Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Each and all of us have a reputation which you and I have been earning since the time we were children. Here are three important questions about our reputations:
1. Do you and I understand the reputation we have with people? Is it accurate? Does our reputation accurately represent who we think we are?
2. What have been the main contributors to the reputations you and I have earned?
3. Are you and I satisfied with our reputation, or would we like to work on improving it? And if so…how?
The Bible book of RUTH is in many ways all about reputations. Naomi returned to Bethlehem several years after she had left a happy, married woman with sons. But she returned an angry widowed woman who had lost her husband and both sons living as refugees in a foreign land, and Naomi was left only with a Moabite daughter-in-law. (Ruth 1)
Ruth was a kind, selfless, compassionate young Moabite widow, who forsook any opportunity for another husband in her hometown and committed herself to care for her mother-in-law Naomi for the rest of her life back in Naiomi’s town Bethlehem! (Ruth 2) Pause and ponder those two women for a moment. Do you see any character traits of yourself in either of them?
Yesterday we briefly met Mr. Boaz, a successful businessman who owned some fields near Bethlehem. We first encounter his reputation as he greets his harvest workers. The record says: “Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters: ‘The LORD be with you!’ and they answered, “The LORD bless you!” (Ruth 2:4) Now I ask you, no matter how many jobs you’ve ever had, did you ever experience your boss greeting you like that? What does that tell you about this Jewish businessman?
But I see something else about Boaz, he knows his workers, and he noticed a visitor working in his field, Ruth, and asked about her. (Ruth 2:4-9) Have you ever been in a situation where your reputation had preceded you? That happened to Ruth.
When Ruth and Boaz first met, Boaz said to her: “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband… May the LORD repay you…may you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” (Ruth 2:11,12)
I’m sure Ruth was stunned by such a kind and blessed greeting from a busy Jewish businessman and upon her return home Naomi of course asked the question every mother asks at the end of the day: ‘how did it go for you today’? (Ruth 3:16) After hearing Ruth’s report, Naomi had some further explanation for Ruth about how, in the Israel culture, reputations were very important, but so was the ‘kinsman-redeemer’ tradition. (Ruth 2:19-23)
Today as we read Ruth 3, you’ll see Ruth following Naomi’s coaching for building an appropriate relationship with Boaz. Please remember Ruth was a Moabite so this was all foreign to her. One statement Boaz makes to Ruth jumps off the page to me: “All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.” (Ruth 3:11) Could the same be said of you and me?
What attributes, what behaviors and attitudes contribute to a person having a ‘noble character’ reputation? How are we doing in developing such reputations for ourselves but also coaching our children and grandchildren in developing ‘noble character’ reputations? Would you agree that a ‘noble character’ reputation is absolutely a fair expectation for anyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus?
Ruth chapter 4 shows us another very important aspect of Boaz’ reputation… integrity! By God’s provision in Jewish culture, when a married man died, his brother or some other close kin was responsible to assume responsibility for his widow and her property, including her debts, so she would not be destitute. In Naomi’s case while Boaz was a ‘kinsman-redeemer’ ready to step in and help Naomi and Ruth, there was another man more closely related; thus, integrity would require that Boaz give him the opportunity first. (Ruth 4:1-5)
But when that man realized it would also require assuming responsibility for Ruth the Moabite widow, he backed away. The integrity of Boaz led him to assume responsibility for both Naomi and Ruth, but also Boaz committed to marry Ruth primarily for the purpose of having a son who could then carry on the family name. (Ruth 4:9,10) Integrity!
Finally, have you noticed my friends that often God honors those people who make every effort to build God honoring reputations? In this case the last part of Ruth’s story is nothing short of remarkable. Not only are Ruth and Naomi rescued from poverty by Ruth’s marriage to Boaz, their kinsman redeemer, but God blessed Boaz and Ruth with a little son, and that son, of course, filled Naomi’s heart with great joy.
But as I’ve shared with you before, my “Walking with Jesus” friends, God is always working in the present, building on the past, and in anticipation of what God sees and wants to accomplish in the future.
That little baby boy not only brought great joy to Naomi, Boaz and Ruth, that boy was given the name Obed and the record tells us how he became significant in Israel: “And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.” (Ruth 4:17) Yes, my friends, that is none other than King David, the great king of Israel, also the young shepherd boy who killed the giant Goliath. And yes, this Bethlehem is the very same little town to which Joseph and Mary came for the birth of Jesus!
Oh, how God loves to build reputations and weave them into His Grand Narrative story! I wonder how God is doing that with you and me, my friends, and how, years from now, the story of your life and mine will fit into God’s Grand Narrative? Yes, more study notes are available at the Grand Narrative link just below and of course a wonderful worship song to end our time together today, and I’ll meet you here again on Monday!
Today’s Scripture: Ruth 3 & 4.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Ruth 4
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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