When we're going through hell, how can we keep on going?
The answer? By remembering two pieces of very good news concealed in the pile of pains, pangs, and persecutions of this text:
It should be noted that all of the great Bible narratives, from the tales of Genesis to the potent story of the Exodus to the story of Jesus begin with small tales of family. We ought never discount the power of the small family story to offer the origins of the larger narratives that occupy so much of our attention in the course of our sacred history; they are always worth a further look.
Dr. Donna Giver-Johnston’s book Claiming the Call to Preach critically examines the dominant historical narrative that overtly or covertly has exercised its power to keep women from preaching.
I know lots of adults who make sure they buy enough candy (that they like) so they have some left when the trick or treaters have stopped ringing the doorbell Halloween night. We all have our own ways of keeping a little something back for ourselves. We can't all be like this noble widow giving away her last bit of cash with nothing left in her ATM. She's all in.
All that Ruth has done, from her great speech on the Bethlehem road to her risk in a foreign field to her greater risk on the threshing floor at midnight, has been solely because she has loved Naomi. It is this amazing devotion to her mother-in-law that makes Ruth one of the Bible’s great models for the love of YHWH for the people. In this tale, it seems, God is a Moabite widow. How about that?
God doesn't want much. God just wants your heart, the seat of your emotions, your inner character, and your decision-making. God just wants your caring, your character, your creativity, and your carry-through. Strengthened by God's giving God's heart to us, we can give ours to our neighbor.
The time of the story is “when the judges ruled.” Setting Ruth’s story in that time, any reader might hold their breath, waiting for the next dismemberment or raunchy sexual escapade. Fortunately, absolutely none of that occurs, yet the story has more than its share of surprising and startling events.
The sharp-tongued, unyielding Job, who refused to knuckle under to the friend’s avowed pieties, is the sort of dialogue partner that YHWH prefers. When God finds Job to God’s liking, God frees all worshippers to bring truth to God, no matter how harsh, no matter how painful. Like those harsh psalms of lament and complaint, Job pulls no punches with God, and neither should we.
Welcome to episode 16 of Must Reads with Dr. Sarah Travis, featuring her book Unspeakable: Preaching and Trauma-Informed Theology. The book was inspired by Dr. Travis’ personal experience of grief over the loss of her son.
Some readers imagine that God here merely reiterates the sharp attacks against Job’s arrogance, but I think not. I see God winking slyly, and saying to Job to go on and “tread down the wicked in their place,” as you think I do, knowing full well that Job cannot do that, precisely because God does not do that either!
Within our hearts are both humility and arrogance, respect for others and a desire to outshine them, a desire to serve and a craving to be served. The one you feed wins. How do we feed the humility and spirit of service Jesus holds up as the model for discipleship in this passage from 10:35-45?
Job believes with assurance that “an upright person could reason with God,” and after the case has been argued Job is convinced that he “would be acquitted forever by my judge” (Job 23:7).
© SMU Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence
