly loyal involves courage.

The story continues.

In previous scenes we have seen two destitute, childless widows travel from Moab to Judah.  When they arrive at Bethlehem, they were allowed to glean in the fields where a certain man took special notice of them and took special care of them.  Now the harvest time is over.  Now what?

Act Three opens with Naomi and Ruth devising a “dangerous and delicate” plan.  Naomi says to Ruth:  “We have to find you a husband!  Here is what you should do.  After Boaz is finished working, and after he has eaten and drunk and feeling no pain, he’ll lie down.  Then you’ll be all decked out, and you’ll get under the covers with him.  And when he wakes up, he’ll tell you what to do.”

So Ruth does just that.  Boaz ate, drank and “was in a contented mood,” it says.  (Perhaps slightly inebriated)  Now, you’re right if you are picking up on some sexual overtones here.  After all, Ruth is jumping into bed with Boaz.

And the text talks about “uncovering his feet” and lying down.  The word, “feet” in the Hebrew is also a euphemism for “genitals.”  (By the way, this Bible story is rated at least PG-13.)

So she sneaks down there, and at midnight, Boaz turns over and “Whoa!  Who are you?”

“I am Ruth, your servant.”  And then, instead of waiting for Boaz to tell her what to do, she tells him, “spread your wings (or cloak) over your servant, for you are a redeemer (or next-of-kin).”

What is probably happening is that Ruth is proposing marriage.  Because often to “spread one’s cloak over someone” is to marry them.

In ancient Israelite culture, marriage has less to do with romance and companionship and more to do with economic dependence and survival.  The words, “husband” and “wife” carry with them connotations of marriage that just weren’t there.  In fact, there are no words for “husband” and “wife” in the Hebrew Bible.  Rather, there are only the words for “man” and “woman.”  So, the translation is literally something like “Naomi’s man” or “the woman of Boaz.”  This gets at the idea that marriage was not so much a feeling; it was an arrangement.

Old Boaz was flattered that young Ruth would choose him over the young men in the area.  And then he recognizes something.  He says, “This last instance of loyalty is better than the first.”  Once again, he sees Ruth acting as the very embodiment of hesed, because by marrying Boaz, Elimelech’s (Ruth’s deceased husband) inheritance is kept in the family, and both Ruth and Naomi will be provided for.  If Ruth married someone else, Naomi would be left out in the cold.

Boaz appreciates Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi.  And, as in previous encounters, Boaz responds with kindness and caring.  Asking her to stay, yet having her leave before the morning has fully dawned to prevent a possible scandal.  Before she leaves, he lavishes more gifts of grain and food on her to show his goodwill and generosity.

Once again, we see in Ruth a new definition of loyalty or hesed.  In Ruth we see transcendence, holiness.  We see Ruth in all her humanity, as Frederick Beuchner said, “decked out in her Sunday best and smelling of seductive scents—fumbling around in the dark to lie down at tipsy Boaz’s feet.”  Yet it is especially here, in the “slightly ridiculous couple,” that we can see the very presence of God.  We see it in Ruth’s bold initiative, in her audacity, in her courage.

Like Abraham, also a foreigner, she breaks with the past, leaves it behind, and embraces the risk promise of the future.

Boaz calls Ruth a “woman of power.”  Now some translations put a different spin on the word by reading that Ruth is a “worthy” or “virtuous” woman. I think these words can lead us in a different direction.  A woman of virtue or worth connotes passive qualities, but Ruth is anything but passive.  No, Ruth was a woman of power, a woman of valor, a woman of bravery and courage.  In our story, it takes a vulnerable refugee woman to show us what those qualities are.  It redefines power.

Now, there are a couple things going on here that we need to be aware of.

First, there was in those days the practice of Levirate Marriage, which said that the surviving brother had to marry the wife of the deceased brother so she could have children and be provided for.  So this is called the “obligation of the brother-in-law.”  The word levir means brother-in-law.

So how the law might apply to Boaz is unclear.

