Who Stole the Bread? (Ruth 1:1-6)

Les Miserables

In 1862, Victor Hugo portrayed the miserable life of the French people in the early 19th century through a novel entitled "Les Miserables". "Les Miserables" means "the miserable people." Like the title, there are all kinds of miserable people in the novel. Among them, the main character of the novel, Jean Valjean, is depicted as the most miserable person who spent 19 years in prison for stealing a piece of bread for his hungry nephew. Also, this novel was made into a movie and became so famous in Korea a few years ago. Many Koreans who were inspired by the movie have created a lot of parodies. Air Force version, High school version, Office version etc. Everybody seemed busy expressing that they are 'Les Miserables', the miserable people. Those parodies reminded us that we are the most miserable people in the world.

Have you ever thought that you are the most miserable one in the world? When did you feel you were miserable? Many people compare their situation with others and easily conclude that they are in hopeless and miserable situation. What about you? In today’s text, we can find another miserable woman. Her name is Naomi. Her life was so miserable full of despair and sorrow. Through the miserable life of Naomi, we will look at what causes the misery that we have today and how and when that misery can end.

The Background of the book of Ruth

Let us first look at the background of the book of Ruth. The book of Ruth is the Word of God with the title of the woman’s name in the Bible just like the book of Esther. It is named after Ruth, but it is more about Naomi. Ruth shows how Naomi's life, starting from a miserable and empty state, begins to recover joy and filling in the end of the story. Ruth is a dramatic story that shows Naomi's recovery through Boaz the kinsman redeemer and through a faithful woman named Ruth. Naomi's life also shows the life of the church today, the community of God's people today. It shows us how the church can be restored through the devotion of faithful believers like Ruth, and through Jesus Christ, the Ultimate Redeemer of the church.

What is the background of Ruth? "In the days when the judges ruled" (v.1) The whole story happens in the period of Judges. The characteristic of Judges is summarized well at the very last verse of the Book of Judges, "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (Judges 21:25). It was the time of apostasy and rebellion against God. Here appears a Jewish family migrating to Moab at the end of this period. The first person who appears in the book of Ruth is Elimelech. His name means "My Father is King". When everyone did not have a king and everyone lived like a king pleasing to his own eyes, Elimelech decided to move to Moab, a foreign land, due to a famine. He left with his wife Naomi and two sons to live there for a while. Some of you who have lived here will probably understand it well. They dreamed of Moabite Dream and went a long way full of hope.

But how was the reality? The condition of Bethlehem has not improved yet, and they have finally settled down in Moab. And the two sons of Naomi found the Moabite women there and married. However, ten years after her immigration, unfortunately in a strange land, both her husband Elimelech and her two sons died, and she remained there with her two daughters-in-law. In the ancient Near East society at the time, since it was a male-oriented society, it was very difficult to live without any men in the household, both economically and socially. From Naomi's point of view, she became a widow, and no hope was left for her except the two daughters-in-laws. What a miserable woman, Naomi! Could it be more miserable than this?

The cause of misery

However, there is one important question we need to take ask. What is the real cause of Naomi's misery? Did she become so miserable because she left the promised land and moved to the foreign land, Moab? Or is it because she had the Gentile women as the daughters-in-law, which was prohibited by the law of Moses, "No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation" (Deut 23:3)? Does God now condemn and judge the unbelief of the family of Elimelech? Is the famine the result of God’s punishment on the sins of the people of Judah? Did God hit them? Of course, there is such a case (Abraham in Genesis 12), but we should not misunderstand God that way.

Today, millions of people choose to move to other countries. According to the United Nations' 2015 data, more than 244 million people have left their homelands to live as migrants. About 13.5% of the US population is made up of migrants (2010), and more than 2 million migrants, about 4% in Korea, live as our neighbors. There are two main causes of the international migration: voluntary migration (education, economy, freedom) and involuntary migration (war, famine, natural disasters, political/religious persecution). But let’s think about the case of involuntary migration. What were the reasons for them to leave their country? Did they have to leave their homelands because of God’s punishment upon their sins? The reason why there are so many Muslim refugees around the world is because of God’s punishment on them? No, there are lots of Christian refugees, too.

