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Echoes of Sunday | Ruth 2:1-23: Gleaning and Hope · Everything In Between: a Trinity UMC Podcast

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  Life isn't black and white. It's not just mountain top
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  moments or rock bottom seasons. It's lived in the middle, in the
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  doubts and the prayers that feel unanswered, in the joy you
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  didn't see coming. Welcome to Everything in
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  Between, a podcast from Trinity UMC.
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  Good morning everyone, so happy to be here.
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  Happy birthday. We talked a lot about live
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  streaming copyright, but I don't think that one counts.
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  It's fine. It'll be OK, Mackenzie.
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  Just know you might want to check on that later on this
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  afternoon. They do it in real time now.
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  Last week, Pastor Christina began this series When God Shows
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  Up. Then she started out of the 1st
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  chapter of Ruth. But that first chapter brought
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  us into the ache of what Ruth started going through.
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  Right. So Ruth chapter 1 is not a
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  hallmark beginning. It is a famine, it's a
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  displacement, it's death. It's Naomi losing her husband
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  and two sons. It's Ruth losing her husband at
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  the same time and two widows walking back towards Bethlehem
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  with grief behind them and on the road ahead.
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  Ruth says to Naomi, Though where you go, I will go.
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  Your people shall be my people and your God, my God.
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  It's beautiful, but it cost her everything.
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  Sometimes we make Ruth's words sound more like a wedding poem,
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  but in the context that they're spoken is on a road of grief.
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  They were spoken when there's no clear future.
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  They're spoken when Ruth does not know what is waiting for her
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  in that little town of Bethlehem.
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  So Ruth 1 ends with this loss and this loyalty.
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  And then we pick up this Sunday with Ruth 2, which begins
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  something quieter but just as holy as that first chapter.
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  That's where I want to begin today.
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  Because sometimes faith does not begin with a full plan.
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  Sometimes faith begins with a single step.
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  So let me read the story. Just like we're back in Sunday
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  school, Ruth chapter 2, verse one through 23.
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  Let's remember the story together now.
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  Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's side, a prominent rich
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  man, and a family of Amalek, those name who was Boaz and
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  Ruth. The MO bite said to Naomi, Let
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  me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain behind
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  someone whose side I might find favor.
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  She said to her, Go my daughter. So she went.
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  She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers.
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  As it happened, she came to the part of the field belonging to
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  Boaz, who was the family of. You got my head, Melissa.
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  You got my head, Elimelech. Just as Boaz came from
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  Bethlehem, he said to the reapers, the Lord be with you.
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  And they answered, The Lord bless you.
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  Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the
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  reapers. To whom does this young woman
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  belong? The young man who was in charge
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  of the reapers answered, She is the young Mobite woman who came
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  back with Naomi from the country of Moab.
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  She said, Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves
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  behind the reapers. So she came, and she had been on
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  her feet from early this morning until now without resting even
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  for a moment. Then Boaz said to Ruth, Now
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  listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or
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  leave this one, but keep close to my young women.
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  Keep your eyes on the field that it be reaped, and follow behind
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  them. I have ordered the young men not
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  get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young
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  men have drawn. Then she fell prostate with her
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  face to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in
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  your sight, that you should take notice of me when I am but a
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  foreigner? But Boaz answered her.
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  All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of
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  your husband has been fully told to me how you left your father
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  and mother in your native land and came to a people that you
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  did not know before. May the Lord reward you for your
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  deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord the God of
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  Israel, under whose wing wings you have come for refuge.
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  Then she said, May I continue to find favor in the sight, my
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  Lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your
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  servant, even though I am not one of your servants.
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  At meal time Boaz said to her, Come here and eat some of this
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  bread, and dip your morsels in the sour wine.
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  So she sat beside the reapers and heaped up from some parched
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  grain. She ate until she was satisfied,
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  and she had some leftover when she got up to glean.
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  Boaz instructed his young men. Let her glean even among the
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  standing sheaves, and do not reproach her.
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  You must also put out some handfuls for her from the
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  bundles and leave them for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.
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  So she gleaned in the field until evening.
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  Then she beat out what she had gleaned and there was about an
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  EFA of barley. She picked it up and came into
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  the town and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned.
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  Then she took out and gave her what was left and over after she
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  said herself had been satisfied, her mother-in-law said to her,
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  where did you glean today and where have you worked?
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  Blessed be the man who took notice of you.
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  So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, saying
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  the name of the man with whom I work today is Boaz.
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  Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he
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  by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the
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  dead. Naomi also said to her, The man
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  is a relative of ours, one of our nearest kin.
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  Then Ruth and the Moabite said, he even said to me, stay close
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  by my young men until they have finished all of my harvests.
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  Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, it is better my
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  daughter that you go out with his young women, otherwise
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  someone might bother you in another field.
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  So she stayed close to the young women of Boaz gleaning until the
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  end of the barley and wheat harvest, and she lived there
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  with her mother-in-law. This is the word of God for the
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  people of God. Amen.
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  What a story, what a story. Ruth in this story, though,
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  doesn't know anything about Boaz yet.
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  She doesn't know the end of the story.
