An Unexpected Redeemer

Introduction

OK, at the risk of starting this sermon out of a negative note—don’t worry we’ll get to the good news—I want to ask this question: have you ever felt like you really failed and that failure made you feel embarrassment? Shame? or guilt? Like a failed endeavor, a failed job, business opportunity, relationship, and it was the kind of failure that made you not want to face your friends and family.

Maybe one of those things that you really talked up: “Oh this is a great opportunity, I’m going all in on in” and then it didn’t work out, you had to come back hanging your head down, feeling embarrassed. Here’s an example from the corporate world: CNN spent $300 million to launch their own streaming service CNN+, because that’s what we all need, even more access to the news! CNN+ launched on March 29, 2022 and it officially closed less than 30 days later. That’s a $300 million investment that was a major embarrassment.

On a personal, individual level when we have these kinds of failures, it can be hard to bear and it can be so hard to face others. That’s Naomi. She and her husband left Bethlehem hoping for a better life, hoping for prosperity and a future for their family. They certainly did not leave Bethlehem in the first place because they thought it would be a bad idea. No one up and leaves everything they know—their family, friends, culture, homeland, property—if they think things will turn out poorly. But this is how it turned out for Naomi, her husband and sons both gone, she’s left with nothing and she has to return home feeling like a failure, without hope, in despair, and in need of redemption.

This is our main idea today: when we are without hope (when it feels like all is lost), we need a faithful redeemer.

Naomi’s Plight

Let’s talk about Naomi’s situation. She’s lost it all and the whole endeavor to leave her home for a better life hasn’t worked out at all. What she has are two daughters-in-law that come from that foreign land, they’re Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah, and the only reasonable course of action for Naomi is to return home to Bethlehem with her head down.

We must recognize also the cultural backdrop of the story. There is a different set of cultural values around roles and gender, having a husband was the primary way a woman could have a life that was thriving. Naomi viewed herself as too old for another husband, too old for redemption, with, I imagine, some regret about past sins and past decisions.

She is in need of redemption. Redemption in scripture refers to the idea of buying back something, usually by payment of a ransom—we’ll see this legal use of redemption later in the book of Ruth. But it also has a broader definition of God rescuing His people or individuals from oppression, distress, from their enemies, from broken situations. The prophets talk about God redeeming his people from exile, bringing them back from destitution into the land of the living, into the land of his promise. And that’s how Naomi is feeling, an exile of her own making and now with no hope in need of someone to bring her into restoration.

Listen to these promises from Psalm 34 v. 18“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.” and v. 22 “The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.” Those sound like promises that Naomi needs to hear.

Naomi’s situation is a microcosm of Israel at the time, a nation that is lost, a nation that, the time of the Judges, did whatever was right in each person’s eyes. A nation that was far from God or the thriving that should have been theirs. Now imagine, you’re an ancient Israelite in this time, or centuries later when the people are in exile and you hear this story. You’re supposed to relate to this despair, but also see the potential for redemption that we’ll see in this story. That’s true for us today.

Though the depths of Naomi’s hopelessness are great, every one of us could probably relate to her at some point or another in our lives. Times in our lives that we felt like this; broken, hopeless, despairing. That job loss, that diagnosis, that financial trouble, that broken relationship.

And on a deeper level, Naomi’s situation is our story apart from Christ, before Him, desperate and without hope in our sin, in need of a savior, in need of a redeemer. Where will our help come from? Where will Naomi’s help come from?

The Daughters

That brings us to these daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah. Naomi thinks she has nothing to offer these women. It is of no benefit to Ruth or Orpah to follow Naomi and return to Bethlehem with her. This is why Naomi tries to send them away, it is out of care and love for these women that Naomi sends them away.

