After the terrible story of Jephthah’s daughter the lectionary presents the delightful story of Ruth. Ruth is a pagan woman who continues to support her widowed mother-in-law even after she became a widow. “Wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” The long arc of sacred history as described in the first eight books of the Bible are leading eventually to King David. Ruth, a non-Jew, is David’s great-grandmother. Often in our lives we get discouraged because things aren’t happening as we think the should. The Bible stories demonstrate that God’s time might not be our time but God continues to move the world toward greater peace and justice.
