Not So Little Women: Week 12
Ruth

In the genealogy account of Matthew’s Gospel, we see that we can’t understand Christmas or the birth of Christ without first understanding Jesus’ family tree. If you look at ancient family trees and genealogies, there are almost never any women in them, but in Jesus’ genealogy, there are quite a few women named. Ruth is one of those women (as well as Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba).

Ruth was a Moabite. In her day, this would have been the most defining thing about her life, until she met the true and living God. Moabite women had a reputation for being used to seduce others away from God. Let’s all be honest here, however—we are all responsible for our own sin. Ruth didn’t hide from the reputation of her people; instead, she sought to change it.

1. Ruth shows us the life-changing power of friendship.
Ruth comes to know the one, true God through Naomi’s (her mother-in-law) friendship. Boaz will come to a place of loving Ruth because he sees her loving friendship with Naomi. When Ruth converts to follow YHWH it is not out of the blue. Ruth was changed by a vision of Naomi’s sacrificial love, which was inspired by God’s own sacrificial love.

2. There are signs of hope in every life.
God is working all the time under the surface. Naomi had an agenda for what she thought God should be doing in her life. Because God’s agenda was not her agenda, she couldn’t see the signs of hope God had put right in front of her. Ruth teaches us that we can see God move in the mundane and ordinary things. Ruth is able to give Naomi hope, because she has found her own hope in God. We all need a Ruth…we all need to BE a Ruth to someone else as well.

3. The Gospel destroys snobbery and prejudice.
How many times does God have to work through the second-born, the outsider, the lost ones, etc. until we get it? We are saved by grace! There is not a place for prejudice in the family of God, because our relationship with God is not based on being better than anyone else. It is based on our acceptance and trust that He is far better than we could ever be.

Ruth points us to the One who is her descendant. Just like Ruth left her father’s house and became an outsider that suffered for an unlovable person at the time (Naomi), so Jesus comes and is despised and rejected for us. Jesus emptied himself, took our poverty, and gave us His riches. What we learn from Ruth is Jesus, He is our redeemer!