"From the Margins to the Center" - Ruth 1:1-18

The Bechdel test, originally created by a cartoonist by the name of Alison Bechdel, is a way to measure the presence of active female characters in movie or work of literature.  To pass the Bechdel test the work must have 3 things- 1) more than one female character, 2) female characters that talk to one another and not only to men, and 3) the two female characters talk about something other than men.  At present it is estimated that only about half of all movies made pass this Bechdel test- the majority of our films do not include portrayals of active female characters.

If one were to apply the Bechdel test to the Bible, Ruth would likely be the only book to pass.  The book of Ruth is notable for the way that it centers two women in its story, Ruth and Naomi.  Naomi is a Israelite woman who moved to Moab with her husband and two sons.  After her husband and two sons all die, Naomi decides to return to her people in Israel and seek help there.  Ruth, a Moabite woman, who married one of Naomi’s sons, chooses to go with Naomi and help her to start a new life in Israel.  The book of Ruth details how these two women help one another to create a new life out of the ruins of their past.

Yet Ruth is more than just a short story about two women helping one another. What seems like an inconsequential tale, reveals itself to be one of supreme importance when we learn that Ruth’s son is to be named Jesse; the father of the great King David of Israel.  The book of Ruth locates this outsider, a gentile woman, as the grandmother of Israel’s greatest King, and thereby a direct ancestor of Jesus Christ.  According to the book of Ruth, women and outsiders are not incidental to the history of our salvation- rather they are central to it!  The message of Ruth is largely that God works wonders through people like Ruth- through women, and outsiders, and marginalized groups.  If we seek to be kind and faithful in our everyday lives as Ruth was in hers, we too can be used for the building of God’s kingdom here on earth.  If we welcome outsiders, if we care for marginalized people, and if we center women in our shared life, we can expect that God will work wonders through our church as well.

Rev. Andrew Greenhaw