I have always loved the book of Ruth, particularly the passages we read today. I’ve often thought it would make a great reading for a marriage ceremony, because it’s about love and commitment. Couples don’t tend to use it, though. Perhaps that’s because it’s about a woman’s love and commitment to her mother-in-law.

The story’s a bit confusing because of all the different names, so I’m going to do my best to explain it. Here’s the family tree:

A man named Elimelech is married to Naomi. They are from Bethlehem in Judah, so they are Israelites. Though originally from Bethlehem, they move to Moab because there’s a famine in Bethlehem. They have two sons: Mahlon and Chilion. The father, Elimelech, dies. The two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, marry Orpah and Ruth, who are both from Moab. The sons, then, married women outside of the nation of Israel, something that’s a pretty big “no-no.” Then the two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, die.

This means that Naomi has lost not only her husband, but now has lost her two sons. All that remains of her family are her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth.

Naomi leaves Moab, returning to her home in Bethlehem, where she is from. She tells her two daughters-in-law to stay in Moab and return to their mothers’ houses, hopefully finding a husband. This is rationally the best thing for both Orpah and Ruth to do. Neither of them had children with their former husbands. If they stay in Moab and find another husband, they still have a good chance of having children. When Naomi first tells Orpah and Ruth to go back to their mothers’ houses, both women refuse, saying that they will follow Naomi. Yet again Naomi pleads with the women to return to their mothers’ houses so they can find a husband and bear children. Naomi says, “Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you then wait until they were grown?” At this pleading, Orpah turns back, returning to her mothers’ house. But Ruth stays, and insists on following her mother-in-law. The scripture says that Ruth “clung” to Naomi. Ruth says, “Do not press me to leave you or to 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.”

Ruth says this knowing that in following Naomi back to Bethlehem, Ruth will probably never marry, and therefore never bear children. She does it nonetheless. Ruth has found in Naomi something she has found nowhere else. Ruth, it seems, has found a passion: a deep and abiding loving friendship with Naomi—and she’s not letting go. She is, in fact, clinging to it.

This clinging that Ruth does to Naomi reminds me of my own coming to Jesus experience when I was in high school. I’ve been an Episcopalian my entire life. I went up to altar rail to take communion every Sunday as long as I can remember. I sat through numerous sermons, most of which were boring because our priest was really boring and had a monotone voice. In confirmation I memorized the Nicene Creed and learned a lot about how the Episcopal Church views God.

I’ll tell you what I didn’t learn. You know those really cheesy, kitschy pictures of Jesus (with perfectly coifed hair I might add) walking along, holding hands with a child? I didn’t learn about that. It wasn’t a failure of the Episcopal Church as a whole, but was rather a failure of my particular parish church. I knew the Nicene Creed by heart, but if you asked me who my best friend was, I would never have thought to say, “Jesus.”

Here Emily enters the picture. She was one of my dance teachers, and is a Southern Baptist. Now, I know that here in Catholic country, we’re not quite familiar with the Southern Baptist Church. But if you imagine Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham, you will have in your head a pretty good picture of the Southern Baptist Church. It’s quite different from the Episcopal Church. Throughout my years dancing and doing gymnastics, and teaching dance and gymnastics, Emily spoke often of Jesus. She spoke of Jesus like most of us would talk about our favorite neighbor we saw at the grocery store. She spoke about her time with Jesus like most of us would talk about our fun time at girl’s night out, or like most of us would talk about our best friend. I was in a church that talked about God using big words, most of which I did not understand, and even bigger concepts, none of which I understood. In my church we talked about a God who is so much bigger than us that we cannot possibly understand anything about him. And that was too bad. Thank God for Southern Baptists (words I can assure you I never thought I’d hear myself say). Because of the church in which Emily was raised, she was able to speak so passionately about her friend, Jesus. Emily talked about a God who walked with her daily, about a God who danced with her, went with her about her daily chores. Emily talked about a God who was always standing beside her.

It was these many years listening to Emily talking about Jesus, and yearning to have that same relationship with God, that allowed me to come to Jesus. Finally Jesus became real to me, as real as all of you. Finally I was able to see God in everything I did and in everyone with whom I came into contact. Finally I too knew Jesus. I clung to Jesus, like someone hanging from a cliff clings to the edge. I clung to Jesus.

That was early high school. Following this coming to Jesus, I experienced a lot of changes and struggles, some of which were devastating. I was able to get through these struggles partly because I clung to Emily, but more so because I clung to Jesus. In Emily I found what Ruth found in Naomi: a deep and abiding loving friendship, one that pointed to God. These relationships, mine with Emily and Ruth’s with Naomi, speak of the relationship Jesus wants to have with us. Imagine for a moment that it is Jesus instead of Ruth who says, “Do not press me to leave you or to 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 go, I will go.” May we always cling to Jesus. There are times in our lives when devastating things happen, times when we enter into a foreign land, either literally or figuratively. We move to a place where we know no one. Our relationship with a spouse, child, or friend upon whom we have depended ends and we must once again learn how to live our lives on our own. We all know that feeling of loss, of being lost. In those times may we cling to Jesus even stronger than we have clung to anyone, anything in our lives. May we cling to Jesus like Ruth clung to Naomi, knowing that wherever we go, Jesus goes as well.