Turn Out

She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.  I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” – Ruth 1:20-21

Naomi is usually said to mean pleasant or one who is pleasing, one in whom we delight.  Mara means bitter.  Is there anything more unpleasant than a bitter person?  When bitterness takes root it flowers into poisonous fruit which has the potential to “defile many” (Hebrews 12:15). 

We can understand Naomi’s position.  Her husband had taken her and her two sons into the land of Moab, abandoning their rightful inheritance near the town of Bethlehem because of famine.  Bethlehem means, ironically enough, “the house of bread”, but there was no bread so they left.  Naomi’s two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, after the death of her husband, Elimelech, married women of Moab.  Chilion’s wife was named Orpah, and we do not hear much about her.  She’s seems to have been a good enough person, sensible, pragmatic, and realistic.  She offered to follow her mother-in-law back to Judah but was dissuaded by Naomi’s quite reasonable arguments.

Ruth, on the other hand, has a book of the Bible named for her.  One of her descendants was King David, and when we read the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew, there, too, is the name of Ruth.  She is there because she refused to abandon her mother-in-law.  There was no Social Security, no homes for the aged, no pensions in those days.  An old woman without husband or children might have wished herself to soon depart this hard world.  Naomi could have expected difficulty in surviving apart from the kindness of a few relatives.  She would be a beggar, and a hopeless one.  Her hope for the future had been tied to children.  Hers were gone.  She would have no grandchildren or great-grandchildren.  Her line had failed.

But Ruth, whose name means friendly or loyal friend, goes out into the fields to glean, and her selflessness awakens the gracious nature of Naomi’s prosperous kinsman Boaz who sees to it that Ruth is able to provide for her mother-in-law abundantly.  Ruth’s attitude and love also inspire Naomi.  In seeking to find a way to repay and provide for her daughter-in-law, Naomi stops thinking about herself.

I don’t know about anyone else, but when I get bitter it is because I have become self-absorbed.  I have been treated unfairly, suffered injustice, loss, and defeat.  I always think of Tom Chaney’s line in True Grit after Mattie shoots him, “Everything happens to me. Now I'm shot by a child.”  I feel like that sometimes.  I have all the bad luck. 

It’s not true.  In fact, if there were such a thing as luck, I would have to say I have had extraordinarily good luck.  Naomi, too, had the good fortunate to have one of her sons marry a woman of superlative character and virtue.   Yet while Naomi focused on her own woes, wallowing in self-pity, the full force of this fact was lost on her.  As we were saying yesterday, Naomi comes to herself when she forgets herself and focuses on Ruth’s future.

This is the kingdom way.  If we put our energy and thought and effort into making other people happy, we will be happy.  Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor (Proverbs 22:9).   When we forgive, we find that we have been forgiven.  When we love, we may be surprised to find that we are loved.  When we liberate, we are set free.  When we make peace, we have peace.  And so it goes. 

If I find myself in bondage, in bitterness, joyless, miserable and hopeless, there’s a good chance that I have been too intent on getting my own way and pleasing myself.  The only way that can be fixed is if I am willing to turn away from my fleshly desires and work on making good things happen for those around me. 

There is, of course, one caveat.  You really can’t make anybody else happy.  There are people such that no matter how much you do or how hard you try to please them, they are never going to be pleased.  It’s never going to be good enough; it’s never going to be right or meet their standards or be what they want.  I’ve done it to the letter and had them tell me, “You know that’s not what I meant.”  There’s a tendency to give a two word response, but how they handle it is not my problem.  I just need to keep doing the right thing regardless of the response of others.    

On Maps

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.   For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.  But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.  -- James 1:22-25

I have always had a fascination with maps.  I used to draw my own when I was a kid.  The child in all of us probably likes treasure maps with 'X marks the spot'.  GPS is really nice, but it does not hold the same mystery as a map.  And that's the thing about a map, it shows you the way but it's not the same as going there.  You can imagine the adventures you might have traveling the trail marked out with strange place names.  Even on the maps I have of this settled and civilized and fenced in country, there are road-less gaps and spaces, where, if you are going to go, you won't be riding in a Cadillac.      

