Ruth 3:1-5, Ruth 4:13-17, Psalm 127:1-5, 1 Kings 17:8-16, Psalm 146:1-10, Hebrews 9:24-28, Mark 12:38-44.
A). MAN’S PLANS AND GOD’S PURPOSES.
Ruth 3:1-5; Ruth 4:13-17.
The days of the judges (Ruth 1:1) were turbulent times. ‘There was no king in the land, and everybody did what was right in his own sight’ (Judges 21:25). Anarchy ruled, and God disciplined His people through cycles of invasion, deliverance and restoration. Perhaps it was as a result of the scorched-earth policy of one or another invader that there was a famine in Judah, which even affected Bethlehem: ‘the House of Bread’ (Ruth 1:1).
We are introduced to Elimelech, a man whose name means ‘My God is King’ (Ruth 1:2). This man had two sons, who ironically seem to have old Canaanite names which speak of sickness and pining. Be careful what you call your children, for they might live up to it.
Whilst acknowledging that ‘God is King’, sometimes we take matters into our own hands. We leave ‘the House of Bread’ in fear when faith fails. Whilst others remained in Bethlehem, this family of substance (Ruth 1:21) left their homeland to dwell as strangers in a strange land.
Elimelech’s wife Naomi’s name speaks of pleasantness, loveliness and delight. Naomi’s care for her family reached to her two foreign daughters-in-law, and she sought their comfort when she set out for home after the three women were all bereft of their husbands (Ruth 1:8-9). It may seem strange that Naomi told her daughters-in–law to go back to their own families - but Jesus also discourages people from following Him if their commitment is not wholehearted (Luke 9:57-62).
Naomi thought of changing her name to Mara, ‘bitterness’, in her anger at being left empty of heirs (Ruth 1:20). Be careful what you call yourself, for words are powerful, and bitterness is a thing to be rooted out (Hebrews 12:15). Yet she had not lost her faith.
Ruth was so impressed with Naomi’s faith that she opted to cleave to her mother-in-law (Ruth 1:16-17). We can imagine the two women encouraging one another on the way, as they made the arduous journey back to Bethlehem. Ruth trusted the Almighty: a poor foreign girl who came to join God’s covenant people as a stranger in a strange land.
It ‘just so happened’ that Ruth came to glean in the field of Boaz (Ruth 2:3). I was once told that things don’t ‘just so happen’ – but I beg to differ. The expression is used here not of chance, or of fate, but of God’s providence.
Ruth had showed kindness to Naomi, and it did not go unnoticed (Ruth 2:11-13). In this, as in all things, God was at work: for the man who noticed was able to show her favour in return.
Now the women set to scheming. Naomi still sought a ‘place of rest’ (cf. Ruth 1:9) for her daughter-in-law (Ruth 3:1). Was not Boaz, Ruth’s benefactor, an eligible bachelor (Ruth 3:2)?
The time for mourning was over (Ruth 3:3), and Ruth was ready to adorn herself as a bride. Yet what took place on the threshing floor was done discreetly, and with appropriate modesty and – I hasten to add – chastity. When Ruth reported back to Naomi, the older woman was able to reassure her protégé that ‘the man will not rest until he has settled the matter this day’ (Ruth 3:18).
This proved to be true. Boaz ran the matter past Naomi’s nearer relation, the city elders, and the people-at-the-gate – and secured Ruth as his wife. The sequel was that Boaz married Ruth, “the LORD gave her conception”, and she bare a son (Ruth 4:13). God is always present, even in the everyday things of life.
The LORD was behind the free decision of the man Elimelech to take his family from Bethlehem to Moab all those years before, where his sons married women from another culture. The LORD was definitely behind Ruth’s decision to follow Naomi back to Bethlehem, and to embrace Naomi’s God (Ruth 1:16-17). The LORD was behind the happenstance that, of all fields, Ruth came to glean in that of Boaz. The LORD was behind the strategy of the women to secure Boaz’ hand in marriage for Ruth.
The city women named the child of this union Obed, which means ‘Servant’ – and this servant of the LORD was the grandfather of King David (Ruth 4:17). Perhaps Obed’s grandmother Naomi told him stories as she dangled him on her knee (Ruth 4:16): stories of how the whole family went abroad in want, only to return to plenty. Perhaps King David himself knew the family tradition behind the gathering into the family of God of his illustrious ancestress, Ruth.
Ruth, the woman of faith from a strange land, is thereafter counted in the regal genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:1; Matthew 1:5). A man’s plans may be one thing (Proverbs 16:9), but it is God’s purposes that prevail (Proverbs 19:21).
