Intro: For our Advent season this year, I have chosen to enjoy the Jesse Tree by sharing a 24-day practice to prepare us for the celebration of Christ’s birth; the event we celebrate and honor at Christmas. From the root of Jesse’s stump, we will discover or rediscover the people in the family Tree of Jesus Messiah who were instrumental in bringing the presence of God near to us in order to revive the Spirit-led family of faith. With each day’s reading, we will add a new symbol—an ornament—to our family tree.
Today, is day thirteen of our journey and our symbol is Grain.
Although I know some folks who refuse to eat leftovers, I struggle throwing food away. I, unapologetically, serve leftovers up the next day. Granted the food might have tasted the best when it was first made, but it still provides nutrition for our physical bodies. Food is fuel to keep us functioning, so when we have food and leftovers, we should be grateful to God because, for a variety of reasons, there are people in our world who struggle to survive and beg for mere scraps. My father instilled that thought into our heads as we were growing up; he lived through the depression and it dramatically changed his thinking and way of living.
In our lesson today, we meet Ruth, a widow, who goes out into the fields and picks up what the harvesters have left behind; leftovers. It is certainly not the best grain; she and her mother-in-law, Naomi, are surviving on the trampled down and left behind grain. But God uses the hope of something better within Ruth, her kindness revealed in her care of her mother-in-law, and works with the scraps of grain she collects to bring multiplied provision and comfort. Grain is symbolic of God’s strength—the faith-driven people’s fuel for living.
God takes small spiritual pieces—scraps of faith—and blesses people. He works powerfully to provide faith, hope, and love for us as He leads us into the shalom of His spiritual plenty. He is our Husband in faith; the Provider who cares deeply for our comfort. Ruth did not know it when she was faithfully looking for grain in the field of a stranger—a relative she had never met—but God positioned her to glean grain at the precise time when the Israelite owner Boaz came to inspect his field. If Ruth wasn’t in lack, she would have never met Boaz. Boaz became Ruth’s husband. They became the great-grandparents of King David, and the ancestors of Jesus.
Ruth 2:2-3, 8-12 NLT 2 One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go out into the harvest fields to pick up the stalks of grain left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let me do it.” Naomi replied, “All right, my daughter, go ahead.” 3 So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech.
8 Boaz went over and said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Stay right here with us when you gather grain; don’t go to any other fields. Stay right behind the young women working in my field. 9 See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them. I have warned the young men not to treat you roughly. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well.”
10 Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. “What have I done to deserve such kindness?” she asked. “I am only a foreigner.”
11 “Yes, I know,” Boaz replied. “But I also know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers. 12 May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done.”
Ruth 4:13-17 NLT The Descendants of Boaz
13 So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. 14 Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. 15 May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!”
16 Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for him as if he were her own. 17 The neighbor women said, “Now at last Naomi has a son again!” And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.
Matthew 1:1-5 NLT The Ancestors of Jesus the Messiah
1 This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham:
2
Abraham was the father of Isaac.
Isaac was the father of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.
3
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar).
Perez was the father of Hezron.
Hezron was the father of Ram.
4
Ram was the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.
Nahshon was the father of Salmon.
5
Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab).
Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth).
Obed was the father of Jesse.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for being the Resourceful One we need. Please help us to remember to appreciate all the small things you leave as blessings, today, knowing our attitude and kindness is always noticed by you. You always start with a seed of faith and work from there to provide for our lives. Thank you for your lesson from Ruth’s life. Sometimes our faith dwindles to scraps, but you are faithful to use your strength and grace to bring us new beginnings and a great future. In Jesus’ name. Amen.