The in a Field of Dreams

RUTH 1:22-2:23; Psalm 91:1-2; Matthew 23:37 Rev. Nollie Malabuyo • February 28, 2016

eloved congregation of Christ: The 1964 Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof tells the B story of a Jewish family living in imperial Russia in the 1900s. He has two main issues: the edict of the Czar to edict all Jews living in their village; and her fve independent-minded daughters. The father wants to maintain Jewish religious and cultural traditions, including having her daughters' marriage arranged by the village “matchmaker.” He wanted her three daughters to marry suitable, wealthy man. But each of his three older daughters resist this tradition, and want to marry the man of her liking, the love of her life. The oldest falls in love instead with a poor tailor. The second marries a revolutionary who was later arrested and exiled in Siberia. The father reluctantly agrees to the marriage of the frst two. But when the third daughter elopes with a Christian, the Jewish father held his line, and declares that this daughter is dead. In our third lesson on the Book of Ruth today, we sense that Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, is a matchmaker. Naomi seems to have set up a kind of a “blind date” between Ruth and Boaz, Naomi's distant relative. A blind date is “a social engagement between two people who have not previously met, usually arranged by a mutual acquaintance.” 1 In this defnition, the meeting between Ruth and Boaz is a “blind date,” and the “mutual acquaintance” or “matchmaker” is Naomi. At the end of Chapter 1, we read that Naomi returned to Naomi's hometown Bethlehem, after her husband and two sons died in Moab. Ruth, one of her two Moabite daughters-in-law, returned with her. In the last words of the chapter, we fnd a seemingly insignifcant statement, “And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.” So at the beginning of Chapter 2, after the two women had settled back in Naomi's house, the big problem was that they had nothing, no food to eat. Since it was the beginning of barley harvest, Ruth asked Naomi if could glean in one of the felds. Hopefully, she says, she would land in a feld owned by a man “in whose sight I shall fnd favor.” But there is more to this “blind date” and “matchmaking.” Today, our theme is, “The Blind Date in a Field of Dreams,” under three headings: frst, Boaz: “A Worthy Man”; second, “She Happened to Come to Boaz’s Field”; and third, Ruth: “She Found Favor in His Eyes.” Boaz: “A Worthy Man” Naomi's answer to Ruth's request is brief, “Go, my daughter.” Could Naomi have ofered to go with Ruth to glean? It might be that she was too old for that kind of work. Or like many of us, she was too depressed with her life situation, retreating into her own shell. When she lost her whole

