"One thing is necessary...and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42
Sometimes God’s word is sweeter than honey to our taste. Sometimes it feel like dividing joints and marrow. Piercing soul and spirit. Cutting through our sin and idols sans anesthesia. The people were undone. They began to weep for their sin. How do their godly leaders respond? Do they declare a monthlong fast and lament? No! They actually command God’s people to celebrate.
It’s tempting to live a moderately spiritual life without abandoning everything to Christ. It’s tempting to settle with a faith that’s only political or Sunday-morning deep. It’s tempting to settle for building an earthly kingdom when Jesus tells me to build a spiritual one. It’s tempting to draw that line that tells Jesus, I’ll go with you to this point — no further.
The real hero of this story isn’t the group who carried a friend, but the one who would carry a cross. Jesus’ reaction to these five needy, interrupting, and shockingly bold intruders is beautiful.
Maybe you consider yourself disqualified from Christian ministry. You’re ashamed of your past. You think you’re too old or too young. You’re single or married to a non-believer. You don’t believe He would ask you to serve Him. If you’re saved and walking with Christ, this is a lie.
Ruth’s “why-me?” response echoes through the heart and life of all who have been changed by Christ. When we look at our lives, we’re overwhelmed by the breathtaking mercy of God. We were a people under the curse of sin, destined for hell. But God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ while we were still sinners! He pulled us out of death and set us in his kingdom. Ephesians 1 says he “chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” Such knowledge compels us to cry to our father as Ruth cried to Boaz: “Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me?”
Hate goes beyond one incident or person to burn the entire culture. It doesn’t seek to discipline, but to destroy. It festers and spreads and is never quenched. It ultimately destroys the host.