The Good News According To Ruth -- By: Sonja Dixon

Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 32:2 (Spring 2018)
Article: The Good News According To Ruth
Author: Sonja Dixon


The Good News According To Ruth

Sonja Dixon

Sonja Dixon’s passion is to lead with contagious enthusiasm, to create community, and to encourage and equip others to follow Jesus. She achieves these goals through relational leadership, facilitative teaching, time alone with God, and in her practices as a lifelong learner. She received an MATS at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a DMin from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Sonja is an ordained Lutheran pastor and serves as associate pastor at the WHY Church in Elk River, Minnesota, and also as an adjunct teacher and speaker.

A Sermon by Sonja Dixon

We have a great story to consider this morning as we look at two dynamic women—certainly Ruth, but also her mother-in-law, Naomi. Before I go any further, I want to let you know that I have gained helpful insights into the story of these women of faith from three especially helpful authors: Ruth Tuttle Conard, Alice Mathews, and Carolyn Custis James.1

Ruth is one of only two books in our Bible with a woman’s name as the title. The other, of course, is Esther. Moreover, Ruth is one of only two books in our Bible written from a woman’s perspective. More precisely, one of about one-and-a-half books, for Song of Songs includes extensive poetry from a woman’s perspective. The two main characters are women, with Boaz being the third. In the male-oriented, patriarchal society of those days, where women were valued primarily through marriage and bearing male heirs, we find not only two single women, but, even lower on society’s scale, widowed women with no living children. Indeed, the story of Ruth is filled with drama; there’s tragedy and triumph, loss and gain, and of course, romance. Much like a fairy tale, it is a story of true love with a happily-ever-after ending. But more than a fairy tale, this true love is inspired by the source of love, the very heart of God.

As we dig into Scripture, it is important always to consider the context, the setting of the story. So we begin at v. 1. It reads, “In the days when the judges ruled. . . .” The period of time in Israelite history marked by the rule of judges was an era dominated by weak faith and irresponsible conduct. The climate was one of barbaric oppression, tribal civil wars, and unchecked lawlessness. The last words in the book of Judges, which immediately precedes Ruth in the Christian canon, describe this time period well: “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes” or, as the New International Version puts it, “everyone did as they saw fit.” Sound familiar? The book of Ruth is a good reminder to us that even in the worst times, in every era in hi...

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