Welcome back to our series on Just Love! If you have not read previous posts or watched the corresponding sermon videos, you might not know that we have been going through an eight-week series on Biblical justice called Just Love. We believe that we are called to just love, and that our love is called to be just.
The first four weeks we explored what justice looks like from a Biblical perspective and compared the idea we have of justice with God’s idea of creating just people. And now we are studying four people groups that are frequent recipients of justice throughout the Scriptures. Pastor Makenzie preached two weeks ago on the widow, Pastor Susan last week on the orphan, today we will talk about the foreigner, and next week Pastor Alexander will finish us out by preaching about justice toward the poor.
Before we get started today, it is important to acknowledge that this post is about the foreigner, sometimes translated as the immigrant, on September 1 of an election year in a country where the topic of immigration tends to immediately put us on edge, regardless of what side we are on politically.
But as Pastor Richard Villodas put it very eloquently, as a church, we need to commit to see politics through Jesus and not Jesus through our politics. More than our political positions, we need to be mindful of our posture toward the marginalized. Are we approaching our politics from a place of humility and listening and love for God and neighbor? All of us are on a journey, as Pastor Susan shared last week, and none of us have it 100% right, but we are on the journey together. So with that in mind, let's dive in.
Our text today is from the book of Ruth, chapter 2, verses 1-13. Here it is in the New International Version:
Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.
And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”
Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.
Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”
“The Lord bless you!” they answered.
Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”
So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
Boaz replied, “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. 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.”
“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”
This story may or may not be familiar to you, so let's get a little bit of background. Naomi was married to a man named Elimelech, with whom she had two sons. This family of Israelites had lived in Bethlehem, but a famine caused them to flee their homes for the land of Moab. While in Moab, the two sons married Moabite women and soon after, Elimelech and both of his sons fell ill and died. Naomi decided to return to her land, but advised her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab. One did; the other, Ruth, refused to leave Naomi, choosing to go with her mother-in-law to live in Bethlehem.
Ruth was a citizen of Moab while the Israelites were residing in the Promised Land. The Moabites were considered enemies of the Israelites. Beyond the typical sort of cultural differences such as their religious practices and government, they had a really complicated past. When the Israelites were wandering around the desert for 40 years before entering the Promised Land, the Moabites refused to give them any help. They did not offer “bread nor water” to the Israelites, but basically left them to starve and they would have without God’s help. There was some bad blood between these two groups.
Whether or not Ruth knew it, this was what she was stepping into by entering the land of Israel: she would be carrying the weight of prejudice against her people for acts that she herself did not commit, but would have been associated with her just because she was a Moabite.
So today, as we continue our series on just love, we are going to to examine the story of Ruth from the specific perspective of her being a foreigner in the land of God’s people, and what that can mean for us as we seek to live and love like Jesus. In order to do this, we will break the first 13 verses of chapter 2 of the book of Ruth into four parts: the situation, the complication, the resolution, and the celebration.
The Situation: Ruth & Naomi come home... sort of
Ruth has just shown the most love and devotion that someone can possibly show by following her mother-in-law into a land and a people that she did not know so Naomi would not have to be alone. That’s some love. Last week we talked about how God cares deeply for the lonely. So here we see Ruth from the very beginning of the story in chapter 1 being an embodied example of God’s love and faithfulness. And as we discussed earlier, Ruth is a foreigner, the Hebrew word nokrîy.
This word refers to someone who is foreign and is not tied to the land or people in any way. This is different to another word that is often translated as foreigner, ger, which frequently refers to someone who has come to stay, to make this land their own and follow the customs of the people of Israel. Nokriy could also be translated as a sojourner, someone who is passing through the land on their way to somewhere else.
Either way, this term refers to someone outside of the covenant people of God, outside of the bubble of God’s favor to this people that He has ordained as His own. What a strange person to be the example, the embodiment, of the type of just love that as Pastor Susan described for us last week was the expectation placed upon the people of God. This foreigner, this immigrant, is acting like the people of God from the beginning of the story, before she even experiences the redemption of God through God’s people!
In chapter 1:16, Ruth tells 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.” So Ruth is all in with Naomi and her people. But will the people of Bethlehem accept Ruth once she arrives there? Ruth is going into this life changing decision with a lot of love and faith that it will work out and she will be accepted by Naomi’s people once she gets there.
As we reflect on Ruth's story, let's pause here and think about a time where you wanted to do something, big or small, and you took a leap of faith, hoping and believing that it was the right move for you. For many of us, these are stories of God's faithfulness that we can look back on. And for many of us, our stories are nowhere near the level of risk or sacrifice that Ruth’s was--nor anywhere near the sacrifice of many immigrants and refugees today. And to be clear, Ruth could have said no. Ruth could have found a Moabite husband to marry and be safe. But she chose love for her mother-in-law.
So this situation: Ruth loves her mother-in-law. Sacrificially. Generously. And she makes this life-altering decision to stay with Naomi even though she can’t truly know what life will look like for them once they enter the land of Israel.
The Complication: How will they make it?