She affirms the love and support she has received from them: v. 8-9 “May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me,” she says. “The LORD grand that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” It’s almost Naomi’s prayer for her daughters-in-law. She is hopeless for herself, yet still has faith in God enough to pray for better for those she loves. There is a bit of literary irony here that Naomi insists the women turn back that they might find rest with a new husband. The unexpected turn this story will take is that this is precisely what Ruth receives, rest in the household of her husband yet it’s not in Moab, rather it is in Bethlehem with an Israelite husband that ruth will find her rest. This is how God works, in the day-to-day, small scale of our lives bringing redemption and restoration in unexpected ways.

But Naomi has no expectation of this for herself. For “the hand of the LORD has gone out against me,” she says. You see the tension in her faith: God is against me, but I pray he will be for you. She remains hopeless with nothing to offer.

Have you ever felt like that? That you had nothing to offer those around you? nothing to give to your friends or family? Nothing to give in your church community because of your situation? That’s how Naomi sees herself and as we’ll see, it’s not entirely true. But nonetheless, she tries to send them away.

Naomi is clear, I don’t have anything for you. Naomi cannot give her another son to marry, she has no land, no property, no wealth. Yet despite that, Ruth, it says, clings to Naomi. Orpah leaves and before we write her off, we should give her credit: she was kind and supportive of Naomi and even seemed initially willing to go. The decision that Ruth makes to stay makes little practical sense and Orpah leaves.

[v. 1:14] But before they leave, it says that they weep together, grieving together their losses and sharing in one another’s grief. It’s a beautiful picture of that biblical command to weep with those who weep.

Ruth won’t go, even when it is in her best interest to do so, she will not leave Naomi. And keep this in mind, for Ruth, the prospect of going to Bethlehem with Naomi would make her situation even more dire. Ruth is about to leave her home, her family, her culture, her religion; everything that would have been a support or hope to her and go to a foreign land where would be regarded as an outsider.

She clings to Naomi; the Hebrew word that’s used here is not merely grabbing onto another person, but it has this sense of attaching yourself to another person. As if to say, we’re connected now. In fact, this is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 2:24 to describe the relationship between a husband and wife in marriage “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”

You see the strength of this connection and the commitment of Ruth in this action. She clings to Naomi when it makes no sense, yet she is totally committed. This kind of committed, steadfast love is so foreign to us in a culture that is all about what we can get for ourselves. We live in a culture in which relationships are viewed through this lens: What I can gain from this relationship? What use will this friend or this network connection have for me? Ruth clinging to Naomi is a countercultural act of love that expects nothing in return.

Again, Naomi tries to dissuade her—go back with your sister-in-law—but Ruth remains and we get this incredible speech from Ruth. [v. 16-17]:

16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

This is the level of her commitment, I am with you. I go where you go. Ruth doubles down on her commitment to Naomi, she’s all in. It doesn’t matter what destitution Naomi thinks she’s in, Ruth is committed all the more. But this speech does more than just reveal the depth of Ruth’s loving devotion. Look at v. 17, “Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more if anything but death parts me from you.” The word there—LORD—it is in all capital letters to let us know that what is there, underneath the English in our Bibles, is the Divine name of God: YHWH. She’s saying let YHWH deal with me if I break this bond. Ruth knows YHWH’s name, invoking the covenant name of God, that name that was known and used by the people of the covenant.

Using his name is an indication that she has already begun to trust in Him at some level. We don’t know how well formed her relationship with YHWH but we can see that her trust in Him is real. Boaz will remark on this in chapter 2 when he says to Ruth: 12 “The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”

And you may be asking the question: How has Ruth come to know God, YHWH? How else would she know YHWH but through Naomi. You see, this is what Naomi has to offer Ruth. Despite her hopelessness, Naomi’s identity as an Israelite, her identity as a YHWH follower has been picked up by her foreign daughter-in-law with the foreign gods. Naomi was still a witness (even in her despair!) such that her daughter-in-law came to faith in God. That’s amazing and a reminder for the hurting among us, God isn’t waiting until you’re out of a trial to use you, He is using you right now to have an impact on those around you.

And Ruth’s faith in God is a reminder of how God’s covenant was not limited to Israel, but foreign people like her were always meant to be a part of this community and His plan of redemption. When Israel as a people had failed—going their own way, doing what was right in each person’s own eyes—it was the foreign Moabite woman Ruth that becomes an example of faith. By her faith, Ruth is brought into the covenant community of God.

