Under His Wings

Do you remember your first day at a new school? – your first day on the job? – the first time you came to Crosspoint?

‌It feels awkward to be somewhere new. It’s uncomfortable when you don’t know anyone yet and nobody knows you yet. You’re an outsider.

Probably the talk and chuckles aren’t about you.

Let’s be honest: being an outsider feels awkward. It’s hard to feel at ease in new surroundings.

‌It’s helpful when someone gives you a nod or a grin and gives you space to scope out the room from a corner.

It’s kind when someone pulls you into a circle of friendly people and draws you into the group.

It’s awesome when a friend puts an arm around your shoulders and you can tackle the new stuff together.

The Bible reading this morning is about someone in Jesus’ family tree who started out as an outsider. Ruth comes from Moab, distant relatives and favorite enemies of Israel. In the daily readings this week, we traced Ruth’s story.

‌Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, fled Bethlehem with Elimelek and their 2 boys. Don’t miss the irony: they left Bethlehem – the house of bread, b/c there was no food there. Naomi & Elimelek left the Promised land to live among the Moabites.

‌Naomi’s boys marry girls from Moab: Orpah and Ruth. Then, one after another, Elimelek, Mahlon, and Kilion all die. All 3, Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth, are widowed and childless. The losses make Naomi bitter. She lost it all: home, husband and her boys.

‌Yet, when Naomi hears that the Lord has provided food for his people, Israel, she packs up to return to Bethlehem. Orpah and Ruth intend to go too. Naomi convinces Orpah to return to her parents but Ruth won’t abandon her mother-in-law. Her commitment is beautiful:

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. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me. Ruth 1:16–17 (NIV)

So, Naomi and Ruth go to Bethlehem together.

But living in Bethlehem is not all sunshine and roses. Naomi is a senior and a widow. Ruth is a widow and a foreigner. It’s hard for Ruth to earn an honest living in Israel.

Yet the Lord made provisions for widows and foreigners in his law. God insists his people imitate his concern for outsiders and needy. He underlines this command w/ his Name.

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19:9–10 (NIV)

I don’t know what the laws were like in Moab, but God’s law shows concern for the poor and the foreigner. Yet the onus is still on each landowner to decide how generous to be w/ gleaners in their field.

Boaz is particularly generous. He invites Ruth to glean exclusively in his fields. He invites her to drink the water that’s brought for his workers. Why is he so kind to Ruth? Listen:

I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. 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 (NIV)

‌That last phrase is important: “under whose wings you have taken refuge.” We’ll hear it again.

As it turns out, Boaz is a relative of Naomi’s. He’s closely related to Elimelek. There’s another law in the OT about widows who have no son to care for them. It might sound odd:

If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. Deuteronomy 25:5–6 (NIV)

The closest male relative is responsible to care for his brother’s widow.

That’s what the midnight conversation on the threshing floor is all about. I’m pretty sure we don’t understand all the cultural nuances as we read this passage. It an odd scene. Beautiful, but very different than how we do things these days.

Naomi instructs Ruth: “Get all dressed up, wait until Boaz is asleep, then go in, uncover his feet, and lie down.” That’s what Ruth does. Boaz gets cold feet before he’s even engaged!

When Boaz wakes at midnight with cold feet and an unknown person lying at his feet, he asks the obvious question, “Who are you?”

“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.” Ruth 3:9 (NIV)

The request comes out more forcefully in another version:

She answered, “I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative.” Ruth 3:9 (NKJV)

Boaz agrees. Boaz agrees to be the kinsman-redeemer.

You’ll probably agree: the imagery of being under God’s wings is beautiful. It’s found in Psalm 91:

He will cover you with his feathers,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:4 (NIV)

Boaz’ generosity in welcoming Ruth to his home and providing for Naomi and Ruth reflects of God’s loving-care for his people.

Boaz honours Elimelek, Mahlon, and Kilion by serving as their kinsman-redeemer. He cares for their family and ensures their line doesn’t die out. It could be argued that Boaz is used by God to ensure the royal line of Judah doesn’t die out. So that the line of David and his 28X great-grandson Jesus are not lost.

Speaking of Jesus, in Matthew’s gospel, we hear Jesus use the imagery of “refuge under his wings” after warning the religious leaders of God’s judgement. It’s part of Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem. Listen to Jesus’ words:

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Matthew 23:37 (NIV)

Do you hear the passion and compassion in Jesus’ language? Do you think he has the same concern for people in our day?

B/c humankind rejected God’s word and disobeyed his instructions, God has come into his creation as a human. Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer. The disobedience and sin of humankind leads to punishment, death, and being scattered far from the safety and comfort of our God. Sin leaves you stranded and alone. It’s a one-way trip far from the God of life. It’s a doom we all face: me, you, and our neighbours.

But Jesus’ words are not empty talk. Jesus has done something to draw all people to himself.

Each Christmas we celebrate Jesus’ coming into his creation. If your celebration of Christmas is only about decorations, Christmas parties, and gift-exchanges, you’re missing the point. At Christmas, we celebrate that God himself has entered his creation as a kinsman-redeemer of all humankind. Jesus humbled himself and was born – 100% God and 100% human –to redeem us. To change the imagery: Jesus came to marry his people and give us life.

Jesus fulfilled God’s promises in his life, but particularly in his death. Jesus speaks of his crucifixion in John’s gospel:

Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 12:31–32 (NIV)

This is the amazing offer Jesus makes to you and all people.

When he is lifted up on the cross and his hands are nailed to the crossbeam, the safest place in the world is under Jesus’ outstretched arms. That is where our kinsman-redeemer, Jesus Christ, shields us from God’s anger at sin and shelters us to live as his dearly-loved people.

It’s similar to what Jesus’ great, great-grandfather Boaz did for Ruth. Jesus makes it possible for all believers to be honoured and cared for as the Bride of Jesus Christ. Jesus takes outsiders – like me and you – puts his arm around us, spreads his cloak over us, and provides comfort, safety, shelter, and a place to belong. Jesus brings us home to his Father and gives us a home where everything is generously provided.

All you need to do is say, “yes, please” and “thank-you Jesus!”

If you have received all this from Jesus, if you have found refuge under Jesus’ outstretched arms, how do you think you should behave towards outsiders, newcomers, and those who don’t yet feel like they belong?

If you have been welcomed into God’s family and if the Lord has generously given you everything you need for life, peace, and a sense of belonging, isn’t it appropriate to uphold the reputation of God by being generous, welcoming, and kind to everyone around you?

Or . . . to turn it around, wouldn’t it be awful if the bride of Christ, people who found shelter under God’s wing, turned out to be unkind, ungenerous, unfriendly, and unwelcoming?