Kris and I at our engagement party |
Not
really romantic I hear you say in our classic Hollywood saturated society. No
candles, no perfume, unless you like ode a garden refuge, no flash restaurant,
no flowers, no ring. I did get down on my knee, I think; you’ll have to check
it out with Kris. I do remember those wonderful eyes that Kris has just full of
joy and love and the smile on her face and well walking round in a sort of
stupid daze for the rest of the day, in fact you’d probably say well for the
rest of my life really. Of course that
marriage proposal has nothing on the strange account of Ruth’s proposal to Boaz
on the threshing floor outside Bethlehem.
I’m
not sure you’d call it a really romantic situation either in the classic way
our society thinks of it. It’s Ruth’s mother in law Naomi who sets to situation
up. Who tells her daughter in law what to do.
Some scholars have postulated that she was telling Ruth to throw herself
at Boaz in a very sexually charged situation. But that doesn’t fit what we know
of the characters in the story. If you didn’t get it from the text Ruth saying
to Boaz, ‘Spread your garment over me as you are the
family guardian’ is Ruth asking Boaz to marry her, Boaz’ reaction is not to melt into her arms
but that he wants to do everything right. He is even righteous enough and aware
of the way things are supposed to go to realise that because of the land issues
involved in this marriage that there is another family member who has a more
immediate claim. This is a love story but it’s not the romantic and emotionally
charged romances we are used to in a society where TV shows and films portray
first dates ending up in sexual encounters and romance novel can be a euphemism
for soft porn.
Hope steps into
the story as Ruth goes out to glean from the harvest in the care and kindness
of a relative of Naomi’s husband called Boaz.
Widows and strangers were able allowed to gather the fallen grain from
behind the harvesters in Israel’s law, usually enough to survive. But Boaz show
kindness to Ruth in his generosity, allowing her
to glean in the field while the harvesters are still at work and instructing
them to leave grain behind for her. He shows it in hospitality,
inviting Ruth to eat with him and his workers, allowing her access to the lunch
room and bathroom facilities of his workers. Boaz shows kindness through acceptance by treating her as one of the family.
Hope
is able to step into the situation because as we see in the introductory scene
in chapter 3 Naomi is now able to look to the future. Grief sorrow pain despair
has caused her to focus on the tragedy of the past and when we do that there is
no hope. She begins to see a way to provide for her daughter in law by finding
a husband for her.
It’s
interesting to note in the story that it’s also only when Naomi and Ruth’s
basic needs are meet that they are able to begin to look at the future. Boaz’
generosity and Ruth’s hard work has meant that they have enough food for the
year. I don’t know if you’ve ever come across Maslow’s cone of human needs. It
shows a hierarchy of basic human needs ranging from the provision of food and
shelter, right through to the need for self actualisation, for purpose and
meaning in life. Maslow observed that you can’t address the higher needs in
life if you have to deal with the more basic ones. It’s why poverty can be a vicious self
propagating cycle. If all a person or communities energy goes into meeting the
basic food and survival needs there is nothing left to deal with larger issues
that in the long run will bring hope and change into the situation. For the church
for mission we need to meet peoples perceived needs before we can talk about
spiritual needs. We need to meet people at their point of need before we can
point them to their greater need for God. As the writer of the book of James
says, ‘what good does it do if someone hungry and
dressed in rags comes to you and you say ‘God bless you and go in peace’ but do
nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? One of the themes
that runs through the book of Ruth is God’s kindness is shown through our kindness.
From
this passage we see that Hope comes when we are prepared to step out to take
the initiative to risk for the sake of a vision of a preferred future. What
Naomi tells Ruth to do is risky it’s fraught with danger. There is the danger
of Boaz taking advantage of Ruth, as I said before it’s a sexually provocative
scene, what if Boaz wasn’t the man they though he was and he takes advantage of
the situation? What if he is put off by Ruth’s boldness? I mean she’s the one
making the advance her, in the male dominated society she’s the one who is
popping the question. In actual fact their reputations are on the line as well.
Finally
hope comes into this story because of the character of the characters in this
story. We’d love to see it as a real romance story wouldn’t we. Maybe it was...
maybe, Ruth and Boaz had grown close over the period of the grain harvest,
maybe there had been glances in each other’s direction and embarrassed looks
away when their eyes meet. Maybe there were brief encounters and shy smiles as
they shared the content of the water jar, maybe over lunches with the workers
there was a deepening knowledge of each other and engaging conversation, we are
not told. We do know that Boaz is really blown away by Ruth’s kindness in
asking him. But the thing that really brings hope into this situation is the
godly character of those involved. The thing that drew Boaz to Ruth wasn’t her
looks or her curves but the kindness he had heard and seen that she gave to
Naomi. He is smitten by her character He Praises her for not going after the
younger men of Bethlehem, maybe there had been offers of marriage, but she has
waited to do the right thing. And we see that Boaz is also a man of godly
character, he wants to do things the right way. He invites her to stay with him,
not out of a sexual desire or need but because he is offering her the
protection she has asked for. It would be dangerous for a woman alone at night
after the harvest. She is concerned for his repetition and goes before people
will see and talk. He is aware that there is another family guardian, who
because of land issues has to be considered. When Ruth reports back to Naomi,
who must have had a real sleepless night what has happened Naomi has no
hesitation of trusting Boaz’s character. She says “he said he would do it and
you can rest assured he is not going to rest till the matter is worked out’.
Hope
steps into any situation where people act towards others with a godly
character, seeking righteousness and justice, to treat each other with God’s
kindness. It’s why the key role of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives is to
produce Christ like fruit. To make us display the character traits of Christ.
Hope
is not a romantic ideal it’s very real, it has the ability to change the future.
Hope in God is not a passive thing, as the story of Ruth shows us, God’s purposes,
Gods plans for the future are worked out through our lives and our actions and
decisions. In our being willing to look again to the future, in our being
prepared to step out and act, in how our character reflects that of Christ. God
works through that to bring hope.
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