It is difficult to see Naomi's misery as God's judgment or punishment. God is not the one who strikes us. Why? It is hard to see as God's punishment because our sin is too great, and God's punishment is too weak. God's reasonable punishment for human sin is only the crucifixion of Jesus. Our sin deserves more than that. Only God Himself can pay the price. God does not punish them in such way. If He had to punish us with our sins every time, we would have already died many times. There will be no one left among us here, and nobody can endure His punishment. Today's text shows somehow neutral attitude rather than negative towards the migration of the Elimelech’s family.

Then, what is the real reason that Naomi became so miserable? It was nothing but the famine in the land of Bethlehem. Let's look at verse 1 again. "In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land." Where is the land? It was Judah Bethlehem. Bethlehem means in Hebrew, ‘a bait (house) + a lehem (bread)’, or a bread-baking house, bakery. A famine came to Bethlehem. In other words, there is no bread in the bread house. Naomi became miserable not because of God’s punishment but because of the famine, the breadless-ness. If there had been no famine in Bethlehem, why would they have left the promised land? Many immigrants who choose to migrate involuntarily, would they leave their hometowns and families and move to a strange land if they were rich in food, had plenty of jobs, had no natural disasters or disasters, and were not persecuted for political or religious reasons? They left because there was no bread in the bakery. And they left to find the bread.

The situation of Bethlehem which doesn’t have bread in this bread house overlaps with the situation of Korean church today. Numerous people are leaving the church. It is said that there are one million “Canaan believers” in Korean churches who have faith but do not go to church. Most of the growing churches today say that horizontal movement is the cause of their growth, moving from other neighboring churches. (A story about a church in Gwangju) Why? This is because there is no bread to eat in the bread house. It is because there is no life in the church which is to save life, and there is no love in the community of love. There is no more bread in the church, a bakery to supply spiritual food.

We need to know what the real problem is. Is not today's church like the state of Bethlehem, the bread house without bread, and the life of the miserable Naomi who lost her husband and two sons? People leave the church not because there is no money, no good systems or programs in the church. They leave the church not because they don’t have a good building or parking lot. It is because there is no bread in the bread house. It is because we have lost the gospel. Rather than preaching the gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ, we preach the moral or ethical message and what’s called ‘the prosperity gospel.’ Where did it go? Who stole bread? If there is any stealer, it is ourselves who lost God's image. Now our church is facing a severe spiritual famine. Listen to the cry of the prophet of Amos. “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. (Amos 8:11) Doesn’t it sound like ours?

The solution of misery

Then, can this famine condition end? How and when can this happen? Let us read 1:6, "When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there" It says, "the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them." Naomi gets to hear the good news from Bethlehem. It is that Jehovah took care of his people and gave them food. How wonderful and good news it was to Naomi? She left the hometown due to a famine in Bethlehem, the bread house. And she lost both husband and two sons in the land of the Moab, and became empty-handed. Now a beam of light came to her life, to a miserable woman who had no hope at all. She is now trying to return to her hometown again.

“Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab.” How beautiful is the scenery? Those of you who have lived in a foreign country for a long time might have dreamed about it at least once. How long has she missed her home town and home country? I've been to Plymouth, MA, USA a few times. It was meaningful to see the Mayflower in which the Pilgrims rode, but it was more meaningful for me to see the Plantation where the Puritans settled and lived as neighbors with the native Americans. The scenery that was particularly impressive to me was that they built a house towards the beach so that they could see motherland England on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. I could feel how much they missed their country.

There is a song called "the most beautiful scenery in the world.” It sings, “The most beautiful scenery in the world. The scenery where everything returns to its original place.” Similar scenes can be seen in the New Testament. It is that the prodigal son, the second son of Luke 15, returns to his father's house. "And he arose and came to his father.” (Luke 15:20) So some people call Naomi the prodigal daughter of the Old Testament. There are many similarities between the two. Both left full but returned empty. Also, God does not let the both remain empty. Though she came back in shame, she will not stay in shame until the end because God cares for them. This is God’s promise in the Bible: God cares for His people and His church. There must be an end to the sufferings of Christians.

We need to remember how Naomi could return to Bethlehem. It is because of the good news coming from home. The prodigal son was able to come back because of the good memory of the richness of his father's house. "How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!" When food is abundant in Bethlehem, and if you hear the good news, you can come back. It is same to our church today. Why do the people leave the church? Why is it very hard to find the youth and the next generation children in the church? It is because there’s nothing that attracts them to the church. They leave church because they find it more interesting to enjoy the world. We do not hear good news from the church.