1 Defnition by thefreedictionary.com. 1 family, she said that her life was bitter and empty. She even thought that God was punishing her for her disobedience in leaving the Promised Land for the greener pastures of Moab. What is your reaction when your life turns bitter and empty? As a Christian, do you trust that God allows afictions and suferings to invade your comfortable life so that your faith may be strengthened? Do you say with Paul, “But we rejoice in our suferings, knowing that sufering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:3-5)? And when troubles come, do you look heavenward for your redemption, “For I consider that the suferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18)? In the midst of Naomi's brokenness, there is a hint of hope. Verse 1 of Chapter 2 says, “Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.” This is the frst mention in the book of a man named Boaz, a relative of Naomi's husband Elimelech. He is also described as “a worthy man.” In the next verses, we see how he is a worthy man. His frst words in the story is a greeting to his workers, “The LORD be with you!” To which the men answered, “The LORD bless you.” These words tell much about his character. The narrator includes this brief exchange to tell the readers that Boaz was a godly man, honoring God in his farming business. He is also well- respected by his workers. Therefore, as a “worthy” man, he is excellent in character, position, strength, and even in wealth as a landowner. Then Boaz scans his feld, and among the many men and women reapers, he sees someone whom he has never seen before: Ruth. So he asked his foreman, “Whose young woman is this?” He did not ask, “Who is this young woman?” He was asking, “To which clan does she belong? Where does she come from?” The foreman identifed her as “the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.” She had asked permission to glean in the feld, and when she was allowed, she worked all morning under the hot sun, with only a brief rest. Bethlehem being a small town, news gets around very quickly. Boaz had heard about Naomi coming back with her Moabite daughter-in-law. That Ruth had left her own family, country, and even her own gods in Moab, to live with Naomi and worship the God of Israel. Now she is hard at work to provide for Naomi and herself. So Boaz went and spoke with Ruth. He asked Ruth to glean only in his feld, and not in any other. That she should keep close to the young women who were also working there. That he instructed his young men not to touch her. And that she can drink from the water jars there. All of these were shocking to Ruth, because she knew that she was an outsider. Why would a man of high standing in the community bother with a poor and widowed foreigner, and treat her with such kindness? It is difcult not to notice Boaz's own kindness to strangers. When you come to church, do you scan the congregation for any new visitors? Do you consciously look for them after the worship service to greet them, “The Lord be with you”? Do you talk to them with not just small talk, but instead sincerely ask them about their life and family? Do you ask them if they 2 have any needs? Or do you only pay attention to those whom you know, your own best friends? Do you pay attention only to those who are like you, completely overlooking those who don't seem to ft among you? Boaz was a worthy man. “She Happened to Come to Boaz's Field” When Ruth asked Naomi if she could glean in the felds, her idea was probably to go to any feld that was nearest to their house. But verse 3 says, “she happened to come to the part of the feld to Boaz.” In our words today, “as luck would have it, she ended up in Boaz's feld.” This is one of those subplots in the Book of Ruth where things seem to happen in random fashion. At the end of Chapter 1, Naomi and Ruth arrived back in Bethlehem “just in time” for the beginning of the barley harvest. In the next two chapters, we will see again some of these “chances” or “coincidences.” When Ruth came with an ephah or about 30-50 pounds of grain, Naomi asked where she had gleaned. And when Ruth said that she happened to glean in Boaz's feld, Naomi was satisfed. Maybe she was really hoping that Ruth would end up meeting Boaz, since she knew that Boaz was “a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” Naomi was more than willing to be a matchmaker. But there was another matchmaker between Ruth and Boaz. It was not merely luck or chance that they met in the feld. In God's providence, Ruth “happened” to glean in Boaz's feld, and they met. Naomi's matchmaking plans are under the sovereignty of the LORD, the “divine matchmaker.” God matched Isaac with Rebekah, even though Abraham was the one who initiated the meeting. Even in the ungodly meeting of David and Bathsheba, God was at work according to his plan. No, God did not send an angel to Ruth, or gave Ruth a vision that she should glean in Boaz's feld. God ordained this sequence of events. Today, we have a “potluck” after this worship service. Many Christians do not like the word “luck” because it is an unbiblical word. If events happen only by luck or chance or fortune, then God is not in sovereign control of the universe. So some churches call their lunch fellowship “pot-providence.” Remember Paul's comforting words, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). Our whole salvation, from eternity past to eternity future, have been foreordained by God. And within this whole process, there is sweetness and bitterness, fullness and emptiness, mountaintops and valleys. But we are to trust that God's frowning providence will end in his smiling providence. Ruth: “She Found Favor in His Eyes” Boaz's frst words to Ruth reveal his kind heart in giving her all the benefts he gives his other workers, though she was not even one of them. So Ruth asked, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” She even compared herself to a humble servant. But Boaz said that he also admired and honored Ruth's own and kindness to Naomi. Boaz even prayed for her, “The LORD repay you for what you have done, and 3 a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!” She trusted in the God of Israel; therefore, he prayed that the Lord may reward her newfound faith and kindness. Knowing Ruth and Naomi's sad plight, Boaz prayed that God will fully reward her. She had lost much: husband, father, mother and country. She also left her pagan gods, taking refuge instead under the protective and comforting wings of the LORD. Do you also say to God, “in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge” (Psa 57:1) when your life is broken? Do you trust that “under his wings you will fnd refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler” (Psa 91:4)? Or are you unwilling, like the Jews in the days of Jesus, to be gathered, as “as a hen gathers her brood under her wings” (Mat 23:37)? Afterwards, Boaz showed his interest in Ruth when he invited her to a “lunch date.” Ruth had a full meal, and even had some leftover to take home to Naomi. Boaz even told his men to be intentionally careless in their harvesting, leaving much for Ruth to glean. Boaz's generosity to Ruth was over the top, over and above what was required by the Law, which only says, “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your feld right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest… You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner” (Lev 19:9-10). Ruth was a sojourner, and Naomi was poor. Boaz was a worthy man. But Ruth found favor in Boaz's eyes because she too was “a worthy woman” (Ruth3:11). We will study how she too was “a worthy woman” in Chapter 3.

ear brothers and sisters in the Lord: Before you were redeemed by our Lord Jesus D Christ, you too were aliens and strangers outside of the kingdom of God. But even when you were a foreigner (Eph 2:19), God treated you with mercy, grace and lovingkindness. He scanned the felds of the earth, and found you individually, saying, “This one is mine. I will work all things for his good, and take him under my comforting and protective wings.” Then, in his providential plan, God sent his Son to be your only Redeemer. As your Redeemer, Christ lived a perfectly righteous life, and willingly sufered and died on the cross for your sins. Boaz was a “worthy” redeemer, able to give provisions for Ruth and Naomi. But no other man is worthy to be your Redeemer from your sins except Christ. Therefore, all the heavenly host sing a song of praise to Jesus, our “worthy” Redeemer, “Worthy are you... for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” He was slain for your sins, but he rose from the grave and ascended into heaven. There, the heavenly host declare, “Worthy is the the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5:9-12) Boaz broke bread and ate with Ruth and all his workers. But on the last day, all of you will be invited by our Lord Jesus Christ to a wedding feast in heaven: your own wedding with him. Today, we have a foretaste of this wedding feast as we all partake of the bread, the body of Christ broken for us; and the cup, his blood shed for us.

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