Friday, December 6, 2024
This devotion is the written accompaniment to a video Advent message that can be viewed on Rev. Bentley’s YouTube Channel by clicking HERE.
Scripture: Ruth 2: 8-13
Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother you. If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” Then she fell prostrate, with her face to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?” But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. May the LORD reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!” Then she said, “May I continue to find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, even though I am not one of your servants.”
I love the theme for Advent this year: “God’s Love Visible.” It can also be said, “God’s love made visible.” So many places throughout the scriptures God’s love is visible. The book of Ruth holds a special place in my heart, and it holds so much relevance to what is going on in our country today. You might remember that the story of Ruth is a story of immigrants. Naomi, her husband and two sons are forced by hunger to migrate to a new land and people. There, her two sons took wives, one of them being Ruth.
Naomi’s husband and her two sons all died leaving Naomi with nothing. She determined to go back to her people now that the famine was over, and one daughter-in-law went back to her family, but Ruth would not leave as she had grown to love Naomi very much. So touching were her words that Julie and I had them read at our wedding: (Ruth 1: 16-17)
“Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die—
there will I be buried.
May the LORD do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”
So, Naomi returns to her homeland and Ruth migrates to a new land and a new people. Like today, there is a great deal of fear over those who are “not like us.” Ruth is a foreigner, gleaning food from those who sowed the seed. It was taking food from those who “belonged.