Sermon for October 12, 2025, Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Ruth 1:1-19a (Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost/Proper 23—Series C)

“God’s Mercy in Our Trouble”

Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, Enfield, CT

October 12, 2025

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text is the Old Testament Reading from Ruth, chapter 1:

¹ In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. ² The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. ³ But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴ These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, ⁵ and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. ⁶ Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. ⁷ So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. ⁸ But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. ⁹ The LORD grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. ¹⁰ And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” ¹¹ But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? ¹² Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, ¹³ would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.” ¹⁴ Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. ¹⁵ And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ 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.” ¹⁸ And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. ¹⁹ So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem.

          The Book of Ruth brings us into the tension of a family faced with extinction. We find ourselves asking, “Can they possibly survive? Will God come to their aid?”

          Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and two sons, Mahlon and Chilion were forced to leave their home because of famine. Ironically, they had to leave Bethlehem, which means, “house of bread,” because there was no bread or food for them. So, Elimelech took his family to the land of the Moabites to find food. And it was in the land of Moab that Elimelech died! But Naomi had her two sons who married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. But after about ten years, Naomi’s sons, Mahlon and Chilion, died! “The woman was left without her two sons and her husband.”

          For Naomi, to be deprived of both husband and sons and to be too old to remarry was the worst possible situation for a woman in ancient society. Her father would no longer be alive. She would have no recourse to make living. Noami was thus deprived of the blessings of old age. She had three strikes against her—she is poor, vulnerable without a protector, and a stranger in a foreign land. This is a family faced with extinction. Can they possibly survive? Will God come to their aid?

          As we read this chapter of Ruth, our hearts ache for Naomi. Those who have lost a spouse know the deep grief that it brings. Naomi had that grief and sorrow to deal with, a burden upon her heart. But she had her sons to provide and care for her. And then, her sons both died. The grief of a widow now becomes the grief of a mother. Do we see in Naomi the female counterpart to the suffering Job? Job said, “As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter” (Job 27:2 ESV). When Naomi returned to Bethlehem, she told the women of the village, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara [bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” (Ruth 1:20-21 ESV).

          A family faced with extinction. The suffering of grief, pain, hunger, and the fear of being alone. We have that suffering and fear in our lives too, don’t we? The death of a spouse or our children brings profound grief. Besides many emotional pains in life like anxiety or depression, some also live with physical pain and difficulties to do even the routine things of daily life. There is the stress of providing for oneself and family. We don’t experience a famine of food, but of funds with which to buy the food, clothes, and other necessary items.

Job lamented, “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1 ESV). Jesus Himself didn’t dilute the truth. He said, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33 ESV). That is our reality in a fallen world and as fallen human creatures. But our Lord continued, saying, “Take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 ESV).

God may allow suffering to continue for His people for a time, but eventually, out of compassion, He provides for His people’s needs and promises to grant eternal deliverance from all troubles. Ruth 1:6, “Then [Naomi] arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.” The Lord intervenes in our daily lives. He frees us from worrying over any material concerns to concentrate primarily on His reign and rule which come to us through His Word and Sacraments. Our Lord teaches us so to pray for our “daily bread,” everything that we need to support this body and life that He graciously gives to us in His time and according to His good pleasure.

A family faced with extinction—and the Lord provided for them. He brought Naomi and Ruth back to Bethlehem. The Lord provided for Naomi and Ruth through a kinsman-redeemer named Boaz, who allowed Ruth to glean his grain fields. He even provided her with extra food to support her and her mother-in-law. As we see God at work for this family, Boaz would redeem Elimelech’s land as well as Ruth herself. Boaz married Ruth, and they became the great-grandparents of King David and an ancestor of our Lord Jesus in His incarnation. We read in Matthew 1, “Boaz [was] the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king” (Matt. 1:5-6 ESV).

Who could have imagined just how God’s gracious mercy and help would play out? He preserved Naomi and Ruth by providing for their physical needs. And according to the Lord’s master plan, He saved Naomi, Ruth, Boaz, and all people from sin and death by providing a Savior through their genealogy.

You see, the story of Ruth and Naomi is, in a way, our story too. After the Fall of Adam and Eve into sin, the human family was faced with extinction. All humanity is under the curse of sin and the punishment of eternal death. And the question answered through the pages of Holy Scripture is, “Will God come to humanity’s aid and rescue? Will He really make good on His promise to send a Savior so that we will not perish but have eternal life?” As God came to the aid of Naomi and Ruth, in an even greater and more wondrous way, God has come to the rescue of sinful humanity by becoming human flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary. God the Son became flesh, a descendent of Boaz and Ruth. The Lord’s care for Ruth resulted in the Lord’s promise fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Savior.

Jesus, true God and true Man, also suffered Himself for a time, including hunger and thirst. Remember our Lord’s temptation? “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone’” (Luke 4:1-4 ESV). Once, as Jesus passed through Samaria, He came to a town called Sychar. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink” (John 4:5-7 ESV).

Jesus’ ultimate hungering and thirst would happen as He suffered and died on a cross to win forgiveness for the sins of the world. “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:28-30 ESV).

It is finished! Your rescue from sin and death has been accomplished by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and with His rising again on the third day! St. Paul summarizes the work of Jesus this way in the letter to the Philippians, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:5-11 NAS95).

Jesus Christ is Lord! That is the earliest creed and confession of the Church. Jesus Christ is Lord! He is in control for our good and blessing according to His gracious will for us. Jesus is “the One who has brought us from Satan to God, from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and who preserves us in the same.” (Large Catechism II.31).^[1] Jesus invites you in Psalm 50, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Psa. 50:15 ESV). With the Psalmist, we rejoice in faith and trust in the words of Psalm 46, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling” (Psa. 46:1-3 ESV).

Hidden in their grief and suffering, God was present with Noami and Ruth. He was caring and providing for them, for “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28 ESV). Under the suffering of the cross, God is present with us in our troubles, working all things for good according to His, often, hidden purposes. But what is revealed to us is that through Jesus’ life, suffering, death, and resurrection, we have a Savior who is with us. Jesus, true God and man, is Immanuel, “God with Us,” just as He promises in Matthew 28, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20 ESV).

We have a Lord over sin, death, hell, suffering, trouble, and persecution, Jesus Christ. And it is Christ our Lord who does provide for us in all of life’s seasons, not always in ways that we might prefer, in always in ways that are truly best for us because He loves us. Your Lord loves you and cares for you. Can you possibly survive all what you suffer in this life? Oh, yes! You will survive and you will thrive in His Kingdom forevermore, no matter what happens on this side of heaven. God has come to your aid. He has given you His Son, the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. And He continues to provide all that you need to support this body and life, even in times of trouble. Amen.

     ^[1] Paul Timothy McCain, ed., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (St. Louis: Concordia, 2005), 402.