In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. (Ruth 1:1-5)

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. (Matthew 1:5-6)

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

This Advent season, we’ll be walking through the short, four-chapter Old Testament book of Ruth. Matthew includes Ruth in his genealogy of Jesus at the opening of his Gospel. She is fully part of the Christmas story along with three other women, but why is she there? Perhaps it is because each of the women included tells a unique story of God’s salvation, and not of the sort that we usually consider.

Matthew tells us through the angel’s words that the baby born to Joseph and Mary is to be named “Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” When we hear this, we get the sense that Jesus has come to clear away our record of sin in the court of God’s law, so that when we stand at the pearly gates and God says “why ought I let you into my heaven,” we can point to Jesus and get through to eternal bliss.

Now: this is a true part of the story indeed, but it is also a horribly flat reduction of the story—unable to bear the weight of real human lives. If the lives we live equate to nothing more than a cold courtroom scene where with the right passcode (Jesus!) can get you through to an equally sterile eternity of who-knows-what—I’m not sure I want in. If we are to have a hope that we can hang onto and hold out to others, it has to be a little thicker soup than that.

Thanks be to God: the soup is indeed thicker. Chunky even with real meat and vegetables!

The women of Matthew’s genealogy put some flesh on these bones of “Jesus saving his people from sin” so that we can understand a bit better what it actually looks like. Not just at the end of life: but already now, here, in the real unresolved messes of our human lives as we live them. Jesus’ saving of his people from sin includes the legal case, yes, but also the effects of sin and the curse on all of Creation, including on our marriages, families, workplaces, moves, and more.

The opening verses of Ruth set the stage for this holistic redemption of God to unfold. It will take place in the life of a woman whose lost everything: her home country, her husband, her sons, and with these men, also her provision, security, and place in society. Her plight is not because of any sin that she has committed, we note, but simply because of her life in a yet sin-broken and cursed Creation. Her sons’ names mean “sickness” and “wasting away:” these are the impacts of sin on Naomi’s life. So in the life of this refugee who has lost everything, can salvation come? Join us as we find out how.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you.

May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm.

May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you.

May he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.