This is the main body of a sermon I gave yesterday. I have made a couple of changes and there were a few digressions and changes but the message remains the same. Hope it makes sense
It was my birthday on Thursday. My second birthday. 19 years after I decided
to become a Christian. I have the date scribbled down in my bible but I had
forgotten my wife hadn’t though as she got me a birthday card! Turns out an old
calendar of mine that reminded me of the date turned up on her iPad. Isn’t
technology wonderful?
When I started going to church way back in the mid 90’s, I bought this bible. I
have bought other ones since but this is the one I always come back to. It isn’t
a fancy study bible. It doesn’t have anything particularly helpful for writing
sermons or bible studies. It is a bog standard NIV but it is one of my most
prized possessions. All through this are little notes and thoughts that have
helped me in years gone by. Sometimes I will be sitting in a church and a
thought strikes me about a piece of scripture and I write a little note. For
example …
Some parts are more scribbled on than others. Some books have hardly
anything. There is very little in Job and there’s very little in Habakkuk.
Philippians is almost completely covered and Luke is similar.
To help with this, I have tried my best this year to think more about those parts
I sometimes don’t really spend enough time with. Particularly the Old
Testament. It is part of a broader challenge to help develop me as a Christian
and as a teacher. The longer I have been a Christian, the more I know about
Jesus. That’s great. The flip side is that I also realise that there is an ever
increasing amount of stuff that I do not know about Jesus. This year I have
been reading my Bible every day. Today marks the 52nd straight day of reading
my Bible. So far I have read all of Genesis, all of Acts, all of Matthew and all of
Job. Most of Exodus and a decent amount of Psalms and Proverbs. I am not
saying this to make myself seem better than anyone else. If anything, it
highlights my rubbish record of reading scripture over the years.
Since starting at New Year, I have, at times, felt a hunger to read more. The
more I read the more I want to read. It’s exciting.
That’s part of why I want to focus on the Old Testament today but also I want
to link with what others have been talking about lately. You see, my
copy of Matthew has nothing in the first chapter. I have often dismissed the
genealogy of Jesus and that is wrong of me. We have looked at Abraham and
Isaac and today I want to look at Boaz. I was going to talk about his father but
he seemed a bit fishy to me.
So please turn with me to the book of Ruth.
Now, I love the book of Ruth. For several reasons. It’s short and I like the
shorter books because I can understand more of them. It only has four
chapters. I also love the story of Ruth. Jessica’s middle name is Ruth and it is
part of the reason why Naomi is called Naomi. When we were expecting we
knew that we would never ever want to leave her to struggle with anything just
to make our lives a little bit easier.
I didn’t know until I started thinking about talking today that Ruth is in a
different place in Hebrew Bibles. It doesn’t come in the middle of the history
section. It comes after Proverbs and Song of Solomon and Job. It is in the
writings section. Readers of the Hebrew Bible finish Proverbs with that
beautiful section about the virtuous wife and the next proper woman they meet
is Ruth.
The story of Ruth comes from a difficult time in Israel’s history. It is in the
time of the Judges. The time of God’s direct leading through the desert is gone.
Moses is gone. Joshua is gone. In chapter 17 (verse 6) we read about how
In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. Judg
17:6
The Israelites were doing whatever they wanted.
They had no
leadership and they clearly weren’t looking for God’s leadership. We
read in the opening of Ruth that there were some in the world who
were very hungry and I am sure there were those who were
exploiting the hungry and in pain.
Into this period of history steps Ruth.
The book has several different themes that run right through it. These include
faithfulness, kindness and integrity. All of the characters in the book share
these different qualities.
Ruth is faithful to Naomi. She didn’t have to be. She was the daughter in law.
