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TURNTO: Ruth 1.3-9,16-18, 2.2-3, 4.13-17 INTRO: Today continuing in advent series where we’re
looking at the women listed in Jesus’ genealogy – who we might call the mothers of Jesus. See
genealogies were used in their day to describe who a person was. Much more family-focused. G’s
almost always only listed males. Jesus’ G unique in that it lists 4 women. Which tales us that each
women make a unique and impt contrib to how we understand Jesus’ life. Last week looked at Tamar,
this week looking at Ruth. Challenge – Ruth’s story is 4 ch’s long. So I’m going to read some excerpts.

READ TEXT // PRAY

I want to start by summarizing the story of Ruth. It plays out in 3 broad movements.

Movement #1 – Naomi’s bitterness

Story begins by N and Elimelech moving from Bethlehem to Moab because of famine. While there, have
2 sons who get married but then both sons and husband die. Leave N in worst possible position of being
an older widow. Must vulnerable position because you have nothing to fall back on – no family (kids) to
support her, no money, no social status. And therefore N is absolutely devastated –nothing left. Things
are so bad that she later say people shouldn’t be call her by the name N anymore, which means
pleasant, but rather Mara which means bitter.  she’s person you want to invite to xmas party!

Movement #2 – Ruth’s love

N, seeing that her life is more or less over, tells her daughters-in-law to go back home to their families in
Moab. She reasons that they’re still of marriageable age, still can have a future. She knows if they
return with her to Bethlehem, the will face very rough life because: 1) not likely to find husbands so
stuck in poverty; 2) they were Moabites whom the Jews despised and therefore would likely be victims
of violence. This is why Ruth is twice-warned not to travel in the wrong places because she could get
victimized.

And yet, what is astonishing is Ruth’s love for any loyalty to N. And very movingly, in vs.16 Ruth says:
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But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and
where you stay I will stay. (Rut 1:16-17 TNIV)

Now this is radical. People leave the familiar for the new all the time (ex/joke?). But always it’s for
what reason – to improve their lives right?  - NYC, LA, NOT GARY. Yet what’s Ruth doing here? Saying
she’ll immigrate to a new land not bc there might be a chance of a better life but where certainly her life
is relegated to poverty and destitution. WHY? Because of love for N.

Movement #3 – Boaz’s redemption

N&R move back to Bethlehem where Ruth starts supporting the two of them through gleaning from
local fields. See the Bible’s teaching was that farmers weren’t to harvest the outer edges of their fields
so the poor could gather from them. This provided built in margin for the poor but it allowed the poor
to gather in a way that preserved dignity – wasn’t a handout.

And there’s this great line in Ruth 2.3. which Says….Ruth went out and just happened to find herself in
the field so Boaz ,who just happened to be her KR.
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Kinsman-Redeemer== You see one of the mechanisms the Jewish culture had built into it to prevent
generational poverty was this reality that no family could lose their land forever. Because in an agrarian
society, land was central to welfare.

So what would happen is if a family did lose its land for some reason, a related family member with
more resources had the right to buy it back from the person they lost it to. However if you bought the
land, you also had to take on the family members who used to own it. In this case that meant R&N, the
outsider.

And so Ruth starts gleaning in Boaz’s field. And hearing about R’s great love for N, B warmly welcomes
her. And at a certain point Naomi suggests to Ruth that propose marriage to B –  outspoken mother-
in-laws have a long lineage. She does and Boaz responds positively to her proposal. And R&B end up
having a son named Obed who begins the family-line that leads to Jesus.

And it’s all because of one woman’s courageous love.

TRANS: Now, that’s the story of Ruth in a nutshell. But I want suggest that there are 3 very important
ways this story prepare us for and points to the birth of Jesus.

First, without a doubt, the most gripping aspect of this story, the aspect/feature that really stands out, is
the transforming power of love.

You see it most obviously, of course, in Ruth’s life. Sticks w mom-in-law even though she knows it’s
going to be a difficult road. But we see the transforming power of love in another person’s life too –
Naomi.

Think about this – in ch.1, N has lost everything. She knows her life is over. The only thing she has left
are her daughter-in-laws and yet she realizes if these outsider girls return with her to Bethlehem, they
will face a life of great pain and difficulty. So what does she do? In 1.8 she says to them through tears
and great anguish…

"Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown
kindness to your dead and to me. (Rut 1:8-9 TNIV)

Partly why so interesting because N is a Jew and therefore is part of the chosen people of God and R is a
Moabite which the Jews believe was a false religion. Which mean even though Ruth had every religious
reason to keep the girls with her, she still was determined to send them home for their own well-being.
Although still not without making some note of the religious distinctions – “May the LORD.”

And it is on the heels of N pushing them toward home that R more or less converts. It is on the heels
of N loving these girls so sacrificially that Ruth says: Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will
stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. V.1.16

APP: when I mention the word evangelism, many of us do not have positive feelings surface. Why?
Because we’re used to thinking of evangelism as some kind of agenda-driven, hard sell situation which
neither the C’tn nor the non-C’tn particular appreciates.
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But what’s striking her is that N shows a love for Ruth that is so clearly both sacrificial and
unconditional. And it’s in that very moment of sacrificial love that Ruth is converted.

