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End of the Line

Monday, June 18th, 2012 | Author:

Then those two – Mahlon and Chilion – also died; so the woman was left without her two sons and without her husband.  Ruth 1:5  JPS

Without – What Naomi lost completely overshadows what Naomi gained.  In her mind, the loss of husband and sons means the loss of everything important to her.  In fact, a careful reading reveals the even greater depth of her perceived loss.  Did you notice that the text places the sons before the husband?  It is bad enough to lose a husband, but the real tipping point in Naomi’s life comes when she loses her two sons.  She even refers to the two “sons” with the Hebrew yeladeha which means “children,” not grown men.  This is the point where she feels as if life no longer has purpose.  This is the place where the future is entirely dark.

You might well empathize with Naomi.  The loss of children is one of life’s most excruciating blows.  But step back for just a moment, not diminishing her tragedy, and notice that she gives no value at all to her two daughters-in-law.  In the midst of this tragedy, she has gained two other relationships, one which becomes the healing relationship of generations.  But in Naomi’s mind, her daughters by marriage don’t qualify as her children.  In fact, they don’t qualify as anything but a burden – a burden which she is ready to relinquish.  Naomi is fixated on her loss, not on what God might bring out of this tragedy.  Naomi sees nothing but the grave.  She is blind to the deepest commitment she will eventually experience – the hesed of Ruth.  Naomi is trapped in the moment.

The Hebrew text doesn’t actually read, “without her sons.”  Its unusual actual reading is “she was left from her sons.”  There is an intentional contrast with verse 3.  She left Bethlehem with her sons.  Now she leaves Moab from her sons.  The preposition (from) shifts the focus of our attention.  The spotlight is not on the sons but rather on Naomi.  “From” tells us where this journey starts, not where it ends.  Naomi believes that this is the end of her life, but the truth is rather the opposite.  This is the beginning point of her life, the point where God intervenes to bring about His purposes.  She must leave from  her dead sons in order to create the circumstances that will bring King David into the world.  Once again we see that Naomi’s horizon is far too limited.  Like Hagar, she sees only her pain, not the purposes of El Roi (the God who sees).  By the way, the allusion to the story of Hagar is not so hidden.  How many years was Naomi in Moab before she started her journey into God’s purposes?  How many years was Hagar in the camp of Abraham before she obeyed the direction of El Roi?

Life is often “without.”  But when it is, it is up to us to convert the “without” to “from.”  “From this point forward” is the direction of the God who sees.

Topical Index:  Ruth 1:5, without, from, Hagar, Genesis 16:13

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 8 Comments

Application Sermon

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 | Author:

“And she will bear a son; and you shall call his name Yeshua, for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

From – “Jesus Saves!”  I remember that billboard on the side of Interstate 5 between Olympia and Centralia.  It was there for years.  Ten foot letters in black on a white background.  Everyone knew about it.  But I wonder if we really thought about what it means from Matthew’s perspective.  Most of us think that “Jesus saves” means salvation from eternal punishment for our sins.  Most of us think the “Jesus saves” is the equivalent of saying “Jesus forgives me.”  That’s the usual interpretation in our evangelistic efforts.  But Matthew, and most Hebrews, would have thought about it a little differently.  For Matthew, the man Yeshua is connected to the Hebrew verb yasha.  It is not primarily about forgiveness.  That would be the verb salah.  When the Hebrew text uses the verb salah, the subject is always God.   God forgives.  But Jesus saves.  (Oh, I know.  Jesus forgives too, but don’t get worried, there is another word for that.)

So, since Matthew is employing a play on words in Hebrew, he must have in mind the Hebrew verb yasha.  What does yasha mean if it’s not about forgiveness?  Ah, it means to deliver, to rescue, to help, to defend and to bring to a safe place.  What’s the difference between forgiveness and salvation?  Put simply, salvation is about what happens here and now, not what happens in the bye-and-bye.  The idea that Jesus would save His people from their sins by providing them entrance into heaven would never have occurred to the average Jewish reader of the first century.  For Matthew’s audience, being saved meant being rescued from immediate danger.

In the Greek translation of Matthew’s gospel, the preposition that introduces this phrase is apo.  Greek prepositions are basically words about motion and in this case, the motion described is going forth from one object to another.  Unlike ek which means going out of, apo is about the separation between two things.  It is motion away from something or someone.  Ek is something coming out of another thing.  Apo is one thing moving away from something else.  So, what is it that is “moved away” when Yeshua comes on the scene?  Consequences!  Yeshua “saves” us by moving the consequences of our sins away from us.  We deserve punishment, not only in the eternal judgment of God but in the day-to-day disclosure of our unholy acts.  Yeshua rescues us from those consequences, both eternally and temporally, by taking them away from us.  He delivers us.  He defends us.  He brings us to a safe place.  He saves us – in the Hebrew sense of the word.

Does that mean that we are always spared the outcomes of our sins?  Of course not!  Consequences still happen, but they are transformed in two ways.  First, God’s hand of mercy overrides our disobedience.  He is long-suffering and compassionate.  Second, God uses consequences as a means of correction, not punishment.  He loves us.  So, He allows our disobedience to bring about its inevitable results, tempered by His mercy, in order that we may grow up into holiness.  And all because “Jesus saves.”

Topical Index:  saves, yasha, salvation, from, apo, Matthew 1:21

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , , ,  | 3 Comments