One thing I miss about living in Lancaster County
is Gleaner Season. Where we used to live, at the edge of a town surrounded by
agriculture we lived in awe of the Gleaner. It would come through town to get
from one field to another. A massive machine that took up the whole road and shook
the windows of the house as it drove by, it was so powerful. It was designed to
get ALL of the crop from the field.
Smaller scale harvesting left things behind. The
Gleaner kept that from happening. The field is stripped bare. I find it ironic
that then a huge percent of the harvest never makes it to the store because it’s
not pretty enough but that’s another sermon.
I have a friend who grew up gleaning the
traditional way. In a poor family whose parents used to drop them off at
various fields to pick, not around the edges- in the middle where you can’t be
seen. She grew up thinking that everyone did this. Only in adulthood she
discovered it was trespassing and theft. It was the neighboring farm. I don’t
know if the farmer knew and tolerated it, or if it was lucky for her they were
never caught or found themselves at the other end of a shot gun and someone
else’s understanding of the law. Getting caught in the wrong part of the field
is like being on the wrong part of the street. Either way, I am sure they would
not have been blessed by the landowner.
In Ruth’s day, gleaning was a part of culture for
many, actually provided for in the law. But just like not everyone drives the
speed limit, not everyone obeyed the law about leaving part of the harvest
behind for others. Not everyone was as charitable- and in our reading, did you
catch the little phrase about wondering who this person was, followed by an
assurance you will be treated well?
It suggests that not everyone treats gleaners well,
or maybe not everyone treats foreigners well- that maybe what some can get away
with others cannot. And that maybe people think that the problem of those other
people is just not their problem. Ruth and Naomi are widows hoping for enough
to survive, counting on gleaning in the harvest season to eat. And Naomi has
been bitter and skeptical, with frankly, good reason. Ruth goes out determined
and frankly a little fast and furious. She’s going to glean as long and fast as
she can.
Ruth works fast, because it may not last. She asks
no questions, and bothers no one. And no one bothers her. She’s tolerated. No
one so much as offers her water in the midday sun either. In our story today,
there are not only Ruth, and Naomi and Boaz, there are all those other people
in the field, just doing their thing. But Ruth is not connected to them.
When Boaz shows up, he gets personal which is what
living out God’s law looks like. He shows up and blesses his workers. How many
of you when you show up for work are blessed by your employer?
He blesses them, and then he notices Ruth.
We perhaps want this to be about how he “notices”
Ruth and sexualize the story to give him a motive for generosity. But there is nothing
in this encounter to suggest that. Rather, he seems to be the sort who notices
others. After all, Ruth is hungry, she’s traveled far, and she’s a foreigner.
That suggests dirty, smelly, scrawny, not Hollywood beauty. We’d feel better
about the times we don’t notice others if we give Boaz a motive.
Boaz, takes a personal interest in Ruth-because
their paths have crossed. He doesn’t have to. He could ignore her and
truthfully say what a ridiculous decision she made. She could’ve stayed where
she was. She chose to follow this Naomi and put herself at risk. Why should
anyone care if she’s that foolish not to take care of herself? Indeed today, I
wonder if we would think that Boaz is the brave one, letting some foreigner
glean on his land. She shouldn’t be our
problem. In a world where every needy person or person who is “not like us” is
now viewed as an intruder, or an assault.
Boaz not only shares he blesses Ruth! Boaz instead
notices her and praises her loyalty to her mother-in-law. And then shows
generosity, and blesses her. “May the
LORD reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the LORD…
under whose wings you have come for refuge.”
Boaz represents what loving kindness looks like- abundance, protection, hospitality, blessing.
No wonder Naomi is astonished. Aren’t we all?
Naomi had decided to just be bitter, now she has hope.
The hand of God she thought was against her is not. She’s quick to name God as
the source of blessing: The Lord whose kindness has not forsaken the living or
the dead!"
Naomi’s hope isn’t found in remembering that everyone
recognizes that gleaning is the law and everyone follows it, but because in
spite of human nature, a good thing has happened where you can see God’s hand
in it. That’s what she teaches Ruth and us-that while God has spoken in large
miracles, like speaking from burning bushes, or dividing the sea, God is far
more likely to be seen acting through the faithfulness of ordinary human
beings. Like you and me. God’s blessing happens through us.
Our world and our lives are full of places about
more than just physical hunger-there is real hunger for many, for more than
just food. Hunger for dignity, for generous hearts, hunger for compassion, hunger
for justice that laws be used rightly and enforced the same for all. A hunger
that our lives actually touch others, a hunger for blessing. Ruth
shows up hungry, striving, struggling to find hope. Wondering if that emptiness
can be filled. Maybe you have too.
And we’re met by God’s blessing, that’s God’s
desire-lovingkindness, and mercy and grace not judgment or scorn or rebuke.
That’s the gospel for
all of us as Jesus spoke this day-telling us, his followers, to live out our
God created identity.
Live as God lives
toward us- Don’t condemn, don’t pick on people or jump on their failures. Show
mercy. That’s how God already sees it. That’s what Jesus reveals. That’s what
God wants for us, and what God wants us to share. That our lives do touch and
that blessing and grace overflow.
So today we’re going
to do something else we probably don’t do much- bless each other. You’re the
end of the sermon.
I invite you to turn
to your neighbors, and remind them of that blessing made most clearly known for
us in the cross. It’s time to get personal.
Make the sign of the
cross on their forehead and say, “you are a blessed child of God.”
I wish you could see
yourselves- you’re all smiling! You’ve been blessed! That’s the gospel – the blessing
we experience here we’re called to take out into our world!
Amen
