Introduction
Today is the Sunday before Remembrance Day. I will not focus
on that day, although I add my call to remember to the larger celebration. As a
Mennonite, I like the statement, “To remember is to work for peace.” At the
same time, I honour those who believe that such work may require military
force, and come together in a common commitment to live so as to witness Christ
to the world. Today is also International Day of Prayer. To call on God on
behalf of our world is perhaps the most concrete and meaningful step we can
take, working for peace and remembering those who have given their lives to
fight against evil and for good.
The texts we have heard this morning suggest that the best
step we can take (alongside regular prayer for our world) is to live so as to
honour God in the everyday actions of our lives. Being faithful in small things
leads to God’s action in our world in ways that we can hardly imagine. We will
work primarily from the story of Ruth this morning, with brief references also
to Hebrews and to the gospel reading from Mark.
Ruth 3 and 4
You know the story of Ruth, but allow me to remind you this
morning what happened.
Elimelech (My God is king) and Naomi (pleasantness) have two
sons, Mahlon and Kilion (sickness and death). (Note please: I am, not an expert
in Hebrew names, so if someone who knows Hebrew well gives you different
meanings, I won’t argue.) Elimelech and
Naomi’s names suggest a good family, one that honours God as good
members of the Children of Israel. Mahlon and Kilion’s names suggest that their
family is going to experience problems.
The story begins in Bethlehem (Beth lechem: house of bread).
By its name, Bethlehem should be the bread basket of Israel, but there is a
famine in the house of bread. So Elimelech and Naomi take their sons east to
Moab (travelling from modern Israel to modern Jordan). Moab was not more
fertile than Bethlehem, so you know this was a journey of desperation. But they
found food, and their sons found wives (Ruth and Orpah).
Then the story turns grim. Elimelech, Mahlon, and Kilion all
die, leaving the women as childless widows. Then in her distress Naomi hears
that the famine is over, and she decides to return home. Her daughters-in-law
decide to go with her. Naomi persuades Orpah to go back to her own family, but
Ruth makes clear that her choice is to go with Naomi (1: 16f): “Don’t urge me
to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you
stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you
die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it
ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”
In chapter 2 Ruth goes out gleaning to provide food for them
back in Bethlehem. She ends up in the fields of Boaz, who sees her and asks
about her. When he hears who she is, he realizes that she is his cousin’s
widow. (I know he doesn’t say this, but it is clear from the action that he
knows very well who she is and how they are connected.) He tells his workers to
make sure there is enough left in the wheat field for her to get enough for
herself and Naomi.
When Naomi sees how much food Ruth brings home, she also
recognizes that Boaz knows who they are and is implicitly saying he will care
for them. In the verses we heard read, as a good mother she makes sure that
Ruth acts on that knowledge and tells her to find the place where Boaz is
working, wait until he has eaten and drunk well at the end of the day, and then
present herself to him. Naomi ends up with the words, “He will tell you what to
do.”
In the next verses Ruth presents herself, effectively asking
Boaz to sleep with her. Boaz recognizes that this offer is really a request
that he do the duty of a “kinsman-redeemer”—the nearest male relative to
someone in trouble, who can “redeem” them from their trouble. In this case, he
would take her as his wife and provide her with children and with security.
Boaz also knows that another male relative stands closer to Ruth’s dead husband
than he does, and he takes the steps to make sure that the nearer “redeemer” will
either take Ruth as his wife, or set her free so that he (Boaz) can do so. Boaz
ends up marrying Ruth and they have a son, Obed.
The verses we read this morning (4:13-17) let you know that
this whole story is not just a simple romance between Boaz and Ruth. We may be
inclined to assign ages to Ruth (young woman) and to Boaz (middle-aged
bachelor) and work out a Hollywood romance for them. The Bible instead connects
their small story to God’s big story. When Ruth asked Boaz to take her as his
wife, much more than her and her mother-in-law’s future hung in the balance.
This small moment, so intimate, so limited, was actually a pivotal moment in
history, which God used to redeem his people. By including Ruth and Boaz in the
ancestors of the Messiah, Matthew 1 makes it clear that this small moment, so
intimate, so limited, was also a pivotal moment in the history of the salvation
of the human race.
Wow!
