Thought for Today
Ruth 1:22 So Naomi returned together with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her from the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Ruth 4:17 The 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.
Acts 9:10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." 11 The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying,
We live about 50 miles north of Foxborough, MA, but the same storm that you saw pummel the football stadium last night during the football game has also deposited a winter wonderland on our neighborhood.
Of course, this morning, I am continuing to experience the same ‘location disorientation’ I suffered during the contest between the Houston Texans and the New England Patriots. Every time the announcers said something about one team or the other, I had a momentary bout of ‘location disorientation’ trying to remember which team was the ‘good guys.’ We’ve lived here now since 2014, but we lived there much longer.
Inevitably, my thoughts turned to those biblical examples of those who long lived in one place and then relocated to another. I have often wondered how Ruth felt, living far from where she was born and raised. She was forever the alien, Ruth the Moabite. Yet, her great grandson became Israel’s greatest king.
Saul was born and raised in Tarsus. He was trained in Jerusalem. Saul was a devout Jew, trained by the great Gamaliel, yet today he is best known as the apostle Paul, the missionary to the Gentiles. He described himself as "Acts 23:6 Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees,” but is best known as a follower of Jesus whom the Pharisees persecuted.
Certainly, at times, Ruth and Paul experienced ‘location disorientation,’ living in a foreign land, in a foreign culture, eating foreign foods and constantly hearing foreign tongues speak. The Hebrews, our ancestors-in-the-faith were xenophobic, disliking and distrusting anything and everything foreign. Yet, these foreigners are instrumental and vital to our faith today. I believe they are included in the Bible because they reinforce the truth that we are all children of God. Moabite, Pharisee, Jew or Gentile, alien or native-born, we are all children of God the Father Almighty. Third generation Native Texan or third generation New Englander, we are all members of the same family.
Our own nation is celebrating our 250th birthday this year, our semiquincentennial. In this day of national news networks which bring the events in one area into the homes of the entire nation, it is easy to forget the efforts it took to bring together those original 13 colonies into a single nation. And, it is easy to forget that ours is a nation of immigrants. Since homo sapiens are not indigenous to the Western Hemisphere, all of us came from somewhere else.
Much of this lies behind some of what we see going on today all across our nation and throughout the world. The 2 areas of greatest armed conflict today, Ukraine and Gaza, are examples of neighbor fighting neighbor. Russia and Israel are neighbors respectively to Ukraine and Gaza. Similar (but different) languages, cultures and even cuisines. Bitter, devastating destruction and suffering.
Within our own nation we see nightly pictures of arrests and of demonstrations. We can debate till the cows come home the justifications and causes . . . but at heart I believe that both sides have forgotten that we are neighbors, we are brothers and sisters to those we oppose. Some of the issue is ‘location disorientation,’ some of it is ‘social disorientation.’
As a Christian, I think it would be beneficial for us all to recall the response of Jesus when he was asked, "Luke 10:29 And who is my neighbor?" Jesus responded with what we now call the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Get out your Bible, read the Parable. For that Jew who asked, the Samaritan was the despised enemy, the worshipper of a false god, the dreaded ‘other.’ In that parable, the man in need of succor was ignored by the priest and the Levite. He had presumably been beaten and robbed by Jews. Yet, it was the hated, despised ‘other’ who aided that Jew in need. “Mark 3:34 And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." Thank goodness yesterday I could and did root for both teams.
Stay safe, love your neighbor, trust God,
Pastor Ray