19th Sunday after Pentecost “From Outside – In”
October 8, 2023 Ruth 2
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Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,
Two weeks ago, we looked at Ruth chpt.1 to see God’s grace at work in the life of one Hebrew family; which reminds us of God’s grace at work in our lives. That theme centered around the word ‘lament’, meaning grief & mourning. Naomi suffered with the deaths of her husband & two sons, in a foreign country, and having to return to her hometown empty.
However, her daughter-in-law, Ruth, was absolutely committed to her by turning away from her own family & homeland & past religion. Ruth becomes a ‘type’ (or symbol) of Christ, who restores Naomi to hope in life, & in trusting in God’s larger plan for her. This morning we take a lesson out of Ruth chpt.2. Let me read a shortened version of the chapter.
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Ruth 2 (New Living Translation, alt)
Now there was a well respected man in Bethlehem named Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi’s husband, Elimelech. 2 One day Ruth-the-Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go out into the harvest fields to pick up the stalks of grain left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let me do it.” Naomi replied, “Go, my daughter.” 3 So Ruth went out and gleaned in the field behind those reaping. And as it turns out, she was working in a field that belonged to Boaz.
4 While she was there, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters. “The Lord be with you!” he said. “The Lord bless you!” the harvesters replied. 5 Then Boaz asked his foreman, “Who is that young woman over there?” 6 And the foreman replied, “She is the young woman from Moab who came back with Naomi. 7 She asked me this morning if she could gather grain behind the harvesters. She has been hard at work, except for one short rest.”
8 Boaz went over and said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Stay right here with us and don’t go to any other fields. Keep close to the young women working in my field. I have warned the young men not to bother you. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well.”
10 Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. “What have I done to deserve such kindness?” she asked. “I am only a foreigner.” 11 “Yes, I know,” Boaz replied. “But I also know about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father & mother and your native land to live here among strangers.
12 May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done.” (Ruth replied) 13 “I have found favor in your eyes, my lord. You have comforted me by speaking so kindly, even though I am not one of your workers.”
14 At mealtime Boaz called to Ruth, “Come over here, and help yourself to some food. You can dip your bread in the wine.” So she sat with his harvesters, and Boaz gave her some roasted grain to eat. She ate all she wanted and still had some left over.
15 When Ruth went back to work again, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her gather grain right among the sheaves without stopping her. 16 And pull out some heads of barley from the bundles and drop them on purpose for her. Let her pick them up, and don’t rebuke her.”
17 So Ruth gathered barley there all day, and when she beat out the grain that evening,
it filled an entire basket. 18 She carried it back into town and showed it to her mother-in-law. Ruth also gave her the roasted grain that was left over from her meal.
19 “Where did you gather all this grain today?” Naomi asked. May the Lord bless the one who helped you!” Ruth said, “The man I worked with today is named Boaz.” 20 “May the Lord bless him!” Naomi said. “He is showing his kindness to both the living and the dead. That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.” 21 Then Ruth-the- Moabite said, “Boaz even told me to come back and stay with his harvesters until the harvest is completed.”
22 “Good!” Naomi exclaimed. “Do as he said, my daughter. You might be harassed in other fields, but you’ll be safe with him.” 23 So Ruth worked alongside the women in Boaz’s fields and gleaning with them until the end of the harvest. And all the while she lived with her mother-in-law.
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Ruth was an outsider. She grew up in Moab with a pagan religion, & therefore a different culture = some of it quite wicked. Ruth had been brought into a Hebrew family,
with its culture shaped by the One True God of Abraham/Isaac/Jacob; & she had come to the knowledge of the truth, & had confessed it with her mother-in-law. But her past & upbringing still clings to her, & she is identified as ‘Ruth-the-Moabite’. She is brand-new to the land of Israel, & an outsider. By comparison, Naomi’s relative, Boaz, is a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, & was an insider.