Naomi’s Husband, Elimelek, had moved out of Israel into Moab in order to find
food and prosperity for his family. He seems to have had some success as he
managed to find wives for his two sons. Sadly Elimelek and his sons die and
Naomi is faced with having to go back to Israel. Neither Ruth nor Orpah had to
go with her. They were Moabitesses, foreigners. Deuteronomy 23:3-6 says that
No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the
assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation. For they did
not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you
came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor
in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you. However, the Lord
your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a
blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. Do not seek
a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live. Deu 23:3-6
They were discouraged from being part of the Israelite world but they were not
expressly forbidden. I am sure that Ruth would have expected to face
discrimination and difficulty if she went back to Israel with Naomi but she still
did. She was faithful to her. Ruth loved Naomi
But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where
you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people
and your God my God Rth 1:16
Throughout the book, Boaz is faithful. He is faithful to the law, despite being in
a time when this wasn’t that common. He is faithful to Ruth, allowing her to find
safety and to protection.
God is faithful as well. Naomi knew that there was a famine and we see that
God had come to the rescue of his people. She knew that if she went back God
would be faithful to her as well.
As well as the faithfulness that fills this book there is the simple kindness and
protection displayed throughout it. Ruth is kind to Naomi and of course Boaz is
wonderfully kind to Ruth. Ruth faced dangers, Chapter 2 v 22 tells us that what
Ruth was doing could have been dangerous. He never had to do anything that
she did in the book. She chose to because she was faithful and kind.
Naomi wants to protect Ruth and to help both of them. She comes up with a
plan which seems strange. It must have looked strange to Ruth, it certainly
seems strange to us today. Go and lie at the feet of a strange man hoping he
will save you? That is not a message that the world likes today but it wasn’t
really like that. If Ruth wanted the protection that she needed, she needed to
go to the right person, the person who wanted to and could provide it.
God is like this too.
He wants to protect us. He has plans for our lives and often
these seem strange and confusing. We need to be more like Ruth and plunge on
straight ahead, trusting the person who loves us most and trusting the plans
they have for us. So the next time someone (it is usually God) reminds you of
Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11, think of Ruth. It might seem strange but the
plans are really for your protection and prosperity.
All of this faithfulness and kindness gives us integrity. It gives us a sense of
doing the right thing and of having the right thing done to us. All through the
story of Ruth and Naomi, Ruth is loyal and sticks to the plan. All through the
story Boaz continues down the moral and ethical path. God is the same, he had
a plan for them and he has a plan for us.
We need to remember that sticking to the plan is the right thing to do. It might
be difficult for us and it might seem pointless but it is the right thing to do. God
has a plan and he has stuck to it for a very long time. It is coming to fruition
soon.
I said earlier that I wanted to look at Boaz in particular. He is the one who is
mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. Even though the book is called Ruth (and
rightly so) we could argue that that Boaz is the main character of the story.
Boaz fits a particular style, a particular idea. Boaz is a hero. He is a rescuer. He
is the man who brought a gentile woman in from the cold and fell in love with
her.
Let’s have a look at a key part of the story:
Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as
the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said,
“Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat
down. Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,”
and they did so. Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi,
who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that
belonged to our relative Elimelek. I thought I should bring the
matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence
of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my
people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I
will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next
in line.” “I will redeem it,” he said. Then Boaz said, “On the day you
buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the
dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his
property.” At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot
redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it
yourself. I cannot do it.” (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the
redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took
off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of
legalizing transactions in Israel.) So the guardian-redeemer said to
Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal. Then Boaz
announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are
witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of
Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite,
Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the
dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from
among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”
Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are
witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your
home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of
Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in
Bethlehem. Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young
woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to
Judah.” Rth 4:1-12
You see, not only did Boaz do the right thing by Ruth and Naomi, he did the
right thing in the right way. Boaz was entitled to buy the land that Elimelek had
around Bethlehem but there was someone who was more qualified than him. The
law said that the other relative had first dibs on it. I suspect that Boaz really
wanted to be the one to do it, we can see this in the way he casually drops in
the point about having to take on Ruth to maintain Mahlon’s name. The other
relative was happy to do it until he realises that perhaps there is a threat to his
family in there if he has to maintain the claims of Mahlon.