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  She doesn't know that this field is going to be the birthing
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  place of hope. All she knows is that her and
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  Naomi are hungry and they need food.
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  So she goes. She takes that step of faith.
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  And I think that there's seasons in life where faith looks like
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  like strength. There's seasons when faith looks
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  like maybe singing a course with confidence.
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  Maybe there's seasons that faith looks like clarity and courage
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  that we just know we just got to get it done.
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  But there are other seasons when faith looks like just getting
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  out of bed in the morning. Maybe faith for you looks like
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  making a phone call that you just don't want to make.
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  Maybe it's just showing up to church this morning was a faith
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  step for you. Faith looks like taking the next
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  right step when you don't have the whole map in front of you to
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  know what the journey is going to be like.
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  So Ruth goes to glean and gleaning is this really weird
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  term. Back in the day, it was a
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  practice that in Israel, where land owners were commanded not
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  to harvest every corner of their fields, they were not supposed
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  to strip the land bare. They were to leave grain behind
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  for the poor, for the widowers, for the orphans, and for the
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  foreigners who are walking by. In other words, gleaning wasn't
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  charity, it was this design community that God had
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  established. God had already told his people,
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  when you have a field, do not harvest every edge.
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  Leave room for someone else to live.
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  And that matters because Ruth is not just poor.
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  She's not just a foreigner. She's not just a widower.
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  She is the most vulnerable of the population for that context,
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  place and time. She's all of those things.
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  And she steps into this, this strange field hoping that
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  someone will allow her just to simply get something to eat.
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  And then the text says, as it happened, she came to the part
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  of the field belonging to Boaz. When I read the Bible, I always
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  like those one liners as it happened it.
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  It sounds random, it sounds like a coincidence.
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  It sounds like the narrator may be almost winking at us a little
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  bit. But Ruth just happened to find
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  Boaz's field. Boaz just happened to be from
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  that clan that I'm not going to pronounce again.
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  Boaz just happens to arrive from Bethlehem.
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  Boaz just happens to notice Ruth.
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  But one of the quiet gifts of the book of Ruth is that God is
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  at work even when God is not being loudly announced there.
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  There are no burning bushes here in the 2nd chapter of Ruth.
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  There's no sea being split, manna from heaven quail.
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  There's no prophet standing up saying thus saith the Lord.
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  It's just simply God moving through people.
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  That may be one of the most Methodist things that we can say
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  in this moment is that grace is not always dramatic, but grace
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  is always active. God is not absent just because
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  the moment is. Quiet shows up in our fields.
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  Sometimes God shows up through the person who notices us in
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  that field. Sometimes God shows up through
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  the person, through the persons who have more than enough and
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  decides not to keep it all to themselves.
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  And that takes us to Boaz. Boaz arrives and sees Ruth
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  gleaning, and he asks his workers, To whom does this woman
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  belong? Now that question might sound
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  strange to our ears at this time, but in the context, Boaz
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  asked who she is connected to, who's responsible for this
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  person, what is her story? And the workers tell him that
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  she is a Mobite woman who came back with Naomi.
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  She asked permission to glean as she has been working from the
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  morning up until now. Boaz first hears her story and
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  then he does something really important in this passage.
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  He doesn't treat Ruth like an interruption.
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  He doesn't treat her like a problem.
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  He doesn't treat her like a charity case.
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  He looks directly into her and treats her with dignity.
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  He says, now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean
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  into another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young
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  women. Keep your eyes on the field that
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  is being reaped and followed behind them.
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  I am ordered the young men not to bother you.
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  If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink.
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  From what the young men have drawn.
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  Boaz in that moment gives Ruth access.
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  He gives her protection, he gives her water and he gives her
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  belonging, and he gives her more than just the bare minimum of
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  what the law required. And I think that this is where
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  the text, I hope begins to press on us because Boaz had power.
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  He had land, he had workers, he had food, he had status.
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  And Ruth did not. And the question, the story is
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  not will Boaz be nice? The question here is deeper.
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  What will Boaz do with the power he has when somebody who is
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  vulnerable is standing in his field?
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  That is a Kingdom question. What do you have?
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  What is your influence? What do we do with our table and
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  our resources, our words, our attention?
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  What do we do when someone enters our place?
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  It interrupts our life, hoping that there might be enough mercy
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  left for them. Boaz could have done the
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  minimum. He could have said fine, let her
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  glean. The law says she can, just don't
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  bother me. But Boaz does not do minimum
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  mercy. He embodies mercy.
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  And that's the phrase I want you, us to hold today, is hope
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  comes through embodying mercy. Not mercy as a vague feeling,
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  not mercy as just a nice idea out there.
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  Not mercy as something we believe is from a distance, but
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  this embodiment of living a life of mercy.
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  Mercy that notices things, Mercy that speaks, mercy that
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  protects, Mercy that makes room. Mercy that leaves grain at the
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  edges for others. Mercy that says you do not have
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  to go somewhere else. There's room for you right here
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  in my house. I think that connects so deeply
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  with the words that Jesus has said in Luke 6.
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  Jesus said be merciful just as your Father is merciful.
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  Then Jesus says, do not judge and you will not be judged.
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  Do not condemn and you will not be condemned.
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  Forgive and you will be forgiven.
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  Give and it will be given to you.
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  And then Jesus gives this beautiful image a good measure,
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  pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into
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  your lap. Now, I do want to be careful
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  about this Luke 6 passage. Jesus, I don't believe, has
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  given us some prosperity formula of how to be prosperous.
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  But he's not saying to give a little money and God will make
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  you rich. I think that misses the heart of
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  what Jesus is trying to say here.
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  Jesus is describing the economy of a Kingdom of God.
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  In the Kingdom of God, mercy is not scarce.
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  In the Kingdom of God, grace is not measured with a teaspoon.
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  In the Kingdom of God, forgiveness is not handed out in
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  tiny portions. In the Kingdom of God,
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  generosity is pressed down. It's shaken together and running
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  over. But why?
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  Because the Father, creator of you and me and all the universe
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  is just like that. Be merciful, Jesus says, just as
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  your Father is merciful. Boaz in this story becomes a
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  living picture of that kind of mercy.
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  He does not just believe in mercy, He practices it in the
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  field. And Ruth receives it with
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  humility. She falls on her face and asks,
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  what if I found favor in your sight that you should notice me?
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  And that question is heartbreaking for somebody who
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  might be on the other side of that struggle.
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  Because Ruth knows who she is. She knows her status.
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  She knows she's an outsider. She knows she doesn't belong.
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  She knows that she has no claim on Boaz as a husband.
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  She knows she is dependent on the mercy of someone else.
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  But Boaz answers her by naming what he sees in her.
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  He says All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the
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  death of your husband has been fully told to me.
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  Boaz knew Ruth. Faithful faithfulness.
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  He has heard about her loyalty and has heard about her courage.
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  And then when he knows about all that stuff, he takes a moment to
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  bless her. May the Lord reward you for your
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  deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of
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  Israel, under whose wings you have come to refuge.
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  It's another beautiful image under whose wings you have come
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  for refuge. Ruth came to Bethlehem with
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  Naomi. Then she went to a field.
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  But Boaz, he's a deeper truth that Ruth has come under the
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  wings of God. Ruth may not fully know it yet,
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  but God has not abandoned her or Naomi.
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  And I wonder how many US, how many of us need that word today
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  that maybe you're in the field and you're not seeing the end of
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  the harvest. You're just seeing another day
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  of gleaning. Maybe your story is not resolved
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  yet. Maybe you're still carrying
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  grief in your life from chapter 1.
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  You may still feel like you're gleaning from the edges, just
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  trying to gather up enough grace just to get through the day.
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  But that doesn't mean God is absent in your life.
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  It may mean you're standing in the very field where hope is
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  beginning to grow. If that is you, I want you to
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  hear this. The first step matters.
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  You don't have to have the whole future figured out, but you can
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  be faithful today. Go to the field, whatever that
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  looks like. Gather the grace that God gives
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  you today. Trust that God, under whose
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  wings you have come for refuge, is already at work in ways you
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  cannot see. I want to go back to the people
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  who are in this room. Who are the Boazes?
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  Do you have some kind of field? And the question is, what will
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  you do with your field? What are you going to do with
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  the field? Will we harvest every edge for
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  ourself and not leave any extra? Will we leave room for mercy or
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  we just do the bare minimum? Or will William, will we have
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  take the opportunity to embody the mercy of the Father?
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  That's not just something to believe.
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  That's something I think that we have to practice.
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  It doesn't come natural to us, but I think we need to practice
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  that the church should be filled, should be a field where
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  mercy can be gleaned. That does not mean we fix every
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  problem that comes up. Boaz does not solve Ruth's
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  entire story in one day. In fact, I would even argue that
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  he doesn't solve her story at all.
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  But he does make room for hope. He does what he can with what he
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  has, and God uses that. That may be the invitation for
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  us today. Do what you can with what you
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  have. Take the first step.
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  Leave room at the edges. Notice the person that's been
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  brought into your life. Speak dignity into that person
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  and practice protection. Give mercy and good measure.
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  Pressed down, shaken together, and running over.
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  Because when God shows up, it's often through people who have
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  learned to leave room for mercy. And today, as we come to the
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  communion table, we come to the deepest sign of embodied mercy.
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  God did not love us from a distance in Jesus Christ.
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  He took mercy on his flesh. Mercy had hands.
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  Mercy had feet. Mercy sat at the table with
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  sinners and strangers. Mercy touched the sick.
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  It touched the outcasts. Mercy gave itself away.
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  This table is not a reward for people who have figured it all
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  out. This table is a grace for people
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  who are hungry. It's mercy for people who are
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  weary. It's bread for people who know
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  what empty feels like. It is the place where Christ
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  meets us, not with a small measure, but with grace, pressed
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  down, shaken together, running over.
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  Are we gleaning the table? So whether you come today
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  feeling like Ruth and just trying to take your next step,
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  or whether you come knowing God is calling you to be more like
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  Boaz, making room for mercies in your field, come to the table,
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  Come under the wings of the God who still are refuge, Come
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  receive Christ's mercy. And then I beg of you, go and
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  body the mercy for somebody else.