POINT: IOW, Ruth experienced N’s sacrificial love and it was transformational. R saw it and knew it
was unique and powerful and she wanted to be part of it.

APP: And that’s still the case for how most people come to know Christ today. ILLUS: Matt Lehr’s
story. Started w keelys love.

CHRIST – And R&N’s sacrificial, unconditional love anticipates how Christ would reach out to us.
Never through coercion. Always through gentle wooing. Meeting us at our place of need. Answer our
questions. Being patient with our lack of comprehension. APP: have you trusted in it?

TRANS: Now there’s a second way that Ruth’s story points towards and anticipates Christ.

One of the things that really stands out about God’s work in this story is that it’s not all flashy – no great
dreams, miracles, etc. – but it’s also not entirely ordinary. Let me show you what I mean. Listen to
some of how God is working to use Ruth to bring Jesus into the world.

#1 Death of husband/sons.
One of first things we see is the tragedy of the loss of husband/sons in foreign land. And yet God uses
this tragedy to bring N&R back to Bethlehem. He God is working through suffering and tragedy.

#2 happens on Boaz’s field

This there’s this moment where R goes out to glean and ‘just happens’ to end up in Boaz’s field. Here
God is quietly working through the ordinary.

#3 Ruth’s proposal
Then there’s this matter of Ruth proposing marriage to Boaz. Now a woman proposing to a man is still
pretty radical in our culture, just think how radical it was in theirs! Here God is working through the bold
& non-traditional.

#4 R&B’s interracial marriage

Then there’s the fact that Boaz said yes. Remember she’s a Moabite woman who the Jews generally
despised and she’s living in poverty. And yet B marries her resulting in a interracial, cross-class marriage.
Here God is working through the controversial.

#5 Woman is hero
And then there’s the reality of Ruth, a woman, being the hero of this story. Love the line of praise in
4.15 - For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons. What an
upside-down stmt in a culture that valued men more highly than women! Here God is working through
the backwards and upside-down.

POINT: My point is this - while God doesn’t work in in particularly flashy ways in this, he does work in a
myriad of ways. God works through the controversial, the barely discernable, the bizarre, the
backwards, the non-traditional, the radical, the painful and the tragic.
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POINT: Which should tell us that regardless of our outward circumstances we can trust that God is at
work accomplishing his purposes for us and for his world for his glory and for our good.

CHRIST: And of course all of this anticipates the arrival of Christ. Because Jesus himself, thought God’s
son and world’s True King, wasn’t born in a palace, he was born in manger. He was born to the rich and
famous but to the ordinary.

APP: You see if God seems absent to you because of your circumstances, it is only because you have
such a clear expectation of what you want done in your life that you can’t see what God is doing.

And, I might add, even if you had the greatest possible human insight, you still wouldn’t have any clue as
to the fullness of what God is up to. there are probably 10k other things God is accomplishing through
the events of our lives at any given time. ILLUS: Think about R as she was going through all of this. Did
she have any idea her actions would lead to the birth world’s messiah. Of course not! No idea – and
neither do you!!

SUMM: So we’ve seen Ruth anticipate Jesus in: 1) the power of transforming love and 2) God working in
all things
TRANS: Now there’s one last way Ruth’s story anticipates the birth of Jesus.

I’ve already said that R was a despised foreigner living in poverty. And yet what we find is that as she
puts her trust in God she is warmly embraced by God and by the people of God. And not only that, but
this poor, Moabite women even used by God to become a mother of Jesus.

And this points us to a very important point about how people are reconciled to God. God’s acceptance
of people is absolutely NOT based on race, ethnicity, socio-economic status or anything else external.
It’s not based on you being good enough for God or having more good deeds than bad. Your
relationship with God is based solely and fully on your faith in God’s love in Christ.

This reality is what behind Paul’s famous stmt in Eph.2:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
(Eph 2:8-9 TNIV)

CONC: This is final way story of Ruth anticipates Christ - You see God makes outsiders into insiders, not
because they wear the right labels or talk the right lingo or do the right things. Outsiders become
insiders by putting their trust in Christ – who become an outsider that we might become insiders.

And that prompts 2 very impt q’s:

#1 Have you become an insider to God’s grace? Have you trusted Christ? Have you abandoned any
thoughts of basing your spiritual life on your righteousness? Your own moral goodness? Have you quit
rejecting God’s grace because of your own moral failings?
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#2 If you have, have you become someone who welcomes outsiders?

Because, you see, once you’ve been welcomed as an insider by grace, you become a person who
welcomes others. ILLUS: pray for DNA. Lehr – 5-6 people came up. Email. EAT ICON TOUGH WORK.

One thing that is different about Engedi is the genuine hospitality Engedi offers. I walk into Engedi and I
immediately feel welcome, at home. Being in such an awesome environment encourages me to be
vulnerable and open with God. Thank-you for fostering such an open and welcoming environment!

TRANS TO COMMUNION – well today going to take communion. Remember that we as outsiders have
been made insiders by sacrificial, unconditional love of Christ.

PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY