The Whole Field
(Ruth 2:1-23)
Introduction:
“In his beautiful book Rising Above the Crowd, Brian Harbour tells the story of Ben Hooper. When Ben Hooper was born many years ago in the foothills of Tennessee, little boys and girls like Ben who were born to unwed mothers were ostracized and treated terribly. By the time he was three-years-old, the other children would scarcely play with him. Parents were saying idiotic things like, ‘What’s a boy like that doing playing with our children?’ as if the child had anything at all to do with his own birth.
“Saturday was the toughest day of all. Ben’s mom would take him down to the little general store to buy their supplies for the week. Invariably, the other parents in the store would make caustic remarks just loudly enough for both mother and child to hear, comments like, ‘Did you ever figure out who his daddy is?’ What a tough, tough childhood.
“In those days there was no kindergarten. So, at age six, little Ben entered the first grade. He was given his own desk, as were all the children. At recess, he stayed at that little desk and studied because none of the other children would play with him. At noon, little Ben could be found eating his sack lunch all alone. The happy chatter of the children who shunned him was barely audible from where he sat.
“It was a big even when anything changed in the foothills of East Tennessee, and when little Ben was twelve-years-old a new preacher came to pastor the little church in Ben’s town.
“Almost immediately, little Ben started hearing exciting things about him – about how loving and nonjudgmental he was. How he accepted people just as they were, and when he was with them he made them feel like the most important people in the world. Reportedly, the preacher had charisma. When he walked into a group of any size, anywhere, the entire complexion of that group changed. Their smiles broadened, their laughter increased, and their spirits rose.
“One Sunday, though he had never been to church a day in his life, little Ben Hooper decided he was going to go and hear the preacher. He got there late and he left early because he did not want to attract any attention, but he liked what he heard. For the first time in that young boy’s life, he caught just a glimmer of hope.
“Ben was back in church the next Sunday, and the next and the next. He always got there late and always left early, but his hope was building each Sunday.
“On about the sixth or seventh Sunday the message was so moving and exciting that Ben became absolutely enthralled with it. It was almost as if there were a sign behind the preacher’s head that read, ‘For you, little Ben Hooper of unknown parentage, there is hope!’ Ben got so wrapped up in the message, he forgot about the time and didn’t notice that a number of people had come in after he had taken his seat.
“Suddenly, the services were over, Ben very quickly stood up to leave as he had in all the Sundays past, but the aisles were clogged with people and he could not run out. As he was working his way through the crowd, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and looked up, right into the eyes of the young preacher who asked him a question that had been on the mind of every person there for the past twelve years: ‘Whose boy are you?’
"Instantly, the church grew deathly quiet. Slowly, a smile started to spread across the face of the young preacher until it broke into a huge grin, and he exclaimed, ‘Oh! I know whose boy you are! Why, the family resemblance is unmistakable. You are a child of God!’
“And with that the young preacher swatted him across the rear and said, ‘That’s quite a heritage you’ve got there boy! Now, go and see to it that you live up to it’” (Zig Ziglar, Stories for the Heart (Multnomah: Sisters, Oregon, 1996), 223-224).
Life can have some cruel twists and turns, and people can dash the hopes and dreams of others with just a few small words. Just like little Ben we can often find ourselves starting to believe the comments of others about us. We can get sucked into the trap of believing that what they say is true; that we are no good, and that we need to just sit down and let someone else lead. And in a sense, we begin to take the leftovers that fall from the plates of others abundance. We end up not running the race in such a way to win – as Paul said – but running just to place at all.
Now – as we talked last week – Ruth was a foreigner to the land of Judah from the land of Moab, and undoubtedly she would have been shunned as people of other races were in those days. But one day she decides to brave the risk of gleaning in the fields of harvest in order to provide food for Naomi and herself.
And just in case you’re not quite sure what gleaning is, it was simply coming along behind the harvesters in a field and picking up the leftovers that fell from the bundles or were purposefully left behind.
“Israelite law demanded that the corners of the fields not be harvested. In addition, any grain that was dropped was to be left for poor people who picked it up (this was called gleaning) and used it for food (Leviticus 19:9; Leviticus 23:22; Deut. 24:19). The purpose of this law was to feed the poor and to prevent the owners from hoarding. This law served as a type of welfare program in Israel. Because she was a widow with no means of providing for herself, Ruth went into the fields to glean the grain” ( Life Application Notes from the Life Application Bible, New Living Translation).
What we’ll find is something completely remarkable. Rather than just gleaning, Ruth was allowed to take from the best of the harvest. She was allowed to eat with the owner of the field, Boaz. And most of all God blessed her with abundance beyond her wildest dream. Listen to her story as we continue today…
Ruth 2:1-23 (NLT)
Now there was a wealthy and influential man in Bethlehem named Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi's husband, Elimelech.
[2] One day Ruth said to Naomi, "Let me go out into the fields to gather leftover grain behind anyone who will let me do it."
And Naomi said, "All right, my daughter, go ahead." [3] So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech.
[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 girl 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 ever since, except for a few minutes' rest over there in the shelter."
[8] Boaz went over and said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter. Stay right here with us when you gather grain; don't go to any other fields. Stay right behind the women working in my field. [9] See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them. 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. "Why are you being so kind to me?" she asked. "I am only a foreigner."
[11] "Yes, I know," Boaz replied. "But I also know about the love and kindness you have shown your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers. [12] May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully."
[13] "I hope I continue to please you, sir," she replied. "You have comforted me by speaking so kindly to me, even though I am not as worthy as your workers."
[14] At lunchtime Boaz called to her, "Come over here and help yourself to some of our food. You can dip your bread in the wine if you like." So she sat with his harvesters, and Boaz gave her food—more than she could eat.
[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 give her a hard time!"
