Readings: Ruth 2:1-3,8-11; 4:13-17; Psalm 127/128; Matthew 23:1-12
Why do religious societies sometimes become so cruel? The great fear attached to the withdrawal of NATO from Afghanistan was that it would lead - as in fact it has done - to the victorious Taliban recommencing their cruel form of domination, oppressing especially women but also anybody who thinks differently to them. Of course we can think of examples closer to home and be dismayed and shocked yet one more time at how supposedly Christian societies tolerated and even promoted terrible cruelties. How could people ever have thought they were serving our kind Lord by such actions?
The readings today invite us to reflect on this. Ruth is a heroine of Israel not because she was a Hebrew of exceptional wisdom or achievement but because she was a loyal stranger. She was a woman whose simple humanity - her affection for the family into which she had married - led to her playing a crucial role in the unfolding of Israel's history. By chance, we are told - in other words 'by grace' - she finds herself working alongside Boaz. They fall in love with each other, and marry, and Ruth becomes the foremother of King David. Her gifts are simply human: affection, love, kindness, loyalty.
The gospel reading alerts us to the inhuman manifestation of religious conviction as Jesus begins a long diatribe against the religious leaders of his day. Follow their teaching, he says, because they are entitled to teach, but don't follow their example. They lay hard tasks on others, for example, but do not lift a finger themselves to carry those same burdens. It is the familiar hypocrisy into which religious people so easily fall. They think leadership is about benefits to themselves and power over others whereas it is about service and humility. If you want to be great, says Jesus, be at the service of everyone.
The root of this problem is theological even if it also has political and psychological aspects. How are people imagining God? Jesus calls his hearers back to the one Lord, the God of Israel, before whom every single person stands in exactly the same need. Ruth understood this. You have just one teacher, one father, one guide, says Jesus, which means you are all brothers and sisters to each other, God is in heaven and is not any person, system or institution here below, and the Christ whom the Father has sent is your only sure guide. In him the words of teaching and the acts of love are simply identical, completely coherent and consistent. His teaching is confirmed by his actions.
So which 'god' do we wish to find? The god of cruel systems and puritanical institutions? The god of the scribes and Pharisees? Or the God reflected in the humanity and kindness of Ruth? When God revealed himself it was as deus humanissimus, the most human God, showing us what he is like in the love of Jesus and the ways in which we find Jesus, 'by chance', working alongside us.
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