Ruth 3 is a midnight madness situation. Naomi told Ruth to do something that was more than just very risky but downright dangerous. The passage has all kinds of sexual overtones so that we will not miss how messy this could have been. But thankfully because Ruth was a worthy woman and Boaz a righteous man they acted right in the middle of this mess. The passage does teach us something about dating and about dating the church. Most importantly it shows us Boaz taking an oath that he will redeem Ruth if others will not step up. Christ took an oath to redeem you His bride and He has done it.

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Labels: dating, oath, ruth

Ruth 2 introduces Boaz who makes Ruth feel lucky. She was lucky to come to his part of the field because he did not make excuses to turn a blind eye but saw her and had compassion upon her. She was lucky to come to his part of the field because he not only satisfied the letter of the law, narrowly interpreted, but went far above and beyond that. Actually there is no such thing as luck, it was the providence of God that brought her to the worshiping congregation where she could feel lucky, whereas in another field she might have been assaulted.


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Labels: church, law, luck, moab, providence, ruth

Ruth 1 leads us to reflect on this snowy day on the radical commitment of church membership -- a radical commitment to one another. The passage shows many contrasts. Bethlehem means "House of Bread" and Moab is the people who would not give Israel any bread when they came out of Egypt. The church is where we feast on the bread of life. Ruth and Orpha are another contrast. Here is where we see the text as a challenge to radical commitment -- marriage like commitment to one another. And then Ruth and Naomi are contrasts as well. Ruth as a type of Gentiles coming to Christ and Naomi as a type of the Jews coming to Christ. Both Jews and Gentiles coming together to form one church.

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Labels: bread, church, Gentiles, membership, moab, ruth

Luke 1:39-56 is the inspiration for these reflections on the blessed Mary. She was a worthy wife for Joseph, made worthy by God through faith in His word. We do not elevate her to a status of divinity or even some sort of mediator role. But we call her blessed and imitate her faith. The idea of the worthy wife arises from the poem ending Proverbs and from Ruth 3:11. Mary, like Ruth and the Worthy Wife of Proverbs, is characterized by the fear of God (we call faith).

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Labels: faith, luke, mary, proverbs, ruth, wife