By faith in God, both Ruth and Boaz were fulfilling their ‘vocations.’ In the Church, ‘vocation’ is a fancy word for a person’s ‘station in life’ == whether a person is male or female, married or single, with an aptitude for business or for farming, whether mostly healthy or rather sickly, slave or free. A person’s /calling, /abilities, /occupations, /& labors are their vocation. Ruth & Boaz had different vocations in life; but both were trusting that the Lord would be compassionate toward them, and provide for them.
That meant that Ruth could then turn & be compassionate toward Naomi & provide for her; and Boaz could turn & be compassionate toward Ruth & provide for her.
This is how the Christian life is. Because a person is a child of God, their vocation becomes the avenue by which they turn & serve the others in their life. Because YOU are washed & reborn as a child of God, God has given into your life certain ways for you to serve others. Fulfilling your vocation makes for a fulfilling life. In their vocations, Ruth is an outsider & Boaz is an insider. By God’s grace & Spirit, Boaz transforms Ruth from being an outsider to a welcome guest at his table. This is a good example of how we are to treat others; but, first & foremost, it’s a picture of how our Lord welcomes US outsiders to His table.
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The dining hall can be a dreaded place to enter as an outsider in a new school. I do remember the first day I went to the dining hall at college. I didn’t yet know anyone, so after getting my food, I walked into the crowded sitting area, took a quick look around & chose an empty table = because I was an outsider. So, sitting alone, I wondered: are people staring at me? Do they think I’m weird?
However, after just a few minutes, a smiling guy with his tray approached my table, pulled a chair back & sat down and asked: Hey, were you really in the Coast Guard? Well, I did have on a Coast Guard sweatshirt. He introduced himself & asked more questions. After a few more minutes, two of his friends came over & plopped down & I was introduced to them. They had all been at the college last year; they were insiders. But now I was being folded into their clan, with new status. I was no longer an outsider, but welcomed.
So, Ruth comes into a whole new country with her mother-in-law, & into ‘oh little town of Bethlehem’, where all the Israelites know each other. They would also know the history of how the Moabites got their despised beginning – when one of Lot’s daughters got her father drunk & got herself pregnant by him, & named her son Moab.(Gen.19) Ruth begins this new life at the very bottom. A foreigner, a stained past; widowed, poor, & unemployed. How much more ‘outsider’ can one get? But she’s not helpless, so she joins the ‘gleaner club.’ Gleaners were the poor who went to the fields, picking up any grain the reapers had missed.
As part of God’s compassion for the poor, in Lev.19, He instructed farmers to leave a portion of their crops to extend mercy to the lowly.
So, Ruth was not trying to climb any social ladder, & she was not looking for what some call a ‘sugar daddy.’ She had pledged her life to her godly mother-in-law, and mother-in-laws had to eat. Trusting God, she could work & provide; this was her station in life.
No one likes being an outsider; it produces a number of yucky feelings. Now, older people can get used to those feelings, & it doesn’t bother them so much. But younger people can have a tough time with those desires to be part of the popular crowd. They want to feel like an insider by wearing the right clothes, using the popular crude language, going along with the current immoralities, & being overly concerned whether their social media posts are liked. But to do those things, a person will turn away from family, & away from the right & godly things, which makes a guilty conscience. There is no excuse for sin; but we know that it’s hard to be an outsider.
But we HAVE to deal with it, don’t we? Remember when Jesus said +that if the world hated Him it will hate us, too? +That if we are friends with the world – we become an enemy of God. +That it does no good to gain the whole world if we forfeit our eternal soul. +That the world & our old nature desires things that are opposite of the Spirit’s desires. +That when we follow after Him it will be as bearing a cross. A Christian is a child of the Holy God traveling thru an unholy country. In our culture today, no matter how nicely a believer explains his or her beliefs, it’s a good chance we will be ridiculed & rejected as outsiders.
