Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost; 31 October 2021; Proper 26B (RCL); Ruth 1:1-18; Psalm 146; Hebrews 9:11-14; Mark 12:28-34.
All of these readings seem to struggle with the heart of religion under changed conditions: what does it mean to be faithful to God in new circumstances?
The story of Ruth is a perfectly lovely story, but surprising for its time. Although scholars have trouble dating Ruth, it seems to me to fit best in a post-exilic context, as a counter-point to the book of Ezra. Any crisis forces a culture to reassess its assets, and to commit what is important to long-term memory. The crisis of the Exile forced a look back at the long period of the monarchy, being honest about both its strengths and shortcomings. Deuteronomy probably achieved its final form sometime after the crisis of exile, and sees the exile itself as God’s punishment for Israel’s and Judah’s unfaithfulness.
Job, at least the poetic section, seems to be a counter-point to that theological move. Once exiles were allowed to return to Jerusalem and Judah, a great collective effort was undertaken to reestablish an identity of some sort, either national or religious, if those could be separated at the time. Who was a “Jew” (although that term is an anachronism for the period under consideration)? Leviticus gave the answer, “Anyone who sacrifices at the altar at the tabernacle” (using that, instead of the Temple in order to retroject its answer back into the wilderness period).
Ezra gave the answer, “Anyone who can trace ancestry back to those who were carried into Exile” (see chapter 8). All of the people who had stayed behind had compromised their membership in the people by marrying foreign women (which of course means that only men who stayed behind counted), and Ezra pronounced the great divorce. All of these men, in order to maintain membership in the people, must divorce their foreign wives, which included Moabite women.
I believe the book of Ruth serves as an answer to Ezra (as does the book of Leviticus). Ruth, a Moabitess, becomes the great-grandmother of David, the ideal king. So, what makes Ruth a member of the people? It’s a startling question to ask. She is a woman, and a Moabitess. But, she demonstrates faithfulness to the covenant of YHWH: where you go, I will go, your people shall be my people, your God, my God, where you die, I will die. And, she takes an active role in securing her place among God’s people, initiating the relationship with Boaz. All in all, she is more faithful to the covenant than many other biblical examples that could be adduced. Matthew places her in the genealogy of Jesus, along with only three other women. The book of Ruth gives a charming answer to the question of what constitutes the essence of faithfulness.
In the Gospel reading, a scribe who has overheard Jesus’ disputes with the Pharisees (is it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar) and the Sadducees (whose wife will the woman be in the resurrection) asks Jesus what is the greatest commandment. The answer Jesus gives is nothing surprising. Other rabbis would give the same answer to the question in the period shortly after Mark wrote his Gospel. What is surprising is the Scribes response, given the setting Mark gives to the story.
The Scribe says, “This is truly more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Jesus replies that the Scribe is not far from the Kingdom of God. By the time of Mark’s writing, the Temple would have been destroyed, again raising the question of the essence of religion — who is a Jew (no, no longer an anachronism). All that is required is love of God and neighbor (however that gets defined — Luke’s Gospel will raise that question). Cultic observance no longer lies at the heart of faithfulness to God.
The Letter to the Hebrews also struggles with the nature of cultic observance (religion). Jesus has fulfilled that once for all time. Again, scholars struggle to date the “letter,” but a time-frame of 60-90 CE seems reasonable. Interestingly, in writing about the high-priestly work of Christ in the true inner sanctum in the presence of God, the author leaps over the Temple back to the wilderness tabernacle. Christ’s redemptive sacrifice has replaced the sacrifices at the tabernacle (and the Temple which replicated it — see Leviticus). But again, cultic observance no longer lies at the heart of religious faithfulness, or better, Jesus’ once-for-all, eternal cultic observance is sufficient.
Where does that leave us? Is church attendance essential to faithfulness? Maybe not. But certainly, we need to be really careful about drawing lines which exclude some from the covenant community. Ruth is at the heart of the circle, rather than on its outside. The scribe is close to the Kingdom of heaven. The cult certainly can’t inscribe the circle, it can’t be used to exclude. And if it doesn’t include, it needs reformation.