Second, we talked before about the law of the redeemer.  You will remember that when someone falls on hard times, the next-of-kin is responsible to protect that person.  It is also unclear where Boaz stands legally here, too.  He even mentions to Ruth that there is at least one other who is actually more closely related than he, who is the actual next-of-kin.

The case is pretty weak.  And if he wanted, Boaz could certainly have his lawyer find some loopholes to avoid this obligation.

Yet, this is a story about grace overcoming law, and loyalty defeating legalism.

Ruth does not base her life upon legal obligation—if that were the case, she would have left Naomi long ago.  Rather, Ruth lives according to the basic principle of caring and kindness that is behind the law.  This is what true hesed-living is about; it’s about going beyond the call of duty, beyond the letter of the law; it’s about following the spirit of the law.  Indeed, it’s about following the Spirit of Life.

Ruth is not appealing to Boaz’s legal sense, she is appealing to his heart—to what is good and kind and loving.  She is making God’s appeal.

As you remember, the story of Ruth begins, “In the days when judges rule” or when legal matters were properly handled.  And yet there was something missing.

And so the Spirit of God called people beyond the call of duty, beyond mere human loyalty to a divine loyalty and to a kindness and steadfast love that is transcendent.

In Act Two, Boaz was moved by this Spirit in Ruth.  And he said, “May the Holy One reward you for your deeds, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!” (2:12)

Ruth remembered those words and now Boaz’s pious wish in the field comes back to him.  “Spread your wings over your servant,” she says.  Ruth makes him responsible for protecting them.  What do we piously wish for?

This reminds me of a story:

One day as he began his daily prayer, a Desert Master saw pass by a cripple, a beggar, and a beaten man.  Seeing them, the Holy One went deep into prayer and cried, “Great God!  How is it that a loving Creator can see such suffering and yet do nothing about it?”  And out of the depth of prayer, God said, “I have done something about it.  I made you.”  (from Tales of the Desert Masters)

God works through us a loyalty, a steadfast love, which is divine.  It is by working through human hearts that God’s protection is made real to others.  We are the body of Christ—the hands and feet—to make God’s love felt in this world.

God is working through this congregation as we show loyalty to each other, as we stick together, as we are here for one another, as we hold on in community even tighter when the storms toss us around.

God is working through this congregation where we are in solidarity with our sisters and brothers who have been intimidated and silenced, condemned and abused, when we bind ourselves with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and nonbinary persons everywhere who suffer discrimination and spiritual violence.

God is working through this congregation when we preach or pray or march or proclaim that sexual orientation or gender identification has nothing to do with sin, that any understanding that they are inherently sinful does not serve the love of God but only reinforces cultural prejudice, ignorance and fear.

God is working through this congregation whenever we show devotion to those in need, whenever we collect food for the hungry, whenever we show hospitality to homeless families, whenever we give protection and support to refugees, whenever we work for justice at home or far away, whenever we are moved to loving-kindness for those who hurt.

God’s loyalty to all, God’s love that stubbornly hold on, works through us.

We see this in Ruth, who became a redeemer for Naomi.  Now she calls Boaz to be her redeemer.  This non-Israelite, a nonbeliever, calls the believer to task.  And as it was demanded of Boaz, perhaps protection and redemption may be demanded of us from an outsider, as well.

In Ruth’s bold venture we see a quality, a willingness to provide the one more thing, to go the step beyond.

Not only is this quality demanded of us; we may also demand it of each other; we may count on someone to make God’s protection real to us.

Something extra is needed.  Ruth shows what this something extra is about.  This something extra—beyond the call of duty—goes to the heart of what faith is all about, what hesed/kindness/loyalty is all about, what grace is all about.

God shows this something extra in not abandoning humankind—in going beyond the call of duty.  God’s loyalty and steadfast love is demonstrated in the life of Jesus, who stood up for justice, who bound himself to the marginalized and oppressed, who stubbornly held on and would not let go.  Even when he faced torture and death, he was loyal; he held on; he did not let go.  Praise God!