Redemption in Action
Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD who has not left you without a redeemer today ” Ruth 4:14
Redeemer – You are the living canvas of the pictures of God’s character. Saint Francis of Assisi told us to “preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” He understood that the conduct of your life is the greatest proclamation of the gospel most people will every read. You are an invitation to God’s grace. All of your acts portray either the heart of God or the way of selfishness.
Hebrew has a special word for one of the pictures of the character of God written into the actions of men. It is go’el, the word that describes the action of the kinsman-redeemer. This person played a very special role in the social structure of Israel. The kinsman-redeemer had legal rights and obligations to restore original ownership to the tribe. In other words, he acted as the one who brought back what was lost to the community. This word plays a very important religious role in the Hebrew world. It is often associated with the redemptive activity of God. Boaz is a kinsman-redeemer of the tribe of Naomi. At the end of the story of Ruth, Naomi, the woman who named herself for her distress, discovers that her original identity is redeemed. She is once again restored to the woman of “delight”. Her daughter-in-law births a son, Obed. Grandmother Naomi knows once more that delight of family, heritage and protection because Boaz shows favor upon a foreigner, Ruth. Through it all, God is weaving His plan to give us a foretaste of redemption.
Ruth’s love for Naomi is demonstrated in sacrifice. Ruth chooses to align herself with Israel’s God and Israel’s people. That act spurs Boaz, the man of strength, to say that the Lord will repay Ruth’s kindness by protecting her. But Boaz does more than utter the words. He acts in kindness toward Ruth. A love story is born. Boaz redeems Naomi’s land and in the process acquires Ruth as his wife. A foreigner is brought into the house of God by the compassion and love of the son of a man named “God is King.”
Unless you were born under the sign of Jacob, you are a foreigner to God’s house, just like I am. But there is a greater kinsman-redeemer among men than Boaz. Jesus, the Son of the King, fulfills the act of the kinsman-redeemer by buying us back from bondage. His action towards us is the real plot line of the story of Ruth, written centuries before Jesus was born. God was painting the canvas for every one outside the camp, every stranger to the fold, every foreigner who once served a different god, everyone lost in the sale to sin. Love brought Ruth to Israel just as it brought you and me to the cross. Just like Ruth and Naomi, we were in need of a kinsman-redeemer. God provided us with that person, the One Who bought our freedom with His own blood.
That is the love story written in the lives of Ruth and Boaz.
