Welcome to the weekly lift once more!
As we continue through what looks like another possible two months of lockdown (today's advice seems to be indicate mid September), I pray you are coping well with things, and that you will reach out to our pastoral team if we can assist you at all.
Do you have a “reputation”?
Everyone has a reputation. The question is: “Is it a good reputation or a bad one?!”
When I was younger, I had a reputation in primary school for getting in trouble a bit – usually for talking too much. Hardly surprising I hear you say...
For most of us, our reputation may change over time as we mature or as our
circumstances change. We gain a reputation by the way we talk and act, the way we treat people, the way we exercise our ethics, the way we display our humility or
arrogance... there are lots of ways to get a reputation, good or bad.
Chapter 3 of Ruth is a bit weird. It’s culturally unusual for us today. It’s a little bit like an arranged marriage, with Naomi working to match up Ruth with Boaz. There are family links for Naomi. A ”guardian-redeemer” like Boaz had a responsibility, and a right in some ways, to redeem a family line, and their lands, by looking after the family of the deceased. More of this next week...
But what is impressive here is that Ruth, as a poor widow and foreigner (from Moab!), is unknown to the Israelites, except for scrounging food from the fields. Yet she has actually gained a reputation (verse 11):
Ruth 3:1-11
Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor
One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”
“I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.
When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!
“Who are you?” he asked.
“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.”
“The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.
Prayer
Lord and heavenly Father, help me to walk humbly as your servant this week. With every small and large opportunity you lead me into, with every open door before me, may I seek to build a reputation that reflects your own character.
May I be known as a person who is kind, gentle, humble, self-controlled, loving, patient and of noble character. May your name to be honoured in my life. Amen.