MPC, 24th February 2002.Ruth 2 - "Welcome Home!"
Phil Campbell MPC, 24th February 2002.
PHILIP YANCEY starts his book "What's so Amazing about Grace" with a story. A confronting story. It's also a true story. A story from Chicago, where a friend of his was working as a counselor. Philip Yancey's counselor friend says, a prostitute came to me for help; she was desperate. She was homeless; she was sick, probably with AIDS.
He said, through her tears, she wanted to tell me she was ashamed. She told me the details of the terrible things she'd done, the way she'd even allowed people to sexually abuse her daughter. To support her own drug habit. A terrible story.
And Philip Yancey's friend said, "I had no idea where to start." He said, "As a counselor, I had no idea what to say." And he said, at last I asked her if she'd ever thought of going to a CHURCH for HELP. And he says, "I'll never forget the look of pure SHOCK that crossed her face." "TO A CHURCH?" she said. "WHY WOULD I EVER GO NEAR A CHURCH?" She said, "I'M ALREADY FEELING TERRIBLE ABOUT MYSELF. They'd just MAKE ME FEEL WORSE!"
I wonder, when a REPENTANT PERSON, when a BROKEN PERSON, looks for refuge with God and his people, WHAT SORT OF WELCOME can they really expect to find?
And it gets worse. There's not just judgementalism. If the news headlines are anything to go by, at the moment if you were looking for refuge you'd look ANYWHERE ELSE but the church, wouldn't they? Not just because of the JUDGEMENTALISM the girl was so fearful of. But even worse, if you can believe what you're hearing. That institutions and people who are acting in the name of Jesus Christ COMPOUND the situation. By HEAPING ABUSE ON TOP OF ABUSE. In a way that's almost unbelievable. For people who say they were acting in the name of Jesus Christ.
There's the appalling story in yesterday's paper of the young kid sexually abused by a neighbour. And his sister says, you need to go and talk to the school counsellor. It's a CHURCH SCHOOL. And the school counsellor who he turns to for refuge, ABUSES HIM AGAIN.
It should be BETTER THAN THAT.
So here's the question. What SORT OF WELCOME can you expect from God and his people… when you come home broken? When you turn back to God for REFUGE? When you've been a long way away? It's the question we asked last week. As we saw Naomi and Ruth. Two widows. Naomi the mother in law. Ruth the daughter-in-law. Back in the PROMISED LAND, broken. After things have gone so badly wrong in MOAB. Back in the Promised land, as the barley is ripe for the harvest. How's it going to go?
And the good news is, here in Ruth at least, it goes VERY WELL. It's like at every point there's a hand behind the scenes, bringing things together. A kind hand.
That only at the end of the chapter Naomi recognizes as the hand of God.
We're told right at the start of chapter 2 that there's a man in the wings. His name's BOAZ; and what do you know, he's from the CLAN OF ELIMELECH. The dead husband. Boaz is a man of standing. Well off, respected in the community. We'll find out more about him in a moment.
And Ruth the Moabitess, we're told in verse 2, she says to her mother-in-law, look, we can't just sit around and starve. Let me go to the fields. It's barley harvest time. Let me pick up the leftover stalks of barley behind anyone who'll let me. Let me GLEAN FOR GRAIN. Behind anyone in whose eyes I find favour.
Good idea. Because buried deep in Israel's law, there are provisions for doing EXACTLY THAT. If you've looked at it in your Growthgroup studies through the week, it's all there back in Leviticus 19 verse 9. And Deuteronomy 24. That WIDOWS and REFUGEES and ORPHANS, all they need to do is turn up in the paddock, and they'll find the reapers have left the edges untouched. That the reapers, if they accidentally drop any stalks of grain, they'll leave them there. For the gleaners. Who'll come along behind.
All because of THE NATURE OF GOD. The fact that the MIGHTY CREATOR of the Universe, the Lord of Lords… cares about the little guy. There were a couple of verses we started with this morning. From Deuteronomy 10. That were a reminder of that. Where Israel is reminded.
The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome… He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.
Hear what it's saying? The MIGHTY GOD. Is interested in the welfare of the Orphan. Of the widow. Of the refugee. SO LOVE THEM. And show it in practical ways.
So Ruth says LET ME GO AND TRY MY LUCK IN THE FIELDS. And Naomi says, GO AHEAD.
And so out she goes; she picks a paddock. And she starts gleaning, it says in verse 3, behind the harvesters. And it just so happens, if you're looking at verse 3, it just so happens the field belongs to BOAZ, who if you missed it the first time in verse 1, was from the CLAN OF ELIMELECH. Her father-in-law.