The Principle
You can see the idea behind the story, an idea that applies
also to us today. Sometimes we think that the most important thing in life is
how we respond to the great opportunities that come our way. “Once to every man
and nation comes the moment to decide, ’twixt the sides of truth and falsehood,
for the good or evil side.” It is certainly true that such moments are
critical, and when they come, God calls us to respond as followers of Jesus
Christ.
But more often we face smaller moments—at work, at home, in
church, in the grocery store, at school. A situation arises, and we have to
choose how to respond. Perhaps we see someone being bullied, and we have a
chance to step in. Perhaps we face a conflict with a neighbour, and we search
for a way to restore a good relationship. Small moments, but eternity hinges on
these small moments. There is the principle: Eternity hinges on the small
moments of our lives. This is the benefit of thinking small.
Hebrews and Mark
We heard earlier the reading of Hebrews 9: 24-28. This
passage is part of a longer argument that Christ is the perfect High Priest,
who makes the perfect sacrifice for our sins and brings us full salvation. The
writer of Hebrews may not be thinking about the principle I have just stated,
but we see here the great action of God’s salvation within which our small acts
find their meaning. We see what lies behind all of our lives and what gives
meaning to our small actions of obedience.
The gospel reading echoes our idea more clearly. Those who
present themselves as holy and just will be judged by the actions of their
everyday lives, which reveal them as hypocrites who will be judged severely. In
contrast, the widow who gave her two copper coins is commended. Her small act of
obedience participated in God’s great story.
In short, whatever we have, given to God, is what God needs
to do his work in our world.
Contemporary Examples
I have told many stories as I preach here—one of them from
Jon Bonk, who wrote an article in 1999 for the journal Missiology making the point that I have just made, on the benefit
of thinking small. Jon tells the story of the growth of the church that we have
seen in Nepal since about 1980. Jon traces the work of Prem Pradhan, called the
apostle to Nepal, who was converted in a service where Bakht Singh was
preaching. Bakht Singh was an Indian evangelist who came to Christian faith
when he was a student at the University of Manitoba. John and Edith Heyward
invited him to their home for Christmas, and through their quiet witness and
through reading the Bible in their home, Singh came to faith in Christ. A small
action of Christian hospitality led to new life for hundreds of thousands of
people in Nepal.
I could tell other stories like that one, but refer instead
to an email that I received this week from a friend who works with OM South
Africa. Here are his words:
Three
years ago Gabriel stumbled out of a university bar onto the street, stoned. I
just happened to be walking by. He confronted me (or did I confront him? I
cannot remember…)
I
asked his name. “Gabriel” came the response. I said, “Hmmm, the messenger of
God.” I walked away, totally forgetting the incident. (To this day cannot
remember any of this happening).
A
few days ago I was back in this same town, back for the first time in years. A
guy came running up, so excited, so pleased to see me. I had NO IDEA who he
was. He told me the above story, of walking out of a bar and running into me.
Today he is on a pastoral leadership team in a church more than a 1000 strong.
He said that when he heard what his name meant, he converted to Christ.
That
is really quite bizarre. To top it off, while I was there, a girl named Jo came
up and told me an almost identical story. Weird. Gabriel is joining our teams
to work in Syrian refugee camps. Not sure about Jo.
Small actions. Relating to someone you meet randomly outside
a bar, but the interaction changes that person’s life. I repeat the basic
principle: Eternity hinges on the small moments of our lives. This is the
benefit of thinking small. When some
great crisis is upon us, we often rise to the moment, but ordinary moments
creep up on us almost unnoticed. You cannot predict which action, which choice,
will be the pivot on which God moves another person’s life. God calls us to
daily faithfulness.
Boaz did not know that his choice to act on Ruth and Naomi’s
behalf would be a decisive step towards the coming of the monarchy to Israel
and the birth of Israel’s greatest king. Still less did he think of the
possibility of the coming Messiah. That’s an important part of the principle!
You do what is right all the time. You treat people well all the time. You act
in ways that bless other people all the time. And God acts through you to
change the world.
We see the news stories of bombs falling and think that is
the important event. In truth, the small group of people sitting and talking
about God—seeking to follow Christ in that moment—is the important event. We
can all take part in these daily moments of obedience—like the young men
rolling the stone away from the grave of Lazarus, and we leave the great work
of resurrection to Jesus. God works in our world as he chooses, and we get to
join in. The benefit of thinking small.
Grace Bible Church
8 November 2015
Texts
Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44
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