As two widows, Ruth and Naomi cannot own land themselves, and Naomi has no money to even buy the land if they could. Just like many immigrants today, they had no legal status with which to demand their rights. Without the kindness of another or some very hard work, they would be quickly destitute. No land, no protection, just hope for a better future and a dedication to staying together. Their options to try to get by are very limited: they can beg, they can become prostitutes, they can sell themselves into slavery for the protection that a master might offer, or they could glean in the fields.
To add to the challenge, as a young, single foreign woman, Ruth faces the dangers that still plague many women today. While Israel was designed, set apart, as a nation that would offer justice to those who were powerless, they were still human. And unfortunately, humans tend to do what is right in their own eyes, rather than what is right in the Lord’s eyes. In verse 9, Boaz makes reference to the fact that a young, foreign woman, laboring in a field, is in a very vulnerable position and one that a man could easily take advantage of. Ruth has no legal status in Israel and therefore very little protection and rights.
You can probably imagine the comparison to our world today. Whether or not you believe that people should be allowed to enter our borders for one reason or another, when they come, they are vulnerable. They are often fleeing very hard situations or have had to make very difficult decisions, and when they get here they are living in a world that they do not understand and that is very often hostile toward them because of their place of origin.
Remember what we learned a few minutes about Ruth the Moabitess? If you do not remember, this story takes place during the time of the Judges, when Israel was frequently at odds with the nations around them, including Moab. So she was a vulnerable woman in enemy territory with no rights, no protection, and very few options.
So the situation: Ruth makes the life-altering decision to go with Naomi to Bethlehem and stay by her side, even though she can’t truly know what life will look like for them once they enter the land of Israel. The complication: as two widows and particularly Ruth as a foreign single woman, there is no status, few rights, and little protection available to Ruth and Naomi in Bethlehem. Their options are to beg, to become prostitutes, to sell themselves as slaves, or to glean, none of which offer status, protection, or rights. Seems pretty grim so far, right?
But let’s take a look at our resolution, because this is not the end of the story. The worst thing is never the last thing in the Kingdom of God.
Resolution: Boaz enters the scene
So Ruth decides to maintain as much of her dignity as she can and glean from the fields. She is prepared to work long hours to get basically leftovers from the grain that is being harvested in this season. And she happens to enter Boaz's field to glean.
Boaz notices her and learns about her story. When he does, he is impressed. Not only does he let her keep working in the field, he takes it a step further. Inspired by her radical love and generosity toward her mother-in-law, he in his place of power and privilege offers radical generosity to this foreigner. He tells Ruth to stay and glean in the safety of his field and welcomes her in.
We did not read this part of the text, but later on when they all go back to work after their break, we see this delightful exchange as well, verse 14:
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
Boaz does not do the bare minimum; he deliberately takes a hit from his own harvest in order to show compassion to this stranger. Ruth ends up taking home at least five days’ worth of food for both her and Naomi, which is pretty good considering she was supposed to be gathering just the leftovers from the field.
Why does Boaz show such kindness to Ruth? Ruth has the same question. Clearly, he is moved by her story, and maybe feeling a little bit romantic since this book is after all a love story.
But let's imagine today that Boaz is a picture of the Israelite that remembers. Recall from last week that justice toward the vulnerable for the people of God is inspired by the collective memory of God’s rescue and deliverance of this people out of Egypt. So maybe, just maybe, Ruth’s story of embodied compassion and radical love hit Boaz like a ton of bricks and inspired him to remember the Lord’s justice and faithfulness over his people, and embody that justice toward this foreign woman!
In both verses 10 and 13 Ruth acknowledges her status, or lack thereof. She is a nokrîy, a complete outsider, and therefore is lower than even one of Boaz’s servants. But Boaz sees her, not her status or her foreignness; he sees her. He tells her in very plain terms that her sacrificial kindness has inspired him to show her favor and gives her a blessing.
Too often when we meet strangers, whether they are refugees or persons with disabilities or new college classmates, the “strange”-ness of the stranger dominates our thinking toward them. Especially in a culture that pushes us to homogeneity, we often view difference as a threat in one way or another. But God has something else in mind entirely. God does not look at us and see our legal status, our employment, our grades, our past, our messy relationships or anything else. God looks at us and sees His image reflected in our very being. That is what we are called to see when we meet a stranger.
So Boaz ends up redeeming Ruth and Naomi's story by showing them generosity. But it is not just their story that is redeemed.
Celebration: God's great plan
Not only does Boaz redeem Naomi and Ruth’s stories, but this one act of justice for a foreigner sows the seed for King David’s birth and, ultimately, the birth of Jesus.
At the end of the story, we see that only four generations later, the greatest king Israel ever knew was born in the line of Boaz. Hundreds of years later, Ruth, a Moabite woman, appears in Jesus’ genealogy in the book of Matthew chapter 1.
God always has a bigger plan than what we can see in the here and now. God’s plan to redeem and restore all of creation is so much better than what we can imagine but, through our daily embodied acts of just love, we can choose to participate in this mission.
We are called to love the foreigner, the immigrant, the one who is in unfamiliar territory. We can be home and family and redemption for that person. It is not about politics; it is about loving people who are in need of love.
Original sermon by Allison Freytes
Blog post summary by Allison Freytes
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