Now at first glance, Boaz is a bit like NED FLANDERS on the Simpsons. The pesky neighbour who's always quoting bible verses, or singing Christian choruses across the back fence. But it goes DEEPER THAN THAT.
Ruth's there gleaning behind the harvesters, and Boaz arrives from town. And he greets his workers with a BLESSING. THE LORD BE WITH YOU. And they call back the same. THE LORD BLESS YOU.
I mean, here's a guy who right from the first time he opens his mouth, the Lord's name's on his lips. Here's one of those rarest of people, a boss who really cares. And his workers care for him.
And as you watch, you see it's not just words. Here's a man committed to what God's committed to. Here's a man who'll use his STRENGTH to protect the weak. Here's a man who's going to show GOD'S KINDNESS to Ruth and Naomi in their despair.
Boaz goes to the field-foreman. He says, hey, who's the girl? The foreman says, THAT'S RUTH. The Moabitess. Who came back with Naomi. She turned up this morning and she said, DO YOU MIND IF I GLEAN. And she's been hard at it all day, except for a quick break in the shelter.
Which is fine with Boaz. In fact, it sounds like Boaz knows Ruth's story pretty well. She's been the talk of the town. And so he calls her over. And says, COUNT YOURSELF as one of my SERVANTS. Under MY PROTECTION.
He says, drink where they drink. Stay close.
And with a dark hint that being treated this way ISN'T always the way it is in Israel, he says, I've told the men they're not to TOUCH YOU. So you'll be safe. Whether it's a hint that there's a danger of being somehow molested… or just that they're in the habit of chasing gleaners away. Under orders from Boaz, she's safe.
Better than safe. Mealtime comes, he says COME AND HELP YOURSELF. Have some bread. Dip it in the wine vinegar. Try some roasted grain. He plies her with so much to eat that at the end of the day she fills up a doggy bag to take home to Naomi.
And verse 15, as she gets up after the lunch break to go back to gleaning, Boaz takes his men aside. He says, whatever you do, don't embarrass her. He says, don't stop her going wherever she wants. He says, in fact, PULL OUT SOME EXTRA STALKS and drop them behind you. So she's got more to pick up.
Don't you love it when you see people like that? I mean, this is KINDNESS at work, isn't it? Make sure she's not embarrassed. Just sort of accidentally-on-purpose drop a bit more than you'd usually drop.
This is heartwarming stuff. A couple of weeks ago I was browsing in a bookshop. Looking at one of those books called CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL. It's full of the sort of little stories that bring a lump to your throat.
I read one that reminded me a bit of Boaz. True story, just that because I was browsing it in a bookshop and I didn't buy the book, I haven't got the NAMES OF THE PEOPLE. But here's the story. There's this teenage American farm girl, she's about 15, and she's got cancer. Which means she's got no part time job like her friends, mum and dad are doing it tough. And she's got no spending money. So this fifteen year old girl decides to take her pet calf to the auctions. Sell it; have some spending money.
Mum and dad load up the calf on the trailer, off to the saleyards. They figure the calf's worth about $200. The auctioneer knows their situation. And before he puts the calf up for sale, he says to the crowd, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but – let's call her Sandy – Sandy here's doing it tough. She's not well. And the family's got a lot of medical expenses. And she's selling her pet calf here just to try to get a bit of cash.
Well, the auction starts. And the bids go to $200. Which is what the calf's really worth. Up to $500. In the end $2000. Which leaves Sandy and her family just astounded. And then the guy who's bought it says, I'll pay for it. And she can have it back. And we'll put it up for sale again. Which they did. And it reached another two thousand dollars or so.
In the end, according to the book I was reading, they sold it ten or fifteen times that day. And in the end Sandy went home with her pet calf. And about $20,000 as well. Because of the KINDNESS of that one auctioneer. Who understood the situation. And stepped in to HELP.
I get all misty with stories like that. And the point is, KINDNESS doesn't have to cost $2000 a time, either. It can be in the smallest things.
Two Key Conversations
Well, that's Boaz. In the end, Ruth struggles home loaded up with an Ephah of threshed grain, that's around 22 litres. We've got a 20 litre paint can at home. Stands about up to my knee. I reckon fill that with grain and you'd struggle to lift it. Far more than she expected at the start of the day. Because BOAZ made it that way.
You know, there are two key conversations that help us make sense of what's going on here in Ruth chapter 2. Two conversations that give us the UNDERLYING LOGIC.
The first one's in verses 10 to 12. Halfway through the chapter when they first meet, he's told her to help herself to the drinking jugs. And Ruth asks him WHY. Why so kind? Why notice ME… a foreigner? Why have I found FAVOUR in your eyes?
And Boaz says, it's BECAUSE YOU'VE SOUGHT REFUGE in exactly the right place. Pick it up in verse 11. She says, why notice ME?
And Boaz replies, "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."
It's like for Boaz, he's saying ANYONE WHO SEEKS REFUGE UNDER THE WINGS OF MY GOD, is going to find refuge with ME. My God's the God who cares about widows and orphans and refugees. SO I DO TOO.
Funny. When Ruth gets home to her mother in law with her 22 litres of barley and her leftover lunch, Naomi sees it the same way. Verse 20; she says, GOD HASN'T WRITTEN US OFF AFTER ALL. God's still being kind to us. In leading you to the fields of Boaz. God's kindness… is showing through in the kindness of Boaz. A man committed to reflect the attitudes of God. Who loves the orphan. And the widow. And the refugee.
You know, for the people of Israel, their history as slaves in Egypt who'd been RESCUED BY GOD, it was meant to shape the way they looked at other people. Here's what it boiled down to. You know what it's like to be RESCUED. You know what it's like to be poor and in distress. You know what it's like to be RESCUED FROM EGYPT. So when you see someone else in a tight spot, HELP OUT.
For Christians, the idea's exactly the same. You know what it's like to be LOVED. So be LOVING. You know what it is to have RECEIVED MERCY. So be merciful.
There's a clear example in Ephesians 4 verse 32. "Be KIND and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ GOD FORGAVE YOU."
God in his KINDNESS has had MERCY ON YOU. You do the same. I guess for an ancient Israelite reading RUTH CHAPTER 2, they'd look at Boaz and be warmed by his kindness and say, YEP, that's how GOD TREATS US. That's how WE SHOULD TREAT OTHERS.
And in the same way, we look not only at the example of Boaz, but at Jesus Christ as well. You've seen what kindness looks like. So how about TRYING SOME?
You know, I've set myself a little assignment the last few weeks – trying to come up with a definition. A definition of KINDNESS. Because it's one of those words, it's sort of somehow got WEAKENED over time. Like the word NICE. Kindness. Hard to define it without just turning it into something else.
But without using a dictionary, here's what I've come up with. KINDNESS is one of the big words that comes up over and over again in the book of Ruth. So we need to know what it's talking about. Boaz says to Ruth, I've seen your KINDNESS TO NAOMI. Naomi says, when I look at Boaz I see the KINDNESS OF GOD at work. So what's a good working definition, so you'll know it if you see it? It's more than just being nice. Here's mine. Take it or leave it.
KINDNESS, I think, always wants to REDEEM – rather than DESTROY. Kindness always wants to RESCUE… rather than CRUSH. Kindness will always RENOVATE. Instead of DEMOLISH. Kindness sees DISTRESS. And wants to put it right.
Cruelty does the opposite, doesn't it.
And you can see that at work plenty of times. That the distress, the weakness of another… is turned to their DISADVANTAGE and hurt. That the weakness of another is just seen as an opportunity to CRUSH, to gain the advantage. To compound the abuse. Kindness will always want to see the weak RESCUED.
As God did for the Israelites. As Boaz did for Ruth. As God in Christ has done for us.
And so practical kindness will come from opening your eyes to NOTICE someone else's pain.
Funny thing, that first step is so SIMPLE… but so hard. Just to NOTICE. Verse 10, can you see Ruth's DELIGHT. Just simply that she's been NOTICED. Same words from Naomi in verse 19. Blessed be the man who TOOK NOTICE of you.
I wonder if often we just don't NOTICE… the sort of situations where our strength could be turned into practical KINDNESS. Because as the people of God, that's the sort of people we're meant to be. Seeing the problem. And graciously – in a way that preserves dignity and doesn't embarrass – trying to do something to help out.
So as we ask the question what sort of WELCOME is there from God when wanderers come home, what sort of welcome is there for anyone who wants to SHELTER UNDER THE WING of the God of Israel, the answer here in Ruth 2 is that there's a WARM WELCOME. That the wanderer and the widow and the REFUGEE will meet God's KINDNESS. Expressed through GOD'S PEOPLE. Not condemnation. Which comes easily, doesn't it? And never the sort of CRUELTY and dismissal we're reading about in the papers.
So here's a little chapter of the bible that I think is meant to leave our hearts warmed. As we'll see next week the Kinsman redeemer of this little family in Israel pointing forward to the one who has Redeemed us. A kindness that sees hardship. And wants to RESCUE rather than destroy. That wants to REDEEM and RENOVATE instead of crush and demolish.
Can I ask you, as the people of God, when it comes to KINDNESS what are YOU LIKE? We'll have opportunities to show it this week. If only we NOTICE.