But let's assume the opposite. What if the church is more fun for the young children than they enjoy in smartphone games or computer games? What if young people experience a genuine relationship in the church which they can’t experience in the world? What if the glory of God is revealed and the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed and taught every Sunday in church? If the good news is spread to everyone who have left the church, they will want to go back to the church.

God who visits

But how did the food become abundant? For Yahweh has taken care of his people. God is the one who takes care of us and His church. In Korean Bible, it says “God took care of His people” while NIV translates, “the Lord had come to the aid of his people.” They translate the Hebrew expression ‘pakad’ differently. However, the original meaning of this Hebrew expression ‘pakad’ is "to visit". In other words, God's care for his people is a visit to them. ESV translated it better, “… that the Lord had visited his people and given them food.” God cares for us by visiting us. How can you know that He cares for us through visit? You can understand it when we visit each other. That is why we visit our members every Friday. When the pastor, elder, deacons visit the members, through their visit, they experience the invisible God's care.

This is also why we visit our brothers and sisters in the Philippines. We Ulsan International Church has conducted a ministry called "Parenting Short-term Mission." We visit our brothers and sisters that went back to their homelands after the expiration of contract. There are two important purposes. One was to encourage them to settle in the local church and continue their faith, and the other was to preach the gospel to their families. Sometimes it takes 7-8 hours to get to the countryside in a jeepney. But if you visit them, you’ll see that they welcome you with hospitality. They thank you so much for coming all the way from Korea to the Philippines, and even to this countryside, and they will bring out all kinds of good food to you.

You know what? If there is one thing I learned through the visits, it is the visit of Jesus Christ through His incarnation. How amazing and precious it is! No one has ever gone farther than Jesus, at a great cost. He visited us from heaven to earth. It shows how much God takes care of his people, with the cost of His own life. God visits you not only through His people indirectly but also visits you directly. That is the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The incarnation of Jesus shows that God cares for His people through His direct visit. God came into the earth to take care of his people, wearing human bodies. He learned our language and culture and got himself a form of servant. Jesus visited the poor, hungry and thirsty, strangers and strangers to take care of his people. God has visited His people. He became a friend to those without friends, a group of over five thousand people fed bread and fish, a thirsty Samaritan woman in the well, a man who had not walked for 38 years. Jesus' incarnation and ministry has shown how God visits His people and how He takes care of us.

What is the result of God's visit? When God visits you, a change takes place. A new history begins. God’s caring for you and His visit means that He is beginning to work. The same expression 'pakad' also appears in Gen. 21:1 and Gen. 50:24-25. "The Lord visited Sarah as he had said… And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age…" As a result of God's visit to Sarah, her infertility was healed and conceived. "God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." If God visits Israel, they experience great salvation. If God visits you, a new history will begin to your life, your family, and your church.

Now there is a great reversal in today’s story. There is now bread in an empty bakery. The hungry are fed up, and the empty experience fillings. Until 1:5 Naomi was the most miserable woman in the world, but God did not keep her in that state. In the next passage, 1:6, there is a hope for change and recovery. Then Naomi returns to Bethlehem. There was a tremendous reversal, but the reversal is not up to Naomi. It is not because she has changed her mind, has repented and turned back, or has had positive thoughts. It is because God visited His people. It is just because God has visited His people, His church.

We also need His visit.

Then what is the implication we can take today? Beloved brothers and sisters, the Lord cares for us and visits us. The Lord comes to supply us with food. But he came not only to give you some bread but to become the very Bread. Jesus didn’t come to the Samaritan woman to satisfy her physical thirst just for a moment. He didn’t come to more than five thousand hungry people just to fill their stomach for a while. He came to us to feed us with his own flesh and his own blood so that we longer feel hungry for eternity. That's why we celebrate Christmas and the Lord’s supper which we will celebrate every first Sunday of the month. The Lord Himself came to this earth not just to give the bread but to be the Bread of life. So, we need to desire the Bread Himself, not some bread that He gives us. You must seek after His face, not His hands.

Beloved believers, let me conclude the message today. The problem of our suffering and misery can be resolved only when Jesus, the true Bread and Bread of life, visits us. He said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." (John 6:35) Jesus is the bread of life. Are we in the midst of spiritual famine and misery? Are you in a miserable situation like Naomi? Our hope depends on Jesus Christ alone. Let us pray that Jesus, the bread of life, be our Lord. Let us pray that once again in my life, in our homes, in our church, that Yahweh would take care of us and visit us, and the good news of overflowing food could spread all over the world.