B). THE BUILDING OF THE HOUSE.
Psalm 127:1-5.
This is a “song of degrees,” sung upon the ascent to Jerusalem for worship. It is “for” - or about - Solomon.
David had wanted to build a house for the LORD, but the LORD had replied that it was He who would build a “house” - that is, a family and a future - for David. It was David’s son who would build a house for the LORD (2 Samuel 7:1-2; 2 Samuel 7:11-16).
I. THE LORD BUILDS THE HOUSE
In Psalm 127 we see first of all that it is the LORD who builds the house.
“House” can be viewed as home, a place to live. The building will be in vain if carried forward without God.
“House” can represent the establishing of our “city” or community. We can elect whom we will to be our new Police Commissioner - but where is our lawful society if we do not acknowledge God?
“House” can represent our family, our security, our future. What future is there if we murder our children?
“House” can represent Temple or church - not just a building, but a Christian community in the earth. Perhaps here of all places we should have learned to depend upon the Lord’s sufficiency, rather than our own resources.
Here, as anywhere, the Lord’s work takes primacy over our work: yet we must also play our part. He who says, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18), also says “Go YE and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19). We must participate in God’s work, but always remember that without Him there is no success (John 15:5).
II. THE LORD OUR PROTECTOR
It was necessary in the old walled cities to supplement the bastion with diligent watchmen (Nehemiah 7:1-4). Yet unless the LORD peopled the city, then there was no future.
This is why the fruit of the womb is so important in this Psalm. A man-in-the-gate could face the enemy with the LORD before him, and his sons behind him!
The church, too, needs loyal sentinels. Be ready always to give an account of the hope that is within you (1 Peter 3:15).
Christian preachers are watchmen over your spiritual heritage (Ezekiel 3:17). And the Lord watches over His people while we sleep (Psalm 121:4-5). He is our best line of defence (Hebrews 13:6).
III. HE PROVIDES, EVEN WHILE HIS PEOPLE SLEEP
The farmer sows his seed, and then goes to bed (Mark 4:26-29). It is God who gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-7). Our labour is vain without Him. Workaholics beware!
When we seek first God’s kingdom - and are resting in Jesus - then His provision abounds (Matthew 6:31-33). This is the security of those who trust in Him (Psalm 37:3-9). He provides while His people sleep.
IV. THE BLESSINGS OF FAMILY
For building up the city.
For defence.
For a future.
For an answer to the enemies in the gate.
Solomon did indeed build a house for the LORD: the Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:27-30). The LORD did perpetuate David’s line right down to Jesus (Luke 2:4-5). Jesus builds His house within His people (John 14:23): and He is pleased to call us “brethren”, and “children” (Hebrews 2:11-13).
A God-given heritage is a fruit of God’s blessing. Let us entrust ourselves anew to Him. [And let us not forget to pray “for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6).]
C). THE GRACE OF THE LORD IN THE MIDST OF FAMINE.
1 Kings 17:8-16.
“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months” (James 5:17).
This may seem an audacious thing to pray for, but the prophet's main concern was no doubt for the honour of the LORD, whose wrath and curse is pronounced against even the nation of Israel if she should turn aside from Him: “Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the LORD's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD gives you” (Deuteronomy 11:16-17).
After living some time by the Brook Cherith where he was fed by the ravens, Elijah was commanded: “Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belonged to Sidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee” (1 Kings 17:8-9).
That this woman had received the gift of faith was seen early in her encounter with the man of God. She professed the inability to feed him with the words: “As the LORD thy God lives, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die” (1 Kings 17:12). It has been well observed, that her desire was to feed her son, rather than to eat him as some Israelite women had done to their sons during a famine!
The circumstances might have seemed discouraging, yet even before receiving Elijah into her house, the widow woman knew that the LORD God of Israel was the true and living God! Perhaps even Elijah's sudden appearance was an answer to her prayers?
Certainly her felt needs were being met when Elijah responded: “Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth” (1 Kings 17:13-14).
So grace could truly be said in that household for the time to come: she had received the LORD's grace, and the gift of faith, the gift of prayer, and now the gift of answered prayer - all she had to do was to obey: “And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah” (1 Kings 17:15-16).
In His inaugural Sermon in Nazareth, Jesus said: “Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country... Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow” (Luke 4:23-26).
A distinction was being made by the Lord between this Sidonian widow, and the Israeli widows. She had been singled out “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John 1:12).
