Sunday, October 12th 2025
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Series C (Proper 23C)
Text: Ruth 1:1-19a
Sermon Audio
As we gather… “For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). It would have been easy for Ruth to return to Moab where she grew up. Ruth’s husband had died, and her father-in-law had also died. There was no hope of Naomi, her mother-in-law producing another male heir. Nonetheless, Ruth stuck with Naomi, following not only her, but Naomi’s God, the true God, Yahweh. In this short book of the Bible, Ruth meets a husband, Boaz. Ruth will become the great grandmother of King David and through this line the savior will come. In this life, it may seem like all our options are closed off and there’s no hope for the future; however, in Christ there is always hope. He makes a way when there seems to be no way. As Christians, we trust Christ and throw our lot in with Him come what may.
Throughout life, we can have a crisis of faith. This could be a daughter coming back from a semester of college and questioning her faith because of something her professor said about the veracity of Genesis or the truth of Jesus’ resurrection. It could look like someone a bit older having his faith shaken at the death of a loved one. We can have a crisis of faith when a scandal comes up in the church.
But I would argue that a crisis of faith can happen more often than we think. The word crisis in Greek simply means a decision, a discernment, a fork in the road. Those with a crisis of faith are at a crossroads, torn between two decisions. Today we will be talking about crises of faith. They have three main elements: the problem, the easy route, and the grasping hand.
First, let’s talk about the problem. As we explore our text from the book of Ruth, the scene is set. Naomi and her husband Elimelech sojourn in the land of Moab to avoid a famine in Bethlehem. There is an irony in that Bethlehem means house of bread. There is a famine in the house of bread. They have two sons, Mahlon and Chilion who marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Both Mahlon and Chilion die and Naomi tells the daughters to stay in Moab to return back to their parents’ houses.
Put yourself in the shoes of Ruth and Orpah. Naomi has no other heirs who could take care of you. Even if a boy should be born to Naomi tomorrow, he wouldn’t be old enough to marry Ruth or Orpah. Would you go to a land you’ve never been to take your chances with Naomi with no means of support?
All throughout Scripture, we see God’s people facing crises of faith. God called Abraham to move from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan, hundreds of miles west. There was a lot Abraham was leaving behind. Abraham and Sarah were unable to conceive and finally had a son, Isaac. The Lord called Abraham and asked him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. When the Lord freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, his wondrous deeds went before them. Rahab the prostitute in Jericho sheltered Israelite spies, and when the authorities of Jericho knocked on her door, she had to determine whether to trust the authorities or trust the Lord who freed the Israelites. Peter and Andrew, James and John, were just minding their own business when Jesus called them to follow Him. A stable career as a fisherman was on the line when Jesus asked them to drop their nets.
If you could call it that, Jesus had a crisis of faith. As He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was so nervous He sweat blood. He prayed that the Father would let the cup pass from Him. Would you want to suffer for the sins of the world? Would you want to die for a world that laughs at you and rejects you? Would you want to be rejected, mocked, and spat upon?
And so we face crises of faith. When baseball has games on Sunday mornings, does your son skip church just for a season so he can continue in the sport with the possibility of scholarships or maybe even the major leagues? When your friend texts you and lets you know where the hottest house party of the semester will be, do you say this party happens once a year, but church happens every Sunday, who cares if I miss one Sunday? When you’ve had a busy week and haven’t gotten to the grocery store, do you use the one morning you can sleep in to get the groceries for the week after a lazy Sunday? All these situations and more put you at a crossroads just like Ruth and Orpah deciding to go to Israel. What do you do?
There is always the easy option. Ruth could have followed Orpah and stayed in Moab with family and it probably would have been a better bet. Ruth could have remarried a Moabite man and done well for herself. Orpah took the easy route, but we never hear from her again. Her story ends at verse 14 and we never hear from her again.
Abraham could have stayed in Ur of the Chaldeans. Abraham could have told the Lord “no” to sacrificing his son. Rahab could have ratted out the Israelite spies and been made a hero in Jericho for protecting the city. Peter and Andrew, James and John could have stayed at their nets and not followed Jesus.
But what would have happened? Perhaps it’s impossible to imagine how things could have happened differently. If Abraham stayed home, the Lord could have certainly raised up another patriarch through which the savior would named. The Lord could have found a different way to save the Israelite spies and Rahab’s fame would have been short lived as she and her family would be consumed when the walls came tumbling down.
We have accounts of people who were called by Jesus who ultimately didn’t follow Him. The Rich Young Ruler comes to mind. A man wanted to first bury his father before following Jesus. We never know what happened to these men who didn’t listen to the call. If Peter and Andrew, James and John rejected Jesus’ call, they would likely be footnotes for Bible trivia rather than honored as disciples in art and stained-glass windows.
If Jesus rejected the cross, we would have no religion and we wouldn’t be here. Thanks be to Him that He didn’t take the easy way in that fork in the road.
It is tempting. It is easy to choose sports over Christ. It is easy to go with the flow and remain popular going to the big house party. Many people use Sunday morning as a time for errands rather than God’s Word. It’s easier to walk away from the faith. When faced with a crisis of faith, it’s easier to take the wide road where the crowds are going in droves.
But there is the hand that grasps to pull in the right direction. “But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.””
The Holy Spirit was working in the heart of Ruth to pull her in the right direction, and Ruth stepped out in faith to follow Naomi to the town of Bethlehem. Many of us know the rest of the story. Ruth would marry Boaz, a long-lost relative of Naomi and they would have a son named Obed who would become the grandfather of David, one of the greatest kings in the history of Israel.
But even greater than David, Ruth would be an ancestor of Jesus Christ Himself. This Moabite foreigner would be part of the in-crowd of God’s story of salvation. God was able to use this crisis of faith for Ruth to become memorialized as one of the two women who have books of the Bible named after them.
The Holy Spirit grabbed the hand of Abraham as he stepped out in faith both to head west to Canaan as well as being willing to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. His faithfulness has been of benefit to the Church serving as an inspiration.
Matthew’s genealogy tells us that Rahab is Boaz’ mother. Without Rahab’s faithfulness in trusting the Lord over the leaders of Jericho, she would have not survived the siege of Jericho and there would be no Boaz who would rescue Ruth.
The Holy Spirit grasped the hand of Peter and Andrew, James and John to follow Jesus, and the Lord was able to use their ministries to bring many to faith, and millions have been inspired by the Gospel that the Holy Spirit wrote by John’s hand.
All of these give honor to Christ who endured the cross and the shame and took on our sins. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, and His victory over the grave shows us the great glory and reward in following the Lord’s voice.
As you face your crisis of faith, understand that the Holy Spirit is grasping your hand to consider following Christ. It is often the hard way, but it’s always the good way. It may mean ditching the hopes of sports scholarships and professional sports. It may mean giving up a midweek hobby to make time to do your errands on a weeknight instead. It may mean losing popularity as you choose not to go to house parties. There are sacrifices in living the Christian life, and going the narrow way in the crises of faith.
But it’s always worth it. We can’t imagine a world where Ruth didn’t follow Naomi as much as we can’t imagine a world where Peter stayed at His fishing boat. The Lord is using these crises of faith to help you grow and to work out the best for your life. Ultimately, He has heaven as your eternal destination, but until then, He wants you to thrive in this life. He has a wonderful plan and following Him where He promises to be in Word and Sacrament enlivens and strengthens us that we can have a wonderful life and have peace even in the midst of stormy seasons.