Faith, Loyalty And Honor ( 24th Sunday After Pentecost November 7, 2021)

FAITH, LOYALTY and HONOR

Text: Ruth 3:1- 5, 4:13 - 17

Ruth 3:1-5  Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?  (2)  Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.  (3)  Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.  (4)  But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.”  (5)  And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”

Ruth 4:13-17  So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son.  (14)  Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!  (15)  He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”  (16)  Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse.  (17)  And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. (NRSV).

“A woman in West Texas went to see the governor to beg for her husband’s release from prison, After a long wait she was ushered into the governor’s office and proceeded to tell her story.

The governor asked, “What’s h in for?’

“Stealing dozens of hams” said the woman. “Well that doesn’t sound too bad”, said the governor. “Was he a good husband?”

“As a matter of fact, he never said kind word to me in all the years we we’ve been married,” said the woman.

“Was he a good worker?” the governor asked.

“No, I wouldn’t say that. He’s pretty lazy. I can’t remember him having a steady job, she said.

“Well, was he a good father to the kids?” he asked.

“Well, the truth is that he is pretty mean to the kids. Never pays any attention to them until he’s drunk. Then, he’s mean to them.”

Ma’am”, said the governor, “I have to ask you, why do you want a man like that out of prison?”

“Well, governor,” she said, “we’re about out of ham”. (Micael E. Hodgin. 1002 Humorous Illustrations. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Inc., 2004, pp. 253 - 254). What does that have to do with today’s text? Ruth and Naomi were hungry widows who had to glean (which they were doing in the second chapter of Ruth) the crops for something to eat which the poor were allowed to do according Deuteronomy 24:19.

Ruth had lost everything. But, not all hope was lost because God’s blessing was at work behind the scenes. Ruth was asking Boaz to fulfill her request to be a “Kinsman Redeemer”. Boaz is a relative of Naomi’s husband Elimelech. After she got back to her homeland, Naomi had changed her name to “Mara” which means bitter when the town asked her if her name was Naomi (Ruth 1:20). Naomi seems to have forgotten that the Lord was going to help them when they got back to Bethlehem (Ruth1:6). God not only provided that promise of food but also a promise of redemption.

Today, we will focus on losses, loyalty and blessings.

LOSSES

Have you ever taken anything for granted?

1) Rude awakening: In a very short amount of time Naomi, Ruth and Orpah became widowed and childless with a very bleak future. There were no help agencies. There were no phones or pay phones. How long has it been since you saw a working payphone?

2) Growing accustomed: How often do we get so accustomed to things to the point that we take them for granted? “Emerson said that if the stars came out only once a year, everybody would stay up all night to behold them. We have seen the stars so often that we don't bother to look at them anymore. We have grown accustomed to our blessings.” https://www.sermonsearch.com/sermon-illustrations/6578/danger-of-taking-your-blessings-for-granted/ We never know what we has until we realize what it was that we lost because we took it for granted.

Does who we are matter to God? When bad things happen it can make us ask a question like that.

1) Moabites: Orpah and Ruth are Moabite women. That is not that big of a deal unless you consider the history of what happened in Number 25:1 - 3 when Moabite women became seductresses and enticed people to sin against God and make themselves impure with immorality but also by sacrificing to a Moabite god.