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Now, Boaz was an insider. We heard that Boaz was an influential & wealthy man from the clan of Naomi’s husband, Elimelech. He was well known in the community, and well respected by his workers. Boaz is a bit unique in Scriptures. Unlike other prominent figures in the OT, Boaz has no direct revelation from the Lord, and he offers no deep theological insights when he speaks == not like Moses or David or Job. Boaz is just man of faith in the one true God, and he lives out that faith in his various daily responsibilities. He owns fields, he hires workers, and when he visits he blesses them by saying: ‘The Lord be with you, workers!’
To which they answer: ‘The Lord bless you, boss!’ Have you ever had a boss like that?
As LUCK would have it ….. oh, that’s not right! As THE LORD would have it, Ruth gleaned from the field that Boaz owned. It’s a reminder of how little we can sometimes see of our lives from the ground; but God has His very high & purposeful view over us.
In the morning, Ruth goes out to glean; to work hard with the small hope that she can gather enough for her & Naomi for a day or two. But Boaz is mindful of the things the Lord puts in his life. He had heard her story; about her new life under the God of Israel, & about her faithfulness to his family; he is thoroughly impressed by her. So much so, the language used regarding the mealtime – suggests that not only did Boaz give her a seat at his table of the working family, but he serves her with the bread & wine; with enough that there are leftovers that she can take to Naomi at the end of the day. All this happens because Boaz is gracious and inviting.
After that, he protects her, and instructs the workers to favor her so that she’s getting more than enough. Boaz cannot change the sad & tough circumstances of his relative Naomi who lost her husband & two sons; and he can’t change Ruth’s past as a despised Moabite, or fix her past hardship as a young widow. But the Lord certainly blessed him, and put him in a position to increase Naomi’s hope, and change Ruth’s future. His actions changed Ruth’s identity /from lonely gleaner to accepted worker; /from hungry to satisfied-with-leftovers; /from outsider to welcomed guest; /from vulnerable to protected & safe.
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And more than that. If you’ve heard the story of Ruth-the-Moabitess, then you know that she is listed in Matthew chpt.1 as the great/great/great/great (etc) grandmother of Jesus Christ Himself. She is part of the genealogy of that ultimate promise, going all the way back to Genesis 3:15, which changes everything for you & me, and for all who come to believe the Gospel. Jesus has taken notice of YOU, even tho -by sin- you were not counted among His people. By His grace He has raised you up to be among His people – to share at His table, to satisfy you, to protect you & provide for you; and even to have power over those who threaten you, to let you live & serve in hope & peace. Jesus graciously brings outsiders – in.
Fallen as it is, this world is the Lord’s creation; it’s His field. The Son of God arrived, beginning from ‘oh little town of Bethlehem’ as our relative, and making His way to Jerusalem, the City of God, to be our Redeemer. Thru Christ’s death & resurrection, we go /from poor-debtor to rich-forgiven; /from sinner to saint; /from lost to saved; /from foreign-outsider to welcomed family-guest.
Jesus invites us to receive His water of Holy Baptism & Holy Spirit – that continues to satisfy our thirst; He uses grain & wine to serve us His own redeeming body & blood – at His family table of forgiveness, life, and salvation. Jesus is that Worthy Man who has come to change our identity from outside God’s kingdom to inside; safe & comforted by His gracious words.
So the work of Jesus has changed YOUR identity: now you are an insider. That also means that your vocation has been upgraded. As an insider in God’s family, in the dining room of His Church, now you are the one who is comfortable & familiar. Others may see God’s Church as intimidating & a bit scary. They might not know anyone, or be familiar with its holy customs.
We can calm their fears. As God is gracious, and has welcomed US into His family,
so He welcomes all who will humbly repent of their sin, turn from their foreign ways,
and seek to listen, to learn, and to walk according to His Holy Words for life.
Like Boaz, we pray that the Lord would open our eyes to take notice of those who are hungry & thirsty; who are on the outside, gleaning for some hope in God’s kindness.
And we ask the Lord to help us to invite them in, to speak the truth with love about their relative-Redeemer, Jesus; and to trust Him.
Amen