A Foreshadowing of Mary
Part 6 on The Book of Ruth
And now we come to the most well known passage in this little book. These lines are used in countless wedding ceremonies every year. And when they are spoken in that context they are certainly aspirational. All the witnesses to the marriage hope their vows will stick and carry this happy couple through all the more difficult times ahead.
Within the situation where these words were actually spoken they are even more profound. They are the words of a young widow spoken to the most important person in her life; the woman who has become like her own mother.
Ruth is making her solemn vow in response to Naomi’s love that has been walking by her side and encouraging her through the darkest years of her young life, while Naomi herself was just as broken, if not more so. Theirs was a bond forged in mutual suffering. It was in this context Ruth saw the critical importance of clinging to Naomi’s God. She declares her complete loyalty to Naomi and her God because, compared to them, nothing else matters anymore.
And [Naomi] said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried.
May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
Ruth 1:15-18 (ESV)
This selflessness reminds me of Jesus’s mother Mary. She too was given a choice as a young woman to follow God into the unknown and trust he would see her through it or decline his invitation and stick with what is more routine and familiar. I wonder if Ruth’s story entered her mind as she considered her options before the angel Gabriel?
Birth of Jesus Foretold
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.
And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:26-38 (ESV)
I hope you are finding these studies helpful.
One possible application to consider, should you be married, is to set aside time to read this story out loud together. Talk about the hard times you have already faced, and then renew your vows. It is during the harder times of life when these words make the most sense and are the most healing.
