Ruth Ruth 4:13-17 April 15, 2012 Travis Collins Today we begin a new series Ordinary People; Extraordinary Stories. Over the next few weeks we ll look at people as common as we are who found themselves in the middle of God s mission to the world. We cheer for Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin and now Bubba Watson, winner of last Sunday s Masters. Thank God for those high profile folks who give voice to our beliefs. God s mission to the world, however, does not rely on high profile spokespersons, but primarily on ordinary people with extraordinary stories. We begin our series with an ordinary young lady from Moab, named Ruth. If you have your Bibles open, you might want to open to the first chapter and just follow along. I want to simply tell the story. Ruth was living with her parents in her homeland of Moab, just east of the Dead Sea in what is today the country of Jordan, when a new family moved into town. Word on the street was that new family had moved from Bethlehem, fifty or sixty miles away, on the other side of the Dead Sea. Folks said a famine had forced that new family to leave their home in order to find food. The father s name was Elimelek. The mother was Naomi. The sons were Mahlon and Kilion. Boys and girls have always been boys and girls so maybe Ruth noticed the two new cute boys in town. Not too long after moving to Moab the father and husband, Elimelek, died. Folks must have wondered if the widow Naomi would move back to Bethlehem with her boys, but Naomi decided to stay. And at some point within the next few years one of the sons, Mahlon, fell for Ruth and eventually, undoubtedly, expressed to her father his desire to take Ruth as his bride. There were probably a few goats exchanged, and Ruth found herself at the marriage altar with Naomi sitting in the seat reserved for the mother of the groom. Ruth moved in with her husband, Mahlon, her mother-in-law, Naomi, and her brother-inlaw, Kilion. Then Kilion married a young lady named Orpah and, as would have been customary, the five of them lived under one roof as one big happy family. Then, ten years after the move to Moab, one of the sons died an untimely death. Then the second son died an equally untimely death and suddenly there were three widows Ruth, her sister-in-law, Orpah, and her mother-in-law, Naomi in one house. 1
In Ruth s day, the death of a husband was not only emotionally devastating; it also was economically devastating. There was no pension from their husbands, no Social Security, no safety net. Naomi decided to go home. She, along with Orpah and Ruth, packed up all they could and headed toward Bethlehem. They hadn t gotten far when Naomi decided against having her daughters-in-law accompany her. Go back home, she told them. I love you, but go back and begin new lives. God has dealt bitterly with me, and there is no future for you with me. Orpah finally relented. But not Ruth. Ruth said those famous words to Naomi: Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. By the way, Ruth used the name for God used by His people, not outsiders. She called Him Yahweh. We d have expected her to use the more generic reference Elohim, if He was a foreign god to her. She had embraced the true God, the God Naomi loved. A little side note: It s hard to overstate the importance of loyalty to family. Let s be honest. Some family members are difficult. Maybe Naomi was difficult especially in Naomi s bitter days. But Ruth stuck with her. Ruth was loyal to her mother-in-law. We have a spiritual obligation to be loyal to our family. Of course, if family members are abusive or if the situation is unhealthy then we have a right to protect ourselves by absenting ourselves. But normally, usually, our families deserve our faithfulness, our loyalty, our unwillingness to let anything get in the way of loving them and supporting them. 1 Timothy 5:4 reads, If a widow has children or grandchildren, these (the children and grandchildren) should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family. Ruth could easily have gone back home and made a new life for herself. But she practiced her newfound faith by caring for Naomi, for Naomi was family. When Naomi and Ruth entered Bethlehem Naomi s, old friends recognized her though she had been gone from Bethlehem for several years. They came running to her crying with delight. Naomi? Is that you, Naomi? Yes, it s me, Naomi answered, rather chillingly. But don t call me Naomi (Naomi means pleasant ). Call me Mara (Mara means bitter ). Call me Bitter, said Naomi, for God has dealt bitterly with me. That s the second time Naomi used the word bitter to refer to her feelings about the way God was treating her. It s easy to see why Naomi s grief turned to bitterness. I cannot imagine what it was like to lose her husband after all those years. I cannot imagine losing one child, much less two. And all in a foreign land. I understand how she was bitter. 2
Many of us have enjoyed Jan Karon s books about the little town called Mitford. One of the lovable characters in the books is the local doctor, known affectionately as Hoppy. Hoppy was a fairly young widower. His young wife had died some time ago. And the doctor was bitter. The local minister, and hero of all the stories about Mitford, Father Tim, was Hoppy s friend. Dr. Hoppy had been away from church for a long time, and his faith had faded. He wondered how God could take his wife. And Dr. Hoppy spoke from his heart. I ve been away from church so long so long away from believing I ve been very angry with God. I understand, Father Tim said. Hoppy then described the reason for His distancing from God. He described his loss, using terminology he was accustomed to as a physician. He said, God operated without anesthetic. It must have seemed to Naomi that God had operated without anesthetic. She was bitter. Yet, the truth is that bitterness is a choice, just like joy is. In the words of Barbara Johnson, Pain is inevitable; misery is optional. Of course some grief is deep and the result of inexplicable tragedies. Other grief is the result of a mental illness or chemical imbalance in the brain. But for most of us, bitterness is a choice. Naomi had chosen, at least for a stretch, to nurse her bitterness. Naomi and Ruth settled in Bethlehem. They found a modest place in the low-rent district. Ruth went to work to provide for herself and her mother-in-law. She went to the fields to glean, meaning she gathered the loose barley and wheat which was left after the farm hands passed by to gather the primary harvest. By law, all that she picked up she could keep. It was