Is life a comedy or a tragedy? Are we the hero or the victim? Or maybe the villain? Is the world descending into chaos and dystopia or are we on a path of ever-increasing prosperity and progress? The stories we tell orient us to our place in the world and our role in the story.
The Bible tells the story of a loving God and a messy people. There is a beginning and an end. Major themes of creation, redemption, and sanctification trace the arc of this grand narrative. And Jesus Christ is the center of it all – the great hero of the story who comes incognito to rescue and redeem his broken creation.
Invocation
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation
Risen Christ, by your death and resurrection you brought dawn to darkness. You have made a new way, from death to life, cross to crown, grave to glory. We are frail creatures in a world of change and decay. Rule over us in your resurrection power. Subdue sin and evil, disease and destruction. We have nothing apart from you, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.
Confession
O Lord, I live a world of dead ends. There is always an end. An end to my energy. My time. My love. My patience. My money. My very life. I am trapped by limits. I am burdened by my frail, finite limits. I have exhausted all other options. Nothing else satisfies. You burst forth from the grave to give me life beyond the horizon. You are my singular hope, my only prayer. Risen Savior, have mercy on my dead ends.
Word: Ruth 4:5-6
“Then Boaz said, ‘The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.’ Then the redeemer said, ‘I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.’”
Meditation: Love as Extraordinary Sacrifice by Megan Roegner
Throughout the Book of Ruth, one particular word appears again and again: redeemer. Redeemer appears 29 times in the ESV translation of the Bible, and nine of those times are in Ruth. This use of redeemer, sometimes translated to kinsman-redeemer, comes from the Hebrew word goel, which Merriam-Webster defines as “a next of kin upon whom according to ancient Hebrew custom devolved certain family rights and duties including the avenging of a murdered kin’s blood and the redemption of the person or property of a relative in debt or helpless circumstances.”
Because of their poverty, Naomi must sell the land she owned with her husband Elimelech, and it is the role of the goel to purchase it, “redeeming” it to keep it within the family. Yet, when Naomi sends Ruth to Boaz to the threshing floor at night, it is not the land that is the foremost concern but rather the well-being of the women themselves. Ruth is asking for marriage—not the typical purview of a goel who is not the widow’s brother in law. Boaz, out of respect and care for the two women, agrees graciously to the request but acknowledges that there is one barrier in the way: he is not the redeemer who is closest in kin to Naomi. So Boaz tells Ruth, “if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you” (Ruth 3:13).
The romantic in me prefers to believe that Boaz is not so casual about the possibility of Ruth marrying someone else. I like to think that he knows he has to go through all the socially appropriate steps but that he also knows what the outcome will be.
When Boaz goes to this kinsman redeemer and asks him to redeem Naomi’s land, the man readily agrees. But then, Boaz introduces a twist: “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance” (Ruth 4:5).
This is a bridge too far. The other redeemer doesn’t want another wife, especially a wife who may bear a son that could honor another man’s legacy and not his own. He tells Boaz he cannot do it and that he is passing the right of redemption to him. And then in a ritual strange to our twenty-first eyes, the man gives his sandal to Boaz, and Boaz is free to marry Ruth. They have a son, Obed, and the narrative ends with the women of Bethlehem congratulating Naomi: “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer” (4:14).
The parallels to Jesus, our Redeemer, born in Bethlehem as a descendant of Obed (the grandfather of King David), cannot be missed. Redeeming is an act of sacrifice. It requires a person to be courageous and compassionate enough to put aside their own self-interest to raise up another. And as we see with Boaz and with Jesus, great redeemers sacrifice with their whole heart. They do not begrudge what they give. They redeem because they see something worth saving, even if no one else does. To redeem is an act of extraordinary love.
Dear Jesus, thank you for being our Redeemer. Thank you for loving us despite what we have cost you. Help us be so secure in your love for us that we can show this same sacrificial love to others. Amen.
Benediction
The God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (I Pet. 5:10-11)