Ruth’s Redemption
Text: Book of Ruth
CHCC: March 3, 2013
INTRODUCTION:
Fifty days after Passover, the Jews celebrate a festival called Shavuot … it is also called Pentecost. (This year it will be celebrated May 15-16.) It was on Pentecost that the Church was born … Peter preached the first gospel sermon, and 3,000 people were baptized.
It’s interesting that during the festival of Pentecost, the entire book of Ruth is read publicly. No one knows for sure why this tradition exists. But the story of Ruth and the beginning of the church have a definite connection. Both are stories of REDEMPTION. Jesus came to Redeem His Church. In the end of the book, Ruth is rescued by her Kinsman Redeemer.
The book of Ruth is considered a literary masterpiece. When Benjamin Franklin was Ambassador to France, he attended a group who reviewed literary masterpieces … interestingly, the group called themselves the Infidel’s Club … which tells you all you need to know about their respect for the Bible. Well, Benjamin Franklin pulled a fast one on them.
He read the book of Ruth to them, but changed the names so they wouldn’t recognize it. The group rated it one of the most beautiful short stories they had heard and demanded to know where he found it. You can imagine how he enjoyed tell them it was straight out of the Bible.
The main characters of this story are Ruth, her mother-in-law Naomi, and a man named Boaz. The setting is Moab and then Bethlehem during the days of the Judges … over a thousand years before Jesus was born. The story begins with Ruth as a young Moabite woman. Her future looks bright. She has a young husband and strong family ties with her sister-in-law and mother-in-law.
And then everything fell apart. Ruth’s husband, father-in-law, and brother-in-law all died, leaving 3 women with no income, no protection, and basically no future. Ruth, Orpha, and Naomi are left with nothing but their grief.
1. Ruth’s Grief – Ruth and Naomi
Eventually Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, decided to leave Moab and return to her home village of Bethlehem, and Ruth faces a choice. She can stay in Moab like her sister-in-law, Orpha. Or she can leave behind everything familiar and go with Naomi. Her words to Naomi give an amazing example of loyalty and love and faith. Ruth replied to Naomi,
“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. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” (I imagine Ruth would have been shocked to know those words would become so famous!)
When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. Ruth 1:16-18
Ruth was able to look beyond her own loss and reach out to help Naomi. She turned her grief into an opportunity to bless someone else. This is never easy to do. It’s hard to focus on anyone else’s problems when our own loss seems unbearable.
I haven’t had to go through the kind of tragedy Ruth faced, but I’ve seen other people turn their pain into blessing in the same way Ruth did … by reaching out to help someone else. Many times I’ve seen people here at CHCC use their own troubles to help someone else who’s going through the same kind of thing.
One of the first people I met when I came to CHCC was George Farwell … a man who was in remission from cancer … and from that time on he spent time visiting cancer patients in the hospital and giving them encouragement.
I remember a lady in Susan’s home-town, Dalhart, TX, who turned tragedy into blessing. Alice Knight’s husband died young and a few years later her teen-aged son died in an accident. Losing both your husband and your son is more grief than most people have to endure. But Alice Knight used her loss as a way to help someone else. She used the money she had set aside for her son to pay college tuition for a boy in Susan’s church named Bernie Frasier who wanted to go into the ministry. During the summer, she also let Bernie live rent-free in her house.
You see, Bernie had his own troubles. His parents were both alcoholics, which left him fending for himself most of time. He wanted to go to Ozark Bible College, but there was no way he could have done it on his own. As it turned out, Bernie has been in ministry for many years and has a wonderful wife and kids. His life was transformed because Alice Knight chose to turn her grief into a gift.
Elizabeth Elliot, whose husband was killed on the mission field, was asked how she managed to deal with the grief. Her answer has always stuck with me. She said, “You just do the next thing.” She took this from an old Anglo-Saxon Poem written over a thousand years ago – long enough back that it was spelled “Doe the Next Thynge.” Here’s how it reads:
"Do it immediately, do it with prayer,
do it reliantly, casting all care.