D). A CALL TO WORSHIP.
Psalm 146:1-10.
The last five Psalms (146-150) all begin and end with an exhortation to praise the LORD, addressed collectively to the congregation of God’s people. Yet it is not enough for the praise leader just to call others to worship: it is also the exercise of his own soul (Psalm 146:1; cf. Psalm 103:1). The writer’s praise is his very life’s breath (Psalm 146:2).
Such should be our praise. It is not something in which we indulge ourselves on special occasions only, but something which is relevant to all times and in all places (cf. Philippians 4:4). It is easy to say “Praise the LORD” in the good times: but we should not be prevented from such worship even in the shackles of the deepest dungeon of our lives (Acts 16:23-25).
With the Psalmist, our commitment should be to worship the LORD “while I have my being” (Psalm 146:2). Yet this is no individualistic super-piety. On the contrary: our ‘soul’ is ‘bound in the bundle of life with the LORD our God’ (1 Samuel 25:29); and our worship belongs to all the generations of God’s people (Psalm 146:10) – even to generations yet unborn (Psalm 22:30-31).
Yet even while we are worshipping the LORD, the temptation is always there to put our trust in something or someone else. The children of Israel very quickly resorted to the golden calf (Exodus 32:1), and throughout their history made unhelpful alliances with the super-powers of their day (Isaiah 31:1; cf. Isaiah 30:3). Even good king Hezekiah made the mistake of trusting the Babylonians (Isaiah 39:4-6).
So the Psalmist warns us: put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men in whom there is no help (Psalm 146:3). They are, after all, men like any other. They too, like Adam, will return to the earth from which they were drawn (Genesis 3:19); and their thoughts will perish with them (Psalm 146:4).
Our help and our hope is in the LORD our God (Psalm 146:5; cf. Psalm 121:2). The contrast brings us back to the beatitude of Psalm 1. If we are like ‘this’ and not like ‘that’, then “happy are we”.
Yet who is this LORD, that we should worship Him? First, He is the God of Creation (cf. Psalm 8:3; Psalm 19:1). Second, and not far behind it, He is the God of Covenant “who keeps His promises for ever” (Psalm 146:6).
“The God of Jacob” (Psalm 146:5) “executes judgment for the oppressed” and “gives food to the hungry” (Psalm 146:7). This covenant God heard the voice of the cry of the children of Israel in bondage in Egypt (Exodus 3:9), and fed them in the wilderness (Exodus 16:32). The LORD loosed the captives (Psalm 146:7).
The name of “the LORD” resounds throughout the rest of the Psalm - yet we could just as easily read the name of Jesus. After all, it was He who set us free from our sins in His own blood (Revelation 1:5), and who goes on releasing those who have been held in bondage to sin and to death (Romans 6:6; Hebrews 2:15). It is He who opens the eyes of the blind (Psalm 146:8; cf. Acts 26:18), and who raises up the bowed down (Luke 13:11-13).
We are also able to see what we should be doing. The LORD cares for the strangers, the refugees, the outsiders (Psalm 146:9): so should we. The LORD relieves the orphans and widows – and often that is through the obedience His own people.
Again there is the echo of Psalm 1. The LORD loves the righteous (Psalm 146:8), but the way of the wicked He turns upside down (Psalm 146:9). It is no wonder that, from a worldly perspective, the early Christians were accused of ‘turning the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6).
Why should we trust and praise this God? Unlike the princes (Psalm 146:3), He shall reign for ever and ever, and to all generations (Psalm 146:10). This is your God (the Psalmist addresses God’s people) - so be sure you all “Praise the LORD” (Psalm 146:10).
E). APPEARANCES OF CHRIST, IN HEAVEN AND EARTH.
Hebrews 9:24-28.
The ‘worldly sanctuary’ (Hebrews 9:1) served for a time, in both tent and Temple, but now the ‘reformation’ has been accomplished (Hebrews 9:10).
The endless round of sacrifices would never suffice for the remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22).
To enter into heaven itself, Jesus needed a ‘better’ sacrifice than those previously offered (Hebrews 9:23).
We move forward from the earthly patterns of things in the heavens (Hebrews 8:5), to the heavenly reality which they foreshadowed (Hebrews 9:24).
Jesus has passed into the heavens, and “now appears” in the presence of God on our behalf (Hebrews 9:24).
This is one of three ‘appearances’ of Jesus mentioned in this passage.
FIRST, Jesus “appeared” in the earth, in the past, in the incarnation (Hebrews 9:26).