[17] So Ruth gathered barley there all day, and when she beat out the grain that evening, it came to about half a bushel. [18] She carried it back into town and showed it to her mother-in-law. Ruth also gave her the food that was left over from her lunch.
[19] "So much!" Naomi exclaimed. "Where did you gather all this grain today? Where did you work? May the Lord bless the one who helped you!"
So Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man in whose field she had worked. And she said, "The man I worked with today is named Boaz."
[20] "May the Lord bless him!" Naomi told her daughter-in-law. "He is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband. That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers."
[21] Then Ruth said, "What's more, Boaz even told me to come back and stay with his harvesters until the entire harvest is completed."
[22] "This is wonderful!" Naomi exclaimed. "Do as he said. Stay with his workers right through the whole harvest. You will be safe there, unlike in other fields."
[23] So Ruth worked alongside the women in Boaz's fields and gathered grain with them until the end of the barley harvest. Then she worked with them through the wheat harvest, too. But all the while she lived with her mother-in-law.
As we read this story today, I think that there’s one very important thing we can take away, and here it is: God wants to give us the whole field of abundance, but, like Ruth, most of us muddle around expecting only to glean from the leftovers of others.
There are two ways that Christians respond to the grace and the mercy of God. They either respond like they are picking up the leftovers of other’s dynamic faith in God, or they respond as if they’re acquiring the whole field of faith and freedom and abundance that God so desperately wants to give them. So, let’s take a closer look at each of these responses today…
• Picking up the leftovers:
[2] One day Ruth said to Naomi, "Let me go out into the fields to gather leftover grain behind anyone who will let me do it."
What are leftovers? In our case, it’s usually that globbed up heap of mush on our plate after we’ve stuffed ourselves silly. It’s the half eaten ham sandwich from lunch. It’s the cold pizza in the fridge from the night before. It’s that Tupperware container of brown stuff in the back of our refrigerator with white fuzz all over it. Whatever the case, leftovers are just that which is not eaten or taken for consumption.
Ruth was gleaning from the leftovers in the fields of Boaz, but the interesting thing was she was gleaning in a field that was full of abundance. Was it providence or coincidence that she gleaned in the field of a close relative of Naomi’s? Had God led her to Boaz’s fields because he had something more in mind for her, or was this all just happenstance brought on by sheer dumb luck?
I believe that God had his hand in the matter. I believe that He saw her plight. I believe that he blessed her faithfulness to her mother-in-law Naomi. I believe that – without a doubt – she had been faithful in the little things (even though sometimes risky), and God wanted to bless her with more than she could ever hope for or imagine.
Ruth started out gleaning from the leftovers, but ended up eating from a full table.
I think too many of us are waning a bit in our spiritual lives. Like Ruth, we’re living life taking the scraps of food that fall from the table of others, when God wants us to pull up a chair and join in the feast. And all the while God is saying to us, “Why are you living like a second rate citizen? You are a child of the King! You have been given salvation full and free! Your sins are no longer held against you because my sacrifice is sufficient for you! And since the Son has set you free, you are free indeed!! Take what I have to give and live in the abundance and fullness of life!”
• Acquiring the whole field:
[12] May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully."
When we live in the grace and the mercy of God we live with the freedom that surpasses anything we’ve ever known. It’s a freedom that liberates us though iron bars may imprison. It’s a freedom that releases us even when sorrow and pain are ever-present. It’s a freedom that wipes away the tears of hopelessness. When we live in the grace and mercy of God we live a life that’s overflowing with joy, peace, and hope. We live a life of sheer determination and bold humility when we live in the grace and the mercy of God. And the awesome thing is, when we live this way we also radiate God’s glory to the rest of the world around us. We become contagious Christians rather than repulsive Christians.
When we stop gleaning from the leftovers, and start feasting at the table of God, then we grow in maturity and integrity. We no longer feed off the mild like little babies do, but rather we eat at the banquet feast of the Father.
“There’s a story from the late 1800s of English evangelist Henry Moorhouse who made several trips to America to preach. On one of these occasions, he was taking a walk through a poor section of the city when he noticed a small boy coming out of a store with a pitcher of milk. Just then, the boy slipped and fell, breaking the pitcher and spilling the milk all over the sidewalk. Moorhouse rushed to the youngster’s side and found him unhurt but terrified. ‘My mamma’ll whip me!’ he cried. The preacher suggested that they try to put the pitcher back together, but the pieces of glass would not stay together. The boy kept crying. Finally Moorhouse picked up the youngster and carried him to a nearby store where the preacher purchased a new pitcher. Then he returned to the dairy store and had the pitcher washed and filled with milk. With that done, he carried both the boy and the pitcher home. Putting the youngster down on his front porch, Moorhouse handed him the pitcher and asked, ‘Now will your mama whip you?’
“A wide smile spread upon his tear-stained face, ‘Aw, no sir, ‘cause it’s lot better pitcher than we had before’” (http://www.bible.org/illus.asp?topic_id=667).
One of the most amazing things about God is that he can take what is broken and make it better than it was before. God wants to give us the best, if only we are willing to take it. He waits with outstretched arms wanting to give us the richness of life, but we have to be willing to take a step of faith; we have to be willing to take a risk.
Conclusion:
So, how are you living your life of faith (or are you at all)? Are you gleaning from the leftovers of others excitement and charisma? Are you living with a joy unspeakable and full of glory? Are you living with the abundance of sitting at the table with Christ who is your portion and strength? Have you drunk from the well that doesn’t run dry, and has it quenched your thirst?
You see, God wants us to stand firm in our resolve, and face life with a determined humility that leads us to freedom and joy. We need to stop living off of leftovers of others, and start living in abundance of Christ.
I leave you with these words from Paul to Timothy, and one of my favorite verses of scripture…
2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”
