I still can’t believe I did it. It was the first sermon I was to preach in a new church, and I chose to do so based on the genealogy in Matthew 1 v. 1 – 16. The person chosen to read the passage must have wondered what on earth this new preacher was doing. My reasons were sound, though. Tucked in amongst that list of largely unpronounceable names are men and women whose stories form part of God’s remarkable grace in coming to earth in the incarnation.

One of those people is Ruth – born on the wrong side of the Biblical tracks as a Moabitess. When she enters the Biblical story she does so only as the widow of a now dead husband who was one of God’s chosen people. When she elects to follow her Mother-in-Law back to Bethlehem it is a brave decision – since her language, accent and even her name would have betrayed her as a stranger. To make the journey was to leave everything familiar behind and risk all kinds of isolation. Shortly after this journey of faith has begun her fellow traveller, Orpah, decides that the journey is too much for her and heads for home. Ruth is not to be persuaded, though, and makes one of the most moving declarations of faith to be found anywhere in Scripture:

“Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me”. (Ruth 1:16-17)

What follows is a story of humble service and quiet obedience to her mother-in-law which results in the end in a marriage to Boaz, and to Ruth bearing a child to brighten Naomi’s later years. This son of hers will be the grandfather of the great King David.

Many of us are capable of starting the journey and making the grand gesture of loyalty – as Orpah and Ruth do in this story in Ruth 1 v.10. In the main, though, we are better starters than finishers. Churches tend to have more Orpahs than Ruths. In other words, we often start a good thing, but don’t always complete it. Ruth is an example to us of the courage it takes not only to step out, but to keep on walking and to follow the road of faith wherever it may lead.

You can listen to a narrative on Orpah’s journey, taken from my book Stale Bread, here.