The full stack trace I get when running cucumber-jvm with a default RVM installed version of JRuby.

full-trace

[ecarey @ automation]$ cucumber-jvm 
cucumber.runtime.CucumberException: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
  at cucumber.runtime.io.ResourceLoaderReflections.newInstance(ResourceLoaderReflections.java:81)
	at cucumber.runtime.io.ResourceLoaderReflections.instantiateSubclasses(ResourceLoaderReflections.java:57)
	at cucumber.runtime.Runtime.loadBackends(Runtime.java:78)
	at cucumber.runtime.Runtime.<init>(Runtime.java:52)
	at cucumber.api.cli.Main.run(Main.java:18)
	at cucumber.api.cli.Main.main(Main.java:12)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
	at org.jruby.javasupport.JavaMethod.invokeDirectWithExceptionHandling(JavaMethod.java:455)
	at org.jruby.javasupport.JavaMethod.invokeStaticDirect(JavaMethod.java:367)
	at org.jruby.java.invokers.StaticMethodInvoker.call(StaticMethodInvoker.java:60)
	at org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.cacheAndCall(CachingCallSite.java:326)
	at org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.call(CachingCallSite.java:170)
	at org.jruby.ast.CallOneArgNode.interpret(CallOneArgNode.java:57)
	at org.jruby.ast.NewlineNode.interpret(NewlineNode.java:105)
	at org.jruby.ast.RescueNode.executeBody(RescueNode.java:222)
	at org.jruby.ast.RescueNode.interpret(RescueNode.java:117)
	at org.jruby.ast.BeginNode.interpret(BeginNode.java:83)
	at org.jruby.ast.NewlineNode.interpret(NewlineNode.java:105)
	at org.jruby.ast.BlockNode.interpret(BlockNode.java:71)
	at org.jruby.ast.RootNode.interpret(RootNode.java:129)
	at org.jruby.evaluator.ASTInterpreter.INTERPRET_ROOT(ASTInterpreter.java:121)
	at org.jruby.Ruby.runInterpreter(Ruby.java:834)
	at org.jruby.Ruby.loadFile(Ruby.java:2674)
	at org.jruby.runtime.load.ExternalScript.load(ExternalScript.java:66)
	at org.jruby.runtime.load.LoadService.load(LoadService.java:359)
	at org.jruby.RubyKernel.loadCommon(RubyKernel.java:1081)
	at org.jruby.RubyKernel.load19(RubyKernel.java:1073)
	at org.jruby.RubyKernel$INVOKER$s$0$1$load19.call(RubyKernel$INVOKER$s$0$1$load19.gen)
	at org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.DynamicMethod.call(DynamicMethod.java:209)
	at org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.DynamicMethod.call(DynamicMethod.java:205)
	at org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.cacheAndCall(CachingCallSite.java:326)
	at org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.call(CachingCallSite.java:170)
	at org.jruby.ast.FCallOneArgNode.interpret(FCallOneArgNode.java:36)
	at org.jruby.ast.NewlineNode.interpret(NewlineNode.java:105)
	at org.jruby.ast.BlockNode.interpret(BlockNode.java:71)
	at org.jruby.ast.RootNode.interpret(RootNode.java:129)
	at org.jruby.evaluator.ASTInterpreter.INTERPRET_EVAL(ASTInterpreter.java:95)
	at org.jruby.evaluator.ASTInterpreter.evalWithBinding(ASTInterpreter.java:184)
	at org.jruby.RubyKernel.evalCommon(RubyKernel.java:1130)
	at org.jruby.RubyKernel.eval19(RubyKernel.java:1093)
	at org.jruby.RubyKernel$INVOKER$s$0$3$eval19.call(RubyKernel$INVOKER$s$0$3$eval19.gen)
	at org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.DynamicMethod.call(DynamicMethod.java:225)
	at org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.DynamicMethod.call(DynamicMethod.java:221)
	at org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.cacheAndCall(CachingCallSite.java:366)
	at org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.call(CachingCallSite.java:238)
	at Users.ecarey.$_dot_rvm.gems.jruby_minus_1_dot_7_dot_4.bin.ruby_noexec_wrapper.__file__(/Users/ecarey/.rvm/gems/jruby-1.7.4/bin/ruby_noexec_wrapper:14)
	at Users.ecarey.$_dot_rvm.gems.jruby_minus_1_dot_7_dot_4.bin.ruby_noexec_wrapper.load(/Users/ecarey/.rvm/gems/jruby-1.7.4/bin/ruby_noexec_wrapper)
	at org.jruby.Ruby.runScript(Ruby.java:807)
	at org.jruby.Ruby.runScript(Ruby.java:800)
	at org.jruby.Ruby.runNormally(Ruby.java:669)
	at org.jruby.Ruby.runFromMain(Ruby.java:518)
	at org.jruby.Main.doRunFromMain(Main.java:390)
	at org.jruby.Main.internalRun(Main.java:279)
	at org.jruby.Main.run(Main.java:221)
	at org.jruby.Main.main(Main.java:201)
Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:57)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
	at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:525)
	at cucumber.runtime.io.ResourceLoaderReflections.newInstance(ResourceLoaderReflections.java:75)
	... 57 more
Caused by: cucumber.runtime.CucumberException: Invalid RUBY_VERSION: jruby-1.7.4
	at cucumber.runtime.jruby.JRubyBackend.<init>(JRubyBackend.java:67)
	... 62 more
[ecarey @ automation]$ 

root-cause

Caused by: cucumber.runtime.CucumberException: Invalid RUBY_VERSION: jruby-1.7.4
  at cucumber.runtime.jruby.JRubyBackend.<init>(JRubyBackend.java:67)
	... 62 more