Bold
Ruth 3
Ruth Recap
Chapter 1:
- Mounting Losses
- Changing Landscapes
Chapter 2:
- God's Hidden Hand
- Ruth's Busy Hands
- Boaz's Open Hands
- Naomi's Folded Hands
Power of Story
a
Shaping
Story
No biblical story is just a story, any more so than any person’s story – each deals with actual events and traditions in which there is a Creator, Director, and Redeemer… Each detail in a person’s life is a part of a larger story, and the larger story is salvation (Peterson, Five Smooth Stones)
Naomi PLOTS: 3:1-5;
Ruth PIVOTS: 3:6-9;
Boaz RESPONDS: 3:10-15;
Ruth REPORTS: 3:16-19
Chapter 3
FLOW
Kind acts rekindle hope.
Noami's Turn
3:1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? 2 Now is not Boaz our kinsman, with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight.
Hope Rekindled
Rest: 1:8 | Redeemer (cf. Lev. 25)
Boaz is noble (2:1), generous (2:8-17), kind (2:20), BUT not the closest relative (2:20).
Noami's Plot
A nighttime conversation allowed her to retain her dignity and her reputation, should Boaz send her away. The darkness of the night actually functioned as the safest place for Ruth’s proposal to occur—especially in a community in which everyone knew everyone else’s business…
(Glahn [ed.], Vindicating Vixens, 73)
3 Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 It shall be when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you shall do.
Bold plans require big risks.
- rejection
- reputation
- resources
- security
6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her. 7 When Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain; and she came secretly, and uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 It happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward; and behold, a woman was lying at his feet. 9 He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative.”
The threshing floor scene is delicate, dangerous, and yes, possibly even scandalous.
(Vindicating Vixens, 73)
Bold asks result in big rewards.
The tide turns when Ruth takes the initiative and makes outrageous proposals with this powerful man. (James, Malestrom, 125)
Lev. 25:25 ‘If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his relative has sold. 26 Or in case a man has no kinsman, but so recovers his means as to find sufficient for its redemption, 27 then he shall calculate the years since its sale and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and so return to his property. 28 But if he has not found sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of its purchaser until the year of jubilee; but at the jubilee it shall revert, that he may return to his property.
10 Then he said, “May you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich. 11 Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence. 12 Now it is true I am a close relative; however, there is a relative closer than I. 13 Remain this night, and when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good; let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you, as the Lord lives. Lie down until morning.”
In the process of redeeming his relatives’ land, the kinsman-redeemer was siphoning off financial resources from his own estate, so his sons would inherit less. The law wasn’t simply a legal code, but a heart-piercing call to a higher way of living. It was a call to sacrifice. (James, Gospel according to Ruth, 150)
Bold faith rehearses God's redemption.
The church is a theater in which we see stories acted out. Indeed, the church is the enacted story of forgiven and transformed sinners. We need a company of the gospel because it is impossible for a one-man show to act out love for others.
(Vanhoozer, Hears & Doers 139)
God's grace turns social norms upside down.
Boaz violates cultural norms of manhood when he responds to Ruth’s initiative and accepts her cultural and theological influence. He proves unwilling to allow patriarchal views of male power over women get in the way of listening, learning, growing, and changing. He is willing to be taught by her.
(James, Malestrom, 129)
Discern shrewdly
The methods that make the kingdom of America strong – economic, military, technological, informational – are not suited to making the kingdom of God strong. (Peterson, Contemplative Pastor, 28)
Discern
Subvert graciously
Subvert
Our confused society badly needs a community of contrast, a counterculture of ordinary pilgrims who insists on living a different way. We can make the world stop and think before pulling a trigger or exacting revenge or neglecting the vulnerable or euthanizing those it deems “devoid of value.” Unlike popular culture, we will lavish attention on the least “deserving,” in direct opposition to our celebrity culture’s emphasis on success, wealth, and beauty.
(Yancey, Vanishing Grace, 262)
Receive daily.
Big Grace = Big Risks, Asks, Redemption
Big Grace = Low Doubt, Fear, Judgment