23 August 2013 - truth is absolute, in laws are relative

23 August 2013 - truth is absolute, in laws are relative

The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.

Ruth comes to have some sense of the care the LORD has for widows.  It is through her relationship with the People of God that she finds comfort and purpose.  We can see this clearly when Ruth pleads to remain with Naomi even when ties of family and law no longer bind them.

But Ruth said, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!
For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge,
your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

It is as if she can hear the LORD say "I will never abandon you nor forsake you" (cf. Deu. 31:6) through Naomi.

If we are open to the God's presence in our own lives then our love can reveal him to widows, orphans, and all who stand in need of his love.  We sense the deep desperation in Ruth's plea.  She has a taste of the family for which she is truly meant: God's family.  There is no turning back now.

They are in a world of famine.  Bonds are breaking and people are going their own way to provide for themselves.  But the people of God know that Bethlehem is "the house of bread."  They hear "that the LORD had visited his people and given them food."

The LORD visits his people the most perfectly in Jesus Christ, the bread of life, born in the "house of bread" to satisfy the deep hunger of all mankind.  Let our souls praise him for his tender care!  How truly he "gives food to the hungry." 

Therefore, nothing is more important than putting God first.

You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.

It is this love of God which empowers our love of neighbor. It is this love which enables us to love even our in laws as we love ourselves.  We may be tempted to turn such obligations away.   But when we hear the cry of desperation for God in their pleas let us be open to God loving them through us.  He is the unchanging point in the changing world that we all desperately need.

The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.