Christ entered into this world to vanquish sin through the sacrifice of His holy self (Mark 10:45).
The sacrifice of the Cross is described as a once-and-forever event (Hebrews 9:28).
Our salvation was accomplished in the earth at the Cross of Jesus (John 19:30).
SECOND, Jesus appears now in heaven, ever interceding on our behalf at God’s right hand (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).
Jesus did not need to come repeatedly, and offer repeatedly blood not His own (Hebrews 9:25).
Nor does He need to suffer repeatedly, for His one sacrifice is perfect and efficacious for all (Hebrews 9:26).
Our salvation was ratified in heaven in the presence of God on our behalf (Hebrews 9:24).
THIRDLY, Jesus will appear again in the earth, in the future, when He comes to gather to Himself those who are eagerly awaiting Him (Hebrews 9:28).
This will not be to the exclusion of those who have gone before, as the Apostle Paul had to explain to one of his congregations (1 Thessalonians 4:14; 1 Thessalonians 4:17).
Our salvation will be brought to full fruition in one final application when Jesus returns to the earth (1 Corinthians 15:51).
‘Wherefore comfort one another with these words’ (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
F). FROM VICTIM TO VICTOR: THE WIDOW’S MITE.
Mark 12:38-44.
In our previous reading, Jesus pronounced one Scribe, ‘Not far from the kingdom of God’ (Mark 12:34). Yet Jesus’ opinion of the Scribes in general was not unlike His opinion of the Pharisees (cf. Luke 11:43). ‘The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat,’ said Jesus elsewhere (Matthew 23:2) - ‘but all their works they do to be seen by men’ (Matthew 23:5).
The robe of a Scribe was a legitimate badge of office within the context of his place of employment: a bit like the cap and gown of academia today. However, some delighted to show off their robes wherever they went. They enjoyed the attention it drew in the market places, causing men to pay them deference (Mark 12:38).
They loved to sit in the best seats in the synagogues, and the choicest places at feasts (Mark 12:39). As to the first, such partiality is totally inappropriate in the assemblies of the church (cf. James 2:1-4). As to the second, such behaviour where one is an invited guest shows a complete lack of humility (cf. Luke 14:7-11).
Some Scribes also “devoured widows' houses” warned Jesus (Mark 12:40). The Scribes were the lawyers of their day, supposedly applying the law of Moses: but were they perhaps lining their own pockets at the expense of vulnerable widows? Were they condoning a system of religion in which the widow was a victim, giving her last penny to line their pockets (cf. Mark 12:42)?
“And for a pretence they make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation” (Mark 12:40). Jesus teaches elsewhere that those who pray ‘to be seen of men’ (Matthew 6:5) ‘have their reward’ - in other words, their prayers will not reach heaven, but only the ears of the men they are seeking to impress. And as for the length of our prayers, they should lack the ‘vain repetitions’ and ‘many words’ by which ‘the heathen’ think they will be heard (Matthew 6:7).
In the second part of today’s passage, we see Jesus out in the Temple courtyard, watching people throwing their money into the trumpet-shaped receptacles designed for the collection of financial gifts and offerings (Mark 12:41). Jesus knew better than anyone that the offerors were putting part of their earnings into a system that had outlived its usefulness, and that the very stones of the Temple would soon be removed from that place (Mark 13:2). Jesus had come as One greater than the Temple (Matthew 12:6), to fulfil all that the Temple stood for (Matthew 5:17).
Now the rich, as you would hope, put in much (Mark 12:41). But one impoverished widow - perhaps one whose house had been devoured by the acquisitive Scribes (cf. Mark 12:40) - put in only two small copper coins (Mark 12:42). Jesus is merely stating the facts and figures, so to speak.
He said nothing of the fact that she, having ‘cast her bread on the waters’ would ‘after many days find it’ (Ecclesiastes 11:1). Nor of the fact that she, having sown her seed, would receive back thirty, sixty, a hundredfold, or whatever (Matthew 13:23). He said nothing of the fact that ‘God loves a cheerful giver’ (2 Corinthians 9:6-7); nor how, if there is a willing mind, the gift is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what one does not have (2 Corinthians 8:12).
All Jesus said was that, whilst others gave whatever they chose (whether a tithe, a first-fruit, or a freewill offering), she gave her all (Mark 12:44). She stands in the commendation of the Macedonian churches, who ‘out of extreme poverty’ freely gave ‘according to their means, and beyond their means’ (2 Corinthians 8:2-3). In this respect, she rose from being a victim of her circumstances, to a victor over them.
