Caela's Sermon Blog: “Hesed”

Ruth 1:1-18

Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

First Congregational UCC, Manhattan, KS

July 25, 2021

A few weeks ago, I was talking with a friend who was sharing her frustrations about how her church has handled difficult decisions about how to gather during the pandemic. She confessed to me a bit sheepishly that though she generally has a lot of respect for her pastor, she was confused about a phrase she had heard him repeat several times in recent months, “We trust every individual in our congregation to make the safest decision for themselves.”

“I just don’t get it,” she said, “Is that really what we’re supposed to be about as Christians? Making the best decision just for ourselves as individuals? That’s not the message I hear when I read the Bible or look at Jesus. We’re not supposed to be making our decisions based on what’s best for ME. We’re supposed to be thinking, first and foremost, about the whole community and especially those who are most vulnerable, right?”

I couldn’t disagree with her, of course. Our call as Christians is absolutely to make decisions based on what’s best for the whole community, especially those who are most vulnerable. If it happens to also be good for me, great. But Jesus didn’t call us to self-centeredness. And it’s hard to overstate how radically counter-cultural this is in the year 2021 in the United States. After all, we’ve got billionaires who could single-handedly end hunger or homelessness in this country but are instead joy-riding around in space with their friends. Those of us who are trying to follow Jesus are given the task of remembering that we are called to love one another (Every. Single. Other).….and that’s very much at odds with the hyper-individualistic air that surrounds us.

But Jesus keeps calling us into something bigger than ourselves and the pandemic has provided more opportunities than we might prefer to live into that call. And it hasn’t been easy. None of us has done it perfectly - or anywhere close - yet and still, we keep trying to make decisions based on the health and wholeness of the whole community, especially the most vulnerable. Because that’s what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

My friend was talking about masks, but we know that conversations around vaccines are like this, too. It is, of course, quite easy to encourage a friend or family member to receive a vaccine because it’s in their own self-interest. For the vast, vast majority of people right now, doing the self-centered thing that’s good for us as individuals includes getting vaccinated. (And, of course, everyone should talk to their own doctor, who knows them best, when making these kinds of decisions about their health.)

In southwest Missouri, where COVID is so awful right now and vaccine rates are lagging, more than 200 pastors have come together to make a theological claim about vaccination: it is one of the best ways that we who follow Jesus can love our neighbors as ourselves right now. [1] If we take seriously the call to do justice and love mercy, these pastors say, we need to roll up our sleeves as long as our healthcare provider says it's safe for us to do so. We do it not just for ourselves but for others - especially those who are vulnerable. We do it because Jesus calls us to make our decisions based on what’s best for the health and wholeness of us all, especially the most vulnerable among us. This is what it looks like to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. It’s WE plus ME.

Now you might be saying to yourself, did I come to church today to talk about COVID? Or is this preacher ever going to talk about the Bible?

Have no fear, my friends, because the reason I’m talking about all of this has EVERYTHING to do with the Book of Ruth. Now, in case you got a little lost in all those biblical names, let me briefly summarize what we heard. Once upon a time there was a couple, Elimelech and Naomi. They were from Bethlehem but had to migrate to a foreign land, Moab, because of a famine. They took their two sons with them. Eventually, Elimelech died and Naomi’s two sons married two local, Moabite women - Ruth and Orpah.

Naomi’s two sons die leaving her and her two daughters-in-law alone to fend for themselves. In this communally-oriented culture, being “family-less” was one of the worst things that could happen to a person. Especially to a woman.

Naomi has heard that things have improved in her homeland so she makes the decision to return to Judah. Initially, her daughters-in-law go with her. But somewhere along the way, Naomi tells them, “You know, I think you should actually go back home to Moab. Nothing good awaits you in Judah and you’ll have better options if you stay here.”

The three women huddle together on the side of the road, crying. Eventually, Orpah kisses her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clings to Naomi, refusing to leave.

“I’ll come with you,” she says. “Do not force me to leave you. Wherever you go, I’ll go. Where you stay, I will stay. Your people shall be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die and be buried there with you. May God seal these words as a pledge to you.”

Ruth, as a young woman living in a rigidly patriarchal society, did not have the power to change the entire culture swirling around her. Naomi didn’t either. But by clinging to her mother-in-law, Ruth did change the world. Together, these two women stuck together and the outcome of this story was very different because they loved one another - even when it was hard to do.

There is a Hebrew word for this kind of love...and it doesn’t translate directly into English. Hesed is the thread that runs through the entire book of Ruth, tying the story together from beginning to end. English versions of the Hebrew Bible usually translate hesed as mercy, kindness, lovingkindness, goodness. Hesed is in a Bible verse that we tend to love around here, Micah 6:8: “What does God require of you, O mortal, but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?” That “love mercy” part is hesed.

It’s a covenental kind of lovingkindness, deeply rooted in our commitments to one another. It’s faithfulness and steadfast love. The kind of love that persists even when it’s hard. The kind of love that thinks of WE instead of just ME. I really appreciate the translation lovingkindness because it reminds us that love is not primarily about warm fuzzy feelings we have towards people that we like, agree with, or admire. Love is action. Making choices - small and big - to DO love. After all, kindness isn’t typically a feeling you have, it’s an action.

Where did Ruth and Naomi and Boaz learn hesed? Where do we find the strength to live into hesed like they did? Well, it turns out it is our birthright as creatures made in the divine imprint of love - made in God’s image. Singer/songwriter Michael Card argues in his book Inexpressible: The Mystery of God’s Lovingkindness that hesed may just be the most important concept in the Hebrew Scriptures. The word shows up almost 250 times and it’s one of the key, defining characteristics of God.

Card says God’s lovingkindness is what makes our God distinctive. “The great surprise of the Hebrew Bible is not that God is awesome or holy. These characteristics we would expect from God. The great surprise is that [God] is a God of hesed. This is what fundamentally makes [God] unlike [other gods].” [2]

This lovingkindness, covenental love, faithfulness, mercy is our birthright as people created in God’s image. We see it when Ruth chooses to cling to Naomi, even though that isn’t necessarily the easy or self-preserving choice. In faith and in covenental love, she chooses WE - not just ME - and boldly proclaims that she will go with Naomi.

This is what it means to be family and the book of Ruth is such an important reminder that family goes way, way beyond blood relations. Hesed is a commitment to people we live with and people we don’t. Hesed is shared between relatives and friends and even enemies when we’re really leaning into it. Hesed is not about what we have in common, but about choosing to love even in the midst of difference. Hesed is following the way of Jesus as we relentlessly ask for God’s strength and guidance as we try to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.

Hesed is made incarnate in the historical person of Jesus of Nazareth, “the Word made flesh, come to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit.” [3] You know, when I first saw this gorgeous new piece of art, I said to Paulicia, “I am so drawn to this Jesus. I want to just curl up next to him and have him teach me everything about Love.” Jesus embodied hesed and gave us a model for how we can do the same.

If we allow our hearts to be drawn into the heart of Christ…

if we open ourselves to the movement of the Spirit in our midst…

if we consciously choose to receive God’s lovingkindness - hesed...

we, like Ruth, can be instruments of healing and wholeness in a world that so desperately needs it.

So let’s just curl up next to Jesus for just a moment. And take a few quiet moments in silence to sit with lovingkindness incarnate as we honor God’s stillspeaking voice in art.