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Living in the Providence of God - 2
It was tough times for Naomi and Ruth, which is why they had returned home. Home, that is, for Naomi, but for Ruth it was not home. But it was to become home. And because of that, it becomes home for us as well. It may not have been obvious to either of them in chapter 1, but in chapter 2, we continue to see the story unfolding.
In chapter 2 we become acquainted with a new person in the story, a man by the name of Boaz. Ruth went to glean in a field, as it turned out, belonged to Boaz. The Book of Ruth indicates that this was not a mistake, at least from God's perspective. God was working behind the scenes. C.S. Lewis once said, "Coincidence is God's way of staying anonymous."
Boaz graciously encourages this young foreign woman to continue to glean in his field. She who had no standing is provided for, and comes under his protection. He does so out of grace, not out of self-interest, although things did turn out well for him in the end - but that is getting ahead of the story.
But, before we get to the rest of the story, take a few moments to absorb what is happening in here in chapter 2. Notice the kind of character that is reflected in Boaz. Notice the kind of character that is reflected in Ruth. This is not just a story of people who happened to be in the right place at the right time, but rather a story about two people who were living in response to the prompting of the Spirit, and who were already being shaped into the kind of people through whom God would bring out His purposes in the world. You can read about the place in God's bigger picture that they played by reading Matthew 1:5, where we see the long term impact of what happened here. This small but important part of God's bigger picture grew out of lots of seemingly "smaller" pictures of graciousness, kindness and responsiveness that may not have seemed like much at the time, but have ripple effects that change everything. Small pictures and often bigger than we think!
Pastor Jon explores this aspect of the story this morning, highlighting the significance of embodying what God is up to in our lives, even though we may never know, this side of the kingdom, the full significance of what it means to do this. Perhaps that is the real reason for the final "judgement" - an opportunity to see and to celebrate the amazing ripple effects of living out God' graciousness and kindness in the world.
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Ruth 2
(NIV)
Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standingfrom the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.
2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”
Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.
4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”
“The Lord bless you!” they answered.
5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
6 The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
13 “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheavesand don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.[a] 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left overafter she had eaten enough.
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.
20 “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.[b]”
21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”
23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barleyand wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
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