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand
who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on omnipotence, safe 'neath His wing,
leave all resultings, do the next thing."
Elizabeth Elliot says, “That is a wonderfully saving truth. Just do the next thing.” That’s what Ruth did. She did the next thing. She took a step of faith.
2. Ruth’s Step of Faith – Ruth and Bethlehem
Ruth was not an Israelite. She didn’t grow up worshiping Jehovah. Ruth grew up learning about the god of Moab --- Chemosh, the Destroyer. It was from Naomi’s family that Ruth learned about the God of Israel --- Jehovah the Creator. When it came time to choose, Ruth chose Jehovah over Chemosh. She chose the Life-Giver over the Destroyer. She chose … not only to give her loyalty to Naomi … but to give her loyalty to Naomi’s God.
Ruth took a big risk when she left behind everything that was familiar to her. This big step of faith set Ruth on a course that would cause her to become the mother of Kings. She was the great-grandmother of King David. And Ruth is one of only 4 women who are named as ancestors of Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 1.
The New Testament gives two genealogies of Jesus Christ. These are given to show that Jesus had the credentials of the Messiah – he was a descendant of King David.
Luke chapter 3 lists the genealogy from Jesus’ legal father, Joseph all the way back to Adam. This shows Jesus’ legal credentials since Jewish genealogy is traced through the fathers.
Matthew chapter 1 gives the genealogy from Abraham forward through Mary. This genealogy breaks tradition by naming women as well as men. Leading up to Mary, Ruth is one of 4 women who are mentioned in the Matthew genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba.
It’s interesting that from these 4 women, two of them (Rahab and Ruth) were Outsiders --- in other words, they were Gentiles. Of the four women, Ruth is the only one who would not have been looked down upon as women of ill-repute. Tamar and Bathsheba committed serious sins, and Rahab was a temple prostitute. Why were these 4 singled out for honorable mention in the genealogy of the King of Kings?
The one thing all 4 women had in common was FAITH. All four of these women believed in Jehovah’s promises. Because of their FAITH they were given the honor of being named in the royal line of Jesus … the One who brought outsiders into God’s family … the One who redeemed sinners.
Ruth’s step of Faith led to Ruth’s Redemption --- in ways that make for a great story ending.
3. Ruth’s Redemption – Ruth and Boaz
When Ruth went from Moab to Bethlehem, she had every reason to expect that she would always be treated like a second-class citizen – a foreigner who didn’t really belong. She and every reason to think that she would never have the chance to marry again and that she would die as a childless widow.
That’s how things looked in the Lower Story. But that’s not how things turned out in God’s Upper Story! As it turned out, there was a Kinsman Redeemer in Bethlehem, and his name was Boaz. According to Jewish law, the closest relative of Ruth’s deceased husband could buy back or “redeem” the right to own the family property.
But don’t miss the point – this wasn’t a business deal – it’s a love story. Boaz didn’t want the land, he wanted to marry Ruth. In fact, Boaz noticed Ruth right away. He had fallen in love with her watching her provide for Naomi by gleaning in his barley fields.
Read the story for yourself – it’s too good to miss! Naomi is the matchmaker. Ruth does her part to let Boaz know she’s interested. And Boaz goes through the proper channels to win the right to become her husband.
Three thousand years ago, in the little village of Bethlehem, Boaz was the Kinsman Redeemer for Ruth. A thousand years later, Jesus would be born in Bethlehem … the Redeemer of the World.
CONLUSION:
Ruth’s story reminds me of God’s promise in Ephesians 3:20: With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine.
And the happy ending for Ruth included everything she could have imagined … and more: a wonderful husband, a healthy baby son who had an adoring grandma … and a place to call home in Bethlehem among God’s people.
We know how Ruth’s story turned out. None of us know yet the end of OUR stories. But we know that God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine.
This promise is for all of us … if we will follow Ruth’s example and put our faith in God.