something of a social services program. There are gleaning programs here in Virginia, by the way. Some of our folks have been on gleaning trips! You go and pick up what the farmers miss as they are harvesting their vegetables and it goes to help feed the poor! The writer of Ruth says she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz. The writer probably intended to communicate that it was not pre-planned. It wasn t a scheme. She chose that field randomly. Yet, behind that choice, we will see as the story unfolds, is the hand of God. As Ruth walked along gathering lose barley, Boaz, the owner of the field where she was working, noticed her. He apparently found her attractive. She also was a hard worker. And Boaz began to ask around about her. He realized that he was Ruth s relative by marriage some relation to her late father-inlaw, Elimelek and so distantly, by marriage, he was related to Ruth. Boaz saw that she was a person of character. He approached her and introduced himself. I ve heard about your faithfulness to your mother-in-law since the death of your 3
husband. Boaz said. Coming with her to live with her here is an admirable thing. God bless you for that. Well, at the end of that day Ruth walked in the door with a smile she could not hide. She was carrying a big bag of grain and a loaf of bread that Boaz had given her. Naomi acknowledged, as we read in verse twenty of chapter two, God has not forsaken His lovingkindness. If the hymn had been written then, she might have sung the chorus of Great is Thy faithfulness. Naomi saw in Boaz an opportunity to secure the future for her widowed daughter-in-law, and she soon took the proverbial bull by the horns. One day Naomi told Ruth what to do. This afternoon Boaz will be winnowing at the threshing floor (That s where they separated the grain from the useless parts of the plant.) After work, Naomi said, they will have dinner and then Boaz will sleep there, to guard his crop. So Naomi instructed Ruth, Get all cleaned up. Put on some perfume. Make yourself beautiful. And go to the threshing floor after dark. Boaz probably will be asleep, so uncover his feet That is what Ruth did. She found Boaz asleep, and she uncovered his feet. When he woke up, startled, she said, It s me, Ruth. Now spread your robe over me, for you are my kin. Granted, to us, this all sounds very strange. Uncovering a sleeping man s feet and asking him to spread his robe over her sounds odd. But remember this was thirteen centuries before Christ another time and culture. The important thing to know is that to spread one s robe over a woman in Ruth s day was a man s way of proposing marriage. Spread your robe over me, Ruth requested. It was, in essence, a marriage proposal. Will you take me under your wing? That was the question she was asking. She was asking Boaz to be her kinsman-redeemer. That was a role in their society taken by a close relative who would assume responsibility for someone who was struggling. For example, if a lady was left a widow, a relative often would marry her and thus assume the responsibility as the kinsman to rescue the widow, or redeem the situation, thus the phrase kinsman-redeemer. Boaz didn t require any convincing. Of course he would. He was flattered and honored. But there was a potential wrench in the gears. He explained that he was not the first relative of Ruth s father-in-law in line to step in and take care of her. Ruth s deceased father-in-law, Elimelech, had a closer relative than Boaz, and that man would have the first opportunity to marry Ruth. If he doesn t, I will, said Boaz. We ll get to that in a moment. Ruth stayed there where Boaz was sleeping but Boaz sent her home before morning so that she wouldn t be seen and her reputation would not be tarnished. 4
Sometimes, in fits of boldness, we say things like, I don t care what people think. But that s not very wise. It s important not to be driven by what people say. It s important not to live to please people. But our reputations are important. Inquiring minds want to know, of course, if Ruth and Boaz took a roll in the hay if something inappropriately physical occurred there that night between Boaz and Ruth. There is no indication that it did, and the Bible does not hide the humanity of its heroes. Both were such honorable people it is highly unlikely that they would have crossed a line. Remember, Boaz was not the first in line with the opportunity to help Ruth. But he found the one who did have that right. Boaz explained about Ruth s situation, and the relative who was first in line didn t want to take her on as his responsibility. He passed. Under his breath Boaz whispered an enthusiastic Yes! and soon he and Ruth were married. Before long they were blessed with a son. In the closing scene of this marvelous drama, Naomi s friends were standing around as she rocked her grandbaby. They said, Oh, Naomi, God has been so good to you. He has given you the blessing of this little boy and a wonderful daughter-in-law. Nothing and nobody would take the place of her husband and sons, but God had given her new joy. We often quote Psalm 90:5 around here: Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning. By the way, the baby s name was Obed. When he grew up he had a son of his own and named him Jesse. Jesse then grew up and had a son named David. We know him as King David, the most beloved king of Israel. And of course you know who is a descendant of David... the Lord Jesus. A story that began with a famine eventually gave us the Bread of Life. Born in the very town in which the curtain falls on Ruth s drama. Ruth died not knowing the impact of her legacy. She was great-grandmother to King David, but did not live to see him crowned. She died not knowing that one of her descendents would be the Messiah, Jesus. She never knew the great difference that her faithfulness to Naomi, and Naomi s God, made. Chances are, some of you will never know the difference in the world that your faithfulness has made. Some of you are simply unaware of the good that you are doing and too humble to recognize your impact on people. You just don t recognize the waves of influence for the good that you re having. And some of the good you do won t be recognized until you re gone. Some of the prayers you pray might not be answered until you re no longer on this earth. 5
But if, at the end of your journey on earth, God were to turn you around, you might be surprised at the deep and everlasting impact of your lives. For God s mission to the world is not primarily through famous people. It s through ordinary people with extraordinary stories. 6