Boaz must have been worried for a little bit there but thankfully the job of
saving Ruth and Naomi falls to him and he takes to it like a duck to water. He
marries Ruth and quickly she falls pregnant with Obed.
Boaz had no idea where he would end up or what would happen. This didn’t stop
him though. He married a woman who may not have been able to provide a
future for his family but he did it anyway.
He had no idea where his family
would lead but his great grandson would bring unity and prestige to Israel. His
great grandson would be the greatest king of Israel and a man after God’s own
heart. Boaz had no idea that many many years later, a descendent of his and
the woman he helped save from destitution would be born in a Bethlehem stable
and would help save the whole world from destitution.
Like Boaz is possibly the main character of Ruth, it is well known that despite
not being born till long after, Jesus is the main character of the Whole Old
Testament. He is exactly like Boaz but even more so!
Jesus also did what was right. Throughout his whole life, when faced with
difficult situations which had easy ways out, he took the right option. When he
was hungry in the desert he could have had food. He didn’t. When the devil
tempted him with a glimpse of making the world his, Jesus said no and went to
do it God’s way. Even though he was tired and upset at the death of his friend
John, he still found time to teach and feed more than 5,000 people.
He always did things in the right way. Even his death was done in the right way.
Often I am asked (and if I am honest have asked myself) why God couldn’t
have done it another way. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? That can’t
have been the right way can it? Yes, yes it can. When sin came into the world so
did death. So did God covering people up with that death. God made Adam and
Eve clothes to wear from the animal that had to die for their sins. Sin demands
death and death means sacrifice. Justice demands punishment. If someone has
committed a crime against you, you would demand punishment. A judge can’t just
let people off, it isn’t justice. Sin demands death, justice demands punishment
and God demands a sacrifice. God was always willing to provide the sacrifice
when needed, as he did with Abraham and Isaac but, by the time of Jesus, the
only sacrifice that would have been enough was a man. After all the things we
had done, Jesus had no other way.
Like Boaz, the law was clear. Jesus had no other options, he had to go to the
cross. He cried and he was in despair but that didn’t stop him.
Like Boaz, Jesus didn’t know what would happen. On the cross, Jesus was a
lonely, pained and forsaken man. He trusted that God would make things right
but right there and then, there was nothing but despair.
You see, Ruth and Boaz is a love story for the ages. I am truly surprised that it
hasn’t had the Hollywood epic treatment. It has it all. Despair, danger, loss,
romance, salvation and a cracking series of sequels.
The relationship of Ruth and Naomi is a wonderful one to model.
Who are the
Naomis in our lives? Who needs our love the most? Who will we cling to and go
where they go? I know that there are people in this world who I need to spend
more time with and reconnect with. I am an awful Ruth.
Who are the Ruths in our lives? Who do we need to protect and find safety
for? Who are we going to find at our feet, hungry and desperate for help? It
needn’t be a romantic thing. The poor we will always have with us and any one
of those could be a Ruth for us.
Who is our Boaz? Who do we turn to for help when things get rough? Who do
we know who will always help us out but do so in the right way? Perhaps we
don’t know anyone like that. Talk to God and he will help you find them. Talk to
us and we will happily pray with you and see where God points you.
If you don’t know Naomi or Ruth or Boaz, let me finish with an introduction to
someone who can be all three. Someone who can be a Naomi with a plan. A plan
to help you prosper and be safe in life, Someone who can be a Ruth. A Ruth who
will go where you go. Who will never leave you or forsake you. And someone
who can be a Boaz, someone to feed you, save you and to do all this in the right
way and at the right time. That person is Jesus. The same Jesus who loved us
so much that when he saw how much we were in need he did all he could to save
us from the punishment we deserved. Thankfully it was enough …