 

It is impossible to reduce the truth to words.  We can speak the truth, but it always exceeds our ability to fully express it.  We are always reduced to metaphors and comparisons.  The truth is ineffable.  Knowing this, that reality is always going to evade capture and confinement in our language and equations, are doctrines and dogmas of any use to us?  How is that we can know the truth if we cannot communicate it?

As we’ve noted before, George MacDonald quoted one particular verse several times in his fictional works:  So Jesus answered them, My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.  If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority (John 7:16-17).  

The only way to know the truth is to act upon the truth, obey the Word, and put into practice what we see is right.  Only when we operate in accordance with and obedience to whatever revelation we have will more be given to us.   It is only in doing God’s will and desiring to do His will that we have understanding.  We can know and recite all the doctrines of the Church, but this form of knowledge leads only to guilt and condemnation or spiritual pride and self-righteousness.  We must live the truth. 

Since we are frail in our flesh, it is often the case that darkness overtakes us on the road.  Clouds may obscure the sun, and we find that we have missed our way.  We don't need to wander about lost and ask other lost people for directions because we do have guidance readily available.  Scripture and our creeds and our dogmas are the maps and the compasses and the sign posts that will put us back on the right track and help us hold a true course.  As much as we value, adhere to, and trust in these helps, we are not foolish enough to confuse our compass with the pole to which it points. 

“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’  And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went.  And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go.  Which of the two did the will of his father?”  (Matthew 21:28-31)

Reflections on Reflections

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror; for he looks at himself, goes away, and right away forgets what kind of man he was. – James 1:22-24

Many years ago Mack Davis sang about how hard it is to be humble when one is “perfect in every way”. The subject of the song asserted that he could not wait to look in the mirror because he got better looking each day. For many of us, holding in our minds an image of what we look like in the mirror, especially first thing in the morning, is probably not a good idea. The looking glass on the bathroom wall is not a true reflection of who I am. (Thank God!) One obstacle is that the reflection is two dimensional. I have learned, over the years, how to interpret the flat image so I can see the depth, but I can be fooled, just as we are often fooled by movie model-makers and their sets. But the mirror image is deceptive in more important ways. The mirror shows only the outside, which is getting a little time-worn, as I mentioned yesterday. In fact, I’m glad I didn’t have to pay a security deposit on this body because I don’t think I’d be getting it back.

If I want to see a true reflection of who I am I need to forget the mirror and go to the Bible. Often we talk as if the Scripture presents an ideal, a very lofty perfection which we should strive toward but never expect to really achieve “in this life”. I suppose that is true, in a way, but it is misleading. Instead, as we study the Word we see ourselves as we are in reality, or, Reality. We are not being saved; we are saved – we just haven’t fully realized it yet. We know that Christ is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Colossians 3:1), and, if we are in Him, we are right there as well.

I am not what the mind parasites or the devil says I am. I am not what the world says I am. I am not even what my reflection in the mirror, my friends, my family, or my spouse says I am.

I am what the word of God says I am. And the best reflection of who I am can be seen in the Gospels – not in Peter, not in John or Andrew, Philip, or even Judas, but in Jesus. The Lord came and said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Whose life? Not God’s, but man’s. Though He was God before, during and after the Incarnation, He became a man, referring to Himself most often as the Son of Man. Jesus reveals to us the truth about ourselves. He shows us humanity’s true way of life. Jesus says that for us to live as He lived is to be true to ourselves.

We have, as James points out, forgotten what we are. The world is full of distractions to keep us from remembering. Some would have us believe we are mere animals, or even less than animals. Some will tell us we are slaves. Our addictions and our habits whisper lies to us day and night. Intense emotions and passions course through us reinforcing illusions – both fantastically fair and frightfully foul. If we want to stay in bondage to the material world, we’ll get plenty of help.

But if, one day, we wake up and decide that freedom is better than slavery, that reality is preferable to illusion, there is a Way home: Live the Life of Jesus.

Do what Jesus did.

Not in some maudlin, sappy, melodramatic, in-His-steps-WWJD attempt to “please God” or “do the right thing” or “help others”. That is stupid socialist religious bullshit.

Do it because that is by God who you are. Do it so you won’t forget who you are.

But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts – this person will be blessed in what he does (James 1:25).