You're Stuck with Me! Ruth 1:1-18

In the past month, I have officiated at three weddings, which for me, is a high number. Were I still in the parish, it would not seem so high. I recall that the summer my wife and I were married was the summer that I performed seven weddings. By the time my wedding day rolled around, I could have been on automatic pilot. Fortunately, I was not. When I pronounce a couple husband and wife, I am always struck by the power of the words I have just uttered. Because of the words I have just spoken, a couple is bound together for life, at least, legally. In reality, they have probably bound themselves together in spirit long before. But on their wedding day, the bride and groom say to one another, if not literally, then figuratively, "You're stuck with me!"
Ruth was not stuck with Naomi, but she chose to be. Ruth and Orpha (spellcheck just suggested that this word should be "Oprah") were daughters-in-law to Naomi, living in their native land, Moab, Gentile territory. However, both of their husbands died and Naomi, a Jew, decided to return to Judah, her home. Naomi gave Ruth and Orpah permission to stay behind in their homeland and find new men to marry. She felt that they had no further obligation to her. Eventually, Orpah did decide to remain behind, but Ruth chose to go with Naomi. Ruth's words to her have captured the imagination of people of faith and moviemakers ever since: “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. ¹⁷Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!” Ruth 1:16-17 NRSV.
Ruth did not have to go with Naomi, there was no obligation to care for her now that they were no longer related by marriage. Ruth CHOSE to accompany Naomi back to her homeland, where Ruth would be an outcast. Her bonds of love superseded any practical concerns about her future and welfare. The Book of Ruth is a wonderful story, whether or not any such person really lived. But why is it in the Bible? Perhaps those who chose the books for the canon wanted to make sure that a book was included that illustrated radical devotion that grows from a sense of love and loyalty to illustrate the never-ending love of God for God's people. God voluntarily chooses to be stuck with us, for the long term.
Every time I perform a wedding, I am reminded of the story of Ruth, but not for the reason that people might imagine. More than one couple, including my wife and me, have included Ruth's words to Naomi in their wedding album! I think of the story of Ruth because, in the act of professing undying love and faithfulness to one another, a couple re-enacts God's promise to always be with us, no matter how thick-headed or unfaithful we may at times act. The story of the prophet Hosea and his naughty wife Gomer is another reminder of a long-suffering and ever-faithful God whose love is a pattern to be emulated by every set of individuals who pledge love and faithfulness to one another. Marriage and lifelong unions are not always pretty as they move through the years, and they seldom live up to the romanticized visions painted on the wedding day. But just as no amount of contrariness and rebelliousness can ever cause God to leave God's people, those who live together in marriage or lifelong unions will prosper if they but remember the story of a loving former daughter-in-law and mother-in-law and their journey together. In that tale is the story of our faith, our hope and our end.