Elimelech and his wife Naomi, along with their two sons, left the impoverished
land of Judah carrying a hope that they would be more than refugees in a foreign
country. In their new home, the country of Moab, life was better. However, it
was not too long before Naomi's husband Elimelech died. The sons, being of marriageable
age, each took Moabite woman as wives and protected and cared for their mother
Naomi. Within ten years time, both sons had died. Their widows were still young
enough to start over. Naomi encouraged them to do so. As for herself, Naomi
heard things had gotten better in Judah so she decided to return home to Bethlehem.
Her daughters-in-law were heartbroken at the thought of parting. Orpah kissed
her mother-in-law and returned to her Moabite clan. But Ruth clung to Naomi.
Ruth - had every legal (and a fair amount of moral) right to leave Naomi.
[seek husband, bear sons; at least return to protection of own family]
- instead Ruth transcends cultural norm and legal code, puts aside own
potential hurt and loneliness, to be present to Naomi: "Where you go, I
will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and
your God my God. Where you die, I will die!"
- Ruth vows to be present, giving of herself for the good, for the
healing and wholeness of Naomi. And Naomi, for her part, in no longer trying
to convince Ruth otherwise, Naomi's actions speak a similar vow: The two of
them went on together.
The two of them: Relationship
- giving of yourself for the wholeness of the other
[and what one gives is not lost, but regenerated in the bond of relationship]
* Any committed, self-giving relationship in which a mutual bond is
established, nurtured and cherished is a relationship in which Christ is present-present
to heal and to make whole.
- So often, we envision this relationship as marriage, but certainly is
not limited to that form of human vow-taking-
[as seen in Ruth and Naomi; David and Jonathan;
Jesus and the Beloved Disciple; Mary and Joseph;
and one's own experience of best friend, soul mate, partner
The Christian concept of true love
- is given flesh and blood whenever and wherever two persons give of
themselves-establishing, nurturing and cherishing: their bond and vow of being
really present to/for each other.
RELATIONSHIP - THE HOLY SPIRIT'S CHICKEN SOUP
- Relationship is medicine
a physical and spiritual medicine
Relationship is a flesh, blood and soul healer
Elie Wiesel, the Noble Prize-winning author and survivor of the Holocaust, speaks of this relationship as the truest of friendships:
"And what is a friend? More than a father, more than a brother: a traveling
companion, with him you can conquer the impossible, even if you must lose it
later. Friendship marks a life (deeply and forever)… Friendship is (mutuality),
is never anything but sharing. It is to a friend that you communicate the awakening
of a desire, the birth of a vision or a terror, the anguish of seeing the sun
disappear or finding that order and justice are no more. That's what you can
talk about with a friend… (Does God exist? What is death? And what about
Life?--) In the mouth of a philosopher, these questions may have a false ring,
but asked by two friends in relationship, they have the power to change being:
a look burns and ordinary gestures tend to transcend themselves.
What is a friend? Someone who for the first time makes you aware of your loneliness
and his, and helps you escape so you in turn can help him…"
The Heart of Christianity
- is this Relationship of Presence
- The Gospels reveal to us a Jesus Christ who is God's Healing Presence
- Throughout Luke's Gospel, Jesus is present with those who have been left alone
or abandoned-
a crazy man who runs around naked, spewing demon talk
dying slaves, dead children
an aging, sickly, hemorrhaging woman
a much younger woman about whom a lot of sick talk is made
- To these people and more, Jesus is Healing Presence, offering them
the relationship that brings them back to wholeness
- While society says to them "You have no health in you", relegating
them to the boundary lines, Jesus, not playing the culture's game,
dares to approach the sidelines, steps out-of-bounds and touches
them
- Jesus brings them back; he restores them. Luke recounts numerous
acts of physical healing. But in each case it is not only physical; it is emotional
and spiritual health, too:
Jesus' touch and their openness to his touch
is the beginning of relationship
the beginning of faith.
Jesus tells them, "This relationship is what makes you well."
- And not only is the healing physical, emotional and spiritual.
It is social. Jesus, in healing them, restores them in the very community to
which they had been denied access.
- Add to all this, the apostolic nature of the healing: Those who are
made well are sent. The relationship that healed them is the
relationship with which they are to heal. They are to be the healing
presence of Christ. They are sent as God's antibodies, injected into
the flesh and blood stream of the world to overcome the human
virus which works its death by separating and alienating people,
creating loneliness, isolation and fear.
In today's Gospel
- We see God's Body and Blood present to fight this dis-ease
- Christ reaches out to heal those lepers
- Ten are cured, but only one is whole-
The one who returns to give thankful praise, his way of vowing
himself to the relationship.
Jesus and the leper
Ruth and Naomi-
May we learn of relationship,
of God's healing and wholistic art,
from them.
Amen.
©Thomas F. Reese
October 10, 2004