Trinity Metropolitan Community Church of Gainesville (Trinity MCC)

Biblical Women; Another View

Rev. Jim Merritt

Trinity MCC
November 8, 2009

Introduction:

            I have been intrigued my today’s sermon for weeks. And before I really get into the thick of it, it is important for me to “qualify” with you for just a minute. First, I understand that there is no way I will ever know how it feels to live in a biologically female body. I understand that, particularly as a white man raised in the Southern United States, I will never fully comprehend how oppressive this system of patriarchal white power in which we live has oppressed anyone who did not live in a white male body. I DO, however, understand how it is to be different from the main stream, different from what society expects, and to love in ways different from what society would call the norm. I have also known for many years that coming from all this privileged background I could never label myself a Feminist Theologian. So, you can imagine how overcome I was the day I went to my mailbox at Episcopal Divinity School and opened a letter from the President of the school informing me that the faculty was awarding me the Alison B. Cheek Prize in Feminist Liberation theology. I was so happy I cried and I will tell you that no other award in all my academic career has meant more to me than that one. I am an out gay southern white male feminist liberation theologian and that is one of the proudest distinctions I carry. And having heard that, you will understand how I got completely caught up with today’s readings. Let’s look at them together.

            The Book of Ruth is unique in the Bible because it is one of only two books named for women. The other is the book of Esther, also in the Old Testament. To make the background clear, Naomi has three sons who are married and childless. During a famine, the sons die. Since the widows have no male to take care of them, Naomi strongly insists that they return to their mother’s houses. Take note of that. In most other places in scripture people are told to return to their father’s houses, and Naomi, being a formidable woman turns that practice around and sends two of her daughters-in-law back to their MOTHER’S houses. Ruth insists that she is staying. And we see her make the strongest possible profession of love to Naomi in chapter 1 verse 16. She says, “Do not press me to leave you or turn back from following you! 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 – there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me and more as well, if even death parts me from you.

            These words represent the strongest physical relationship between two women expressed anywhere in scripture. The Hebrew word used to express the clinging of Ruth to Naomi, Davka, is the same word used to describe the relationship of a man to a woman in marriage. And how many heterosexual weddings have you attended where the older translation of these words has been used, “Entreat me not to leave thee, etc. etc.?” It’s not secret the relationship between Ruth and Naomi, even those involved in heterosexual marriages will admit it by their behavior which leads me to ask again this week, “What are they afraid of? What do they think gives them the right to vote on our relationships. They bring the truth into their own weddings? And they know with us that what The Reverend Dr. Mona West says is absolutely true, “Ruth IS our queer ancestress. Ruth’s words are for OUR community as well as the rest of the community. Dr. Gale Yee, Professor of Biblical Studies and well-known feminist theologian says, “The same sex subtext has been noted throughout the history of this book’s interpretation.”

Ruth and Naomi, strong and brave women of God are our sisters who stood up against cultural norms that could have cost them their lives and said, “NO, we’re not going to do it that way.” These are Biblical Women and I hope now we’re getting another view of them. Let’s move on.

            So Ruth and Naomi still need food to eat and they are aware of the law that says farmers must leave some crops in the fields on which the poor can “glean,” which means they can go pick up the crops after the day’s harvesting is finished. Notice Boaz. He, too is aware of the intimate nature of the relationship between Ruth and Naomi, he acknowledges it when he says in Ruth 2:11, “all that you have done for your mother-in-law has been fully told to me,” and so forth. There really is no secret here. So Boaz provides for them and Ruth and Naomi continue living together. Naomi realizes that a more permanent arrangement is needed so she tells Ruth to bathe and put on perfume and get all dolled up, you just know Ruth was looking fine and she tells Ruth to go to the threshing floor to find Boaz. Note here as we set this up that history shows that on the threshing floor where a lot of very hard work was done, a great deal of sexual behavior also took place. Naomi tells Ruth to feed Boaz and to give him wine to drink and then Ruth approaches him in the middle of the night and “uncovers his feet,” and lies at his feel all night. Now, stay with me for this bit of information. Particularly in the Old Testament when we see references to feet it is most often a very gentile way to refer to sexual organs. In real vernacular language this verse might way, Ruth uncovered Boaz’ sexual organs and lay at his sexual organs all night. And to make a long story shorter, Boaz takes Naomi and ultimately marries her. And you thought studying the Bible was boring! In terms of relationship, marrying Naomi meant marrying Ruth, too. Their relationship continued. They all lived together Ruth became pregnant and gave birth to Obed who would become the father of Jesse who would become the father of David in the lineage of Jesus. Naomi became the child’s nursemaid. Family. Ruth, Naomi, Boaz, Obed, a non-traditional family with extremely countercultural roots…and do you get the significance? They are OUR family; Your family; My family. A queer vow of love and commitment, another wedding set up by two smart and resourceful women using what God gave them, the lineage of Jesus and the lineage of you and me. Wow! These women used all they had for Jesus and for us. They used everything God had given them and became part of the lineage of Jesus. Madipoane Masenya, from the School of Theology and Biblical Religions at the University of South Africa writes, “Two widows allowed themselves to be used by God to transform their situation into a better one…If we as individuals and participants in structures of power become willing agents and take upon ourselves the responsibility to transform our hopeless situations, we, like Ruth and Naomi, can trust God to make us rise above those circumstances.”

