God Doesn't Recognize Borders
Aug 25: Friday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Today, we have a story of a gentile woman choosing to join the Hebrew faith. And we have a group of “faithful” challenging Jesus not on His faith, but on His knowledge of the law.
In both cases, our heroes choose love over tradition.
Reading 1
Ru 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22
Once in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land; so a man from Bethlehem of Judah departed with his wife and two sons to reside on the plateau of Moab. Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women, one named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion died also, and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband. She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab because word reached her there that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her.
Naomi said, "See now! Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god. Go back after your sister-in-law!"
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."
Thus it was that Naomi returned with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Ruth is exceptional. Literally. Israelites weren’t supposed to intermarry with Moabites (nor other tribes),1 because those pagans would lead them away from God.
Ruth, on the other hand, is the one who came to God. She decides to become an Israelite by choice, following her mother-in-law. This act of kindness has a profound effect on the future, as we’ll see.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 146:5-6ab, 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
The LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
God often helps us by bringing special people in our lives. Naomi lost her sons and her husband! What could she do?
You can imagine how desperate she must’ve been. And yet, here’s this daughter-in-law, this foreigner, this woman she was told would lead her son and grandchildren astray. Ruth is Naomi’s salvation?
Surely, God had a plan.
Alleluia
Ps 25:4b, 5a
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Teach me your paths, my God,
guide me in your truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Ruth was open to learning, as should we all be.
Gospel
Mt 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
He said to him, "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. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
I imagine Ruth was a little overwhelmed when she found out about the 613 laws in the Torah. We know Jesus answer here was not original to Him—rabbis and scholars had long debated which law was “the greatest,” and Jesus’ answer was a popular one. So it’s possible Ruth had heard it long before.
Jesus’ innovation, presaged by Ruth’s story, was to expand the definition of “neighbor.” It’s not your literal neighbor, nor is it limited to Jews. It’s everyone.
Like the Good Samaritan, Ruth was a foreigner from a disliked tribe, yet she showed love and kindness, reflecting God’s love for all. We would do well to follow her example.