S1-Day 21: God in Dirty Places: Stained by the Bloodshed of Famine

Reflecting Verse: In the days when the Judges were governing, a famine occurred in the country and a certain man from Bethlehem of Judah went-he, his wife and his two sons -- to live in the Plains of Moab. Ruth 1:1 (New Jerusalem Bible)

The book of Ruth begins with a family migrating from their native village to a foreign land. Due to famine, they must have had lesser or no resources for food and life sustenance. Elimelech and Naomi might have thought that their children should not die of hunger, so decided to go to an alien land and find an opportunity to prolong their existence. They decided to migrate temporarily to Moab for survival. When it was time to return to their homeland, only one person from the original family returned, Naomi – a widow, orphaned by the loss of her husband and sons, accompanied by another woman, Ruth – a widow, who too was, orphaned by the loss of her husband. One can understand that they did not migrate as some of us migrate today wanting to settle in a developed-foreign country. They migrated to sustain life. The book of Ruth can be read as a story of a migrant family in the midst of lack of life resources and struggle for existence.

Just as Elimelech, to sustain life, many had migrated from their villages to a foreign land in today’s Indian context. This lockdown due to the corona virus pandemic, has made them face a famine like context of extreme crisis, shattering their hope for survival and existence. Migrant workers and poverty-stricken people cannot find basic resources such as food, water and shelter. When the affluent are able to manage to get access to resources, the poor and the migrant are unable to do anything, but only think of returning back to their homelands to join their families. Even transportation became a crisis, as they walked for hundreds and even thousands of miles. Some of these migrants died not because of virus infection, but lack of resources to sustain life.

One incident that broke me was the death of 16 migrant laborers, who had not known they would not wake up alive when they ignorantly and unwillingly slept on railway track because they were tired of walking. Would one imagine of that place which was bloodshed, and of those bodies that became formless, worse than an animal being butchered? Definitely No. Because, it was not just dirty, but horrific and terrorizing. Where and how can I find God in a bloody area where the bodies and hope of those migrant workers were crushed under the rail? How, as a Christian, can I comfort the families who lost their beloved ones like this? How can I share the peace of Christ to those the word ‘peace’ has nothing to offer at all? Just as I cannot say a word but keep silence, so we see in the book of Ruth, where God nowhere appeared to speak to neither Naomi nor Ruth, but kept silence. Where was God during the famine? Where was God in the life of Naomi and Ruth, when they lost their families?

The book of Ruth is also a story of another migration from Moab to Bethlehem in a post-famine context. Ruth had deliberately risked to go along with Naomi, a woman whose life was no promising. Though Bethlehem seemed to have recovered from famine, Ruth and Naomi still did lack of resources for living. To Naomi, an old woman, widowed and orphaned, Ruth became the only hope and family. Ruth did not just become a migrant, but became a co-traveler with Naomi for the rest of her life. It was a voluntary response from Ruth to risk herself leaving her home and everything, choosing to be responsible to care and protect someone who had lost her livelihood and no hopes for future. Another character called Boaz, as seen in the book of Ruth, who had resources of living, decided to provide Ruth, the resources such as water and grains. Sharing of resources here enabled Ruth and Naomi to sustain their life.

Later in the genealogy of Matthew, one can find the name of Ruth as an ancestor of Christ Jesus who was butchered, became formless, walking on foot carrying the burdensome cross on his shoulders towards Golgotha not for life but only to die. The formless physique, unpleasant bodily fluids oozing out of the body, and torn out foot of Jesus are the marks to be identified with the pathos of today’s poor migrants. God in Christ Jesus willingly continues to be crushed and butchered along with those poor and migrant workers who cannot find resources of life, but become prey to the inhumane and cruel capitalists whose accumulation of life resources have resulted in human made famine like situation today.

Now, what will happen in a post-lockdown and post-corona crisis context? It is sure that the world will return to its previous habitual routines. The pandemic created famine situation will be battled by the capitalist world, again rushing to recover and own the lost resources. Whereas, the situation of many migrant workers and poverty stricken will continue to fight for life resources and struggle for life sustenance. It is here, the role of Ruth and of Boaz need to be seen as a Christian vocation. God who seemed to be invisible, silent, and passive became visible, voice-ful, and active through Ruth and Boaz. We are called to risk ourselves in order to care, protect and share our resources with those who lack resources of life.

Prayer:

Dear God, the source of life, help us to become your agents like your dear son who volunteered to risk his life for those who cannot sustain life; open our eyes to see you in life and death of those who lack resources of life; enable us to be truthful to the vocation, you have called us; encourage us to share life resources with all who struggle to enjoy it; in Christ Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.

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Author: Rev. Sam Sunny Anand S.

About the Author: Sam is an ordained minister from the Church of South India, Diocese of Madras. Currently he is pursuing his Masters in Ecumenical Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany. As a pastor, he actively engages in counseling and coaches the youth in ‘crisis management’.