I’ve also spent a fair amount of time considering the widow in today’s Gospel reading, you know the woman who gave all that she had in the temple offering.. She gave two small coins worth about the value of a penny and Jesus looked at her and smiled. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. ⁴⁴For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” Scholars differ on exactly what Jesus was saying in this statement. Some believe he was holding her up as a Godly example. Others believe, based on the fact that thus far Jesus has been critical of temple practice and temple officials for the way they take advantage of widows and poor people. So it stands to reason that Jesus might use this woman’s giving of all that she had as an unfortunate response to the leaders of the temple taking advantage of her. As far as I am concerned, I am in agreement with those scholars who believe Jesus is lifting up this woman as a positive example. Once again, like Ruth and Naomi, she defies the cultural norms of placing herself under the umbrella of another man. She is determined to make it on her own. Not only that, but she is a woman of deep faith who believed in the spiritual practice of giving and when it came right down to it she gave all that she had. Another powerful, independent, countercultural woman lifted up by Jesus as an example of us that people who are forced out onto the margins by those with privilege and power can make it and can survive in ways that even the very Son of Humankind can lift up and say, “Here, look at her, She understands what I’m talking about. Do it this way!”

Conclusion:

            What do we learn from these wonderfully interesting Biblical Women? Here is the key lessons; the wonderful queer theologian Marcella Althaus-Reid who died way too young last years wrote, “Jesus is not simply the presence of God among the marginalized: more than that Jesus represents a truly marginalized God. You see, the true people of God have always lived on the margins. God shows a preference for the poor, the vulnerable and the underdog. Through these women today we see that this marginalized God often leads the people of God to choose alternative means to obtain what they need to live fully. These women gave all they had, everything, and risked their very lives to live out that calling from God.

            What can we bring to Jesus? What can we bring to our world? Will we, like our Sisters in these stories defy cultural norms? Will we insist that we receive the same provision and care that the rest of society does? Are we willing to give everything we have for the sake of God’s call? And just imagine it with me, hearing the voice of Jesus as he says of us, “they have given more than all the rest.”

            Thank you God for these examples of Godly women. Give us a measure of their courage, give us a measure of their faith as we entertain the idea of giving our all, for the sake of your call. In Jesus’ name. AMEN.

Ruth 3: 1 -18, 4: 13 - 17

3Naomi her mother-in-law said to Ruth, “My daughter, I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well with you. ²Now here is our kinsman Boaz, with whose young women you have been working. See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. ³Now wash and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴When he lies down, observe the place where he lies; then, go and uncover his feet and lie down; and he will tell you what to do.” ⁵She said to her, “All that you tell me I will do.”

⁶So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had instructed her. ⁷When Boaz had eaten and drunk, and he was in a contented mood, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came stealthily and uncovered his feet, and lay down. ⁸At midnight the man was startled, and turned over, and there, lying at his feet, was a woman! ⁹He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant; spread your cloak over your servant, for you are next-of-kin.” ¹⁰He said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter; this last instance of your loyalty is better than the first; you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. ¹¹And now, my daughter, do not be afraid, I will do for you all that you ask, for all the assembly of my people know that you are a worthy woman. ¹²But now, though it is true that I am a near kinsman, there is another kinsman more closely related than I. ¹³Remain this night, and in the morning, if he will act as next-of-kin for you, good; let him do it. If he is not willing to act as next-of-kin for you, then, as the Lord lives, I will act as next-of-kin for you. Lie down until the morning.”

¹⁴So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before one person could recognize another; for he said, “It must not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” ¹⁵Then he said, “Bring the cloak you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley, and put it on her back; then he went into the city. ¹⁶She came to her mother-in-law, who said, “How did things go with you, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her, ¹⁷saying, “He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said, ‘Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’” ¹⁸She replied, “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest, but will settle the matter today.”

¹³So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son. ¹⁴Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin; and may God’s name be renowned in Israel! ¹⁵He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has borne him.” ¹⁶Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom, and became his nurse. ¹⁷The women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Mark 12: 38 – 44

³⁸As Jesus taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, ³⁹and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! ⁴⁰They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

⁴¹He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴²A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. ⁴³Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. ⁴⁴For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

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