It’s not lip service that Ruth says Naomi’s God will be hers, she shows that she knows him. Not only is she invoking the covenant name of God, she seems to be using the language of covenant when she talks about her commitment to Naomi. The LORD do to me and more if anything but death parts me, Ruth is saying, let the Lord deal harshly with me if I break this bond. That’s a covenant, a deep relational and legal commitment.

Ruth’s commitment to Naomi is an act of redemption. And it is because Ruth does this that Naomi is redeemed. I’m not saying that Ruth kind of acts like a redeemer, I’m saying that because of Ruth’s faithfulness, Naomi is redeemed. Because of Ruth’s faithfulness she works in the fields for their food, she meets Boaz, Naomi by way of Ruth becomes the object of Boaz’s redemption. And the whole family line is redeemed by the child Ruth will bear. And her great grandson will become the king of this people.

Picture these two women on the road to Bethlehem, Naomi thinking everything is hopeless and Ruth clinging to her when common sense would tell her to do otherwise. On that road, when all hope was lost, was the great-grandmother of the king. And that lineage brings all the way to Jesus. By God’s providential hand we all are redeemed by the family line of this foreign woman.

Our Response

Where does this leave us? How might we respond to the story of Ruth’s faithfulness, her act of redemption?

First, there’s an invitation here to be like Ruth, to commit ourselves to faithful love of those around us even if they have nothing to offer. To love in a way that expects nothing in return. To love those who won’t help us get ahead in life. Especially to love those around us who feel hopeless, to commit to them in their desperate circumstances. To say to that friend that just lost their job: “I’m with you, we’ve got you.” To that neighbor with the diagnosis: “We’re showing up to support you.” To commit ourselves to one another and to our community even in difficult circumstances. Our natural tendency, like Naomi, is to push others away, but the gift of community is a means of God’s grace for us when we’re in the most desperate of circumstances.

We can faithfully love others and offer them the hope of God, exactly what Ruth does for Naomi. Commit to being present with someone, commit to praying for them, encouraging them, checking in on them regularly.

And the other response we’re meant to have to this passage in Ruth, is to be reminded that we can trust in the ultimate faithfulness of Christ, a committed redeemer when we were without hope. That’s what the story of Ruth and her actions in this passage are meant to do, to point us to the greater redeemer, the more faithful redeemer in Jesus Christ.

Like Ruth’s commitment to Naomi, Jesus has committed himself to us; he claims us as his own, he hitches himself to us when it makes no sense for him to do so. Jesus says of his sheep that “no one can snatch them from his hands,” he is totally committed to each of us for the long haul. Remember that word cling, how it’s just to describe a husband joining to his wife; marriage is a prevalent metaphor in scripture to describe Jesus’ relationship as the the bridegroom to his church the bride. We are the bride, he is the bridegroom and he joins himself to us.

Even when that bride has nothing to offer him, even while we were still sinners, he died for us scripture says, even when we were unclean, Jesus was faithful first. Faithful to forgive, faithful to clean us, to purify us, to sanctify us. He was, is, and always will be faithful to redeem us even in the most broken of situations.

Ruth says, “where you go I go,” and I think of the yoke of Jesus bring upon us. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” The image of an ox yoke, he’s hitching himself to us.

And if Ruth says, let God deal with me if anything but death separates us, Jesus would not even be content with this. Jesus is not content with death separating us from him, instead he conquers death itself through his crucifixion and sacrifice, therefore defeating that enemy so that not even in death would be apart from Him. That’s the passage we heard earlier in our service, Romans 8:35–39 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ruth says, where you go I go; and Jesus says, nothing can separate us from His love. Jesus is the better and perfect redeemer because he is perfectly faithful, he will not fail or falter, he will not get bored of us, tired of us, disappointed with us. He is for us and with us always, even into death itself.

And that is hope for even the most hopeless among us. Amen.