“Ruth: Fighting for the Outsider” by Rev. Cody Sandahl – February 4, 2018
Lay Reader = Matthew 5:1-16
1When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
13“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. 14“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Introduction
We are still in our series looking at the story of Ruth in the Old Testament. We have seen what it feels like to be an outsider. We have looked at Boaz as a model of how our church can show the vulnerable in our community extravagant hospitality. Last week we heard Ruth’s own powerful voice – the Ruth’s in our community have something to say to us that we can’t hear anywhere else.
Last week I shared some of the details about Israelite inheritance, and that’s still in play this week. We saw how Ruth asked Boaz to be the next-of-kin, which in Old Testament terms meant marrying her and producing an heir to continue the family line since Elimelech and his sons died.
But that’s only half of the story. The other half is the actual land itself. The text today implies that Elimelech actually sold his family property before leaving for Moab many years before. But since God is the one who parceled out the land, it becomes the extended family’s duty to buy back the land so it remains in the family. That’s another job of the next-of-kin.
And this is what’s at stake in the chapter today. The next-of-kin is supposed to buy back the land that Elimelech sold. And as long as there isn’t an heir to that family line, the next-of-kin gets to keep the land and pass it to his kids as inheritance. But if the next-of-kin marries Ruth and produces an heir, that land goes to the new son. Essentially the next-of-kin has to buy the land out of their own pocket, raise a new son as their own, and then give all of it away to that son when they’re of age. To put it into modern terms, imagine that your brother has died and left a widow but no children. And now imagine telling your family that you are going to pay off your sister-in-law’s mortgage as a gift. Is that going to be an easy conversation in your household? It’s very nice, but it’s taking money away from YOUR family, right? What if you can’t pay for your own children’s college because of that? That’s what’s at stake in our text today.
This week we see Boaz respond to Ruth’s powerful voice. Given the background I just shared, the WAY he follows through is fascinating, and it shows us something important. Here’s Boaz speaking to the one man who is a closer relative than he is – the one who has the right of first refusal on being the next-of-kin.
Ruth 4:1-12
1No sooner had Boaz gone up to the gate and sat down there than the next-of-kin, of whom Boaz had spoken, came passing by. So Boaz said, “Come over, friend; sit down here.” And he went over and sat down.2Then Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here”; so they sat down. 3He then said to the next-of-kin, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our kinsman Elimelech. 4So I thought I would tell you of it, and say: Buy it in the presence of those sitting here, and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not, tell me, so that I may know; for there is no one prior to you to redeem it, and I come after you.” So he said, “I will redeem it.” 5Then Boaz said, “The day you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi, you are also acquiring Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead man, to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance.” 6At this, the next-of-kin said, “I cannot redeem it for myself without damaging my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”7Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one took off a sandal and gave it to the other; this was the manner of attesting in Israel. 8So when the next-of-kin said to Boaz, “Acquire it for yourself,” he took off his sandal.
9Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have acquired from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon. 10I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance, in order that the name of the dead may not be cut off from his kindred and from the gate of his native place; today you are witnesses.” 11Then all the people who were at the gate, along with the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you produce children in Ephrathah and bestow a name in Bethlehem; 12and, through the children that the Lord will give you by this young woman, may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”
Worthy
I was talking with one of our staff members this week, and somehow we got to the topic of gym class. She could still viscerally remember her terror in kindergarten. One of their challenges for gym class was to climb this wooden pole. And try as she might, she never could reach the top. Watching the other kids scurry up to the top, seeing the exasperated look on the teacher’s face, she felt unworthy and ashamed.
A church member shared that he was always one of the smallest kids in his class, and he was the only one from another state. He didn’t look like everyone else. He didn’t talk like everyone else. And that made him a natural target. Though he did come up with an ingenious solution to being smaller than everyone else and being picked on – he earned a reputation as a biter. You better think carefully before fighting that kid! But he had to do that, because everyone seemed to think he was unworthy.
Have you ever felt unworthy? Or have you ever thought, I’m OK, but I’d be great if only I could lose 15 pounds? Or stop drinking as much? Or if this person would love me? Or if I could kick this habit? Or read more this year? Have you ever had negative thoughts when swimsuit season is approaching? Ever been worried when going to a high school reunion? Messed up at work or at home? Have you ever felt unworthy?
There’s a story from the early days of IBM, and the CEO brought in an employee to his office. This employee had just made a mistake that cost the company $600,000 – and that’s in 1940’s dollars. Can you imagine what that employee must have been feeling? This isn’t just going to the principal’s office – this could be the end of his entire career! Do you think he felt worthy at that moment?
Well apparently Thomas John Watson, the CEO of IBM, DID think he was worthy. Later he recounted that people asked him why he DIDN’T fire this employee. And he said, “I just spent $600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody [else] to hire that experience?”
Looking at our sense of worthiness from gym class to CEO’s office, I think we see a few different aspects that are in play in the story of Ruth and our lives today.
In Ruth’s story, we have seen her evolve quite a bit over the last three weeks. She was a dependent widow in chapter one. She learned to care for herself and her mother-in-law in chapter two, but she still called herself “the foreigner” when Boaz talked with her. In chapter three she was suddenly bold enough to ask Boaz to marry her and consider her worthy of all the protections an Israelite widow would receive. I believe she went from feeling like an unworthy outsider to feeling like a worthy woman, which is what Boaz calls her.
Brene Brown is a professor and researcher at the University of Houston – she also has an amazing TED talk if you want to look that up and watch it. In her research she found that the NUMBER ONE thing that separates us from the love and connection that we want and need? Number one thing. You ready? It’s not smartphones preventing us from talking to each other. It’s not the Internet. It’s not a sudden decay in decency. Number one thing separating us from the love and connection that we want and need? The fear that we don’t deserve it. The fear that we are unworthy of love and connection. That’s number one.
Ruth is the story of a widow caring for another widow who needs to find her place. Ruth is the story of a foreigner who needs to be accepted. And as we see Ruth’s story, her story unfolds as she begins to see herself as a worthy woman, too. Her story progresses as she claims her place in this society. Her story progresses as she believes that she is deserving of love and connection.
But guess what? Her circumstances haven’t changed until we get to this chapter today. She was still a foreign-born widow when chapter three rolled around. Why did she feel worthy?
Well that’s the great thing about that sense of worthiness. The sense that you deserve love and connection isn’t based on changing your reality. Worthiness isn’t about losing that 15 pounds or looking better in that swimsuit or getting that promotion or new title or getting into that honor society or receiving that scholarship offer. Ruth was a worthy woman even when she was a foreign-born widow. She didn’t need to marry Boaz to become worthy. She was worthy of love and connection just as she was. Now she got a nice upgrade this week, don’t get me wrong. But she still would have been worthy of love and connection even if it didn’t go her way.
That sense of worthiness is a choice, not a circumstance. It is a decision, not something you earn. As Paul writes in the Ephesians 2, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” We are all worthy of love and connection because we are all children of God. Nothing more is needed. Switching that mindset is the number one thing we can do to find the love and connection we want and need according to Brene Brown.
Ruth’s path to joy started with her decision to say “I am enough.” “I am worthy.” And that’s today – not dependent on someone else. When you believe “I am enough,” that is your ticket to joy in life. “I am enough” is the ticket to love and connection. That’s what we see in Ruth’s story.
Do you believe that you are worthy? Do you believe that you are enough – right now? Do you believe that if you’re good enough for Jesus you’re good enough for other people, too? It’s true.
Fighting for the Outsider
If you are already there – if you have claimed your worthiness – what can you do to help others claim that worthiness as well?
We saw that with Boaz a couple of weeks ago where he showed Ruth extravagant hospitality and spoke with her and called her a “worthy woman.” This week he goes a step further and tries to get the rest of the community to see Ruth as a “worthy woman” as well.
The first peculiar thing he does is wait until the town elders are there for this conversation. That’s not required. He does it to ensure witnesses. To ensure broad community support.
Second, did you notice that he only talked about Naomi and the property when he first talked with this other potential next-of-kin? Only after the man said he would buy the land did Boaz talk about Ruth. There are a few things going on there, but I think he was trying to achieve two things. First, he wanted to make sure that this next-of-kin was actually interested in performing his duty, not just acquiring more land to pass along to his children. Second, I believe Boaz was showing the town elders that he valued Ruth, not just the land. By demonstrating that this other next-of-kin wanted the land but not Ruth, whereas Boaz himself saw Ruth as a “worthy woman,” he got their endorsement that she belonged in the community as well.
And it worked. When the town elders pronounced a blessing upon Boaz’s actions, they actually asked for God to bless Ruth. They highlighted Perez – one of Boaz’s ancestors. Perez was born in very unorthodox and morally strained circumstances, and that birth was the result of some next-of-kin decisions as well. They acknowledged that Ruth the outsider was now Ruth the worthy woman.
Looking at Boaz, there are two ways we can help people claim that they are worthy of love and connection. First, we can demonstrate how they are worth something to us – like Boaz did in the fields two weeks ago. And second, we can help the community show that they are worthy – like Boaz did today with the town elders.
Summary
Sisters and brothers, Ruth’s story shows how one foreign-born widow claimed her place and her worth in her society, and that society eventually embraced her as well. Ruth is the story of a woman who recognized that she was a child of God just like the rest of the people around her – and that’s enough. And Ruth is the story of a man who saw her worth and helped everyone else see it, too.
Where are you in this story?
Do you need to claim your worth in the eyes of God? Do you need to claim your worth in the eyes of other people? Do you need to help someone else see that they are worthy?
You are enough. You are worthy of love and connection. Period. No contingencies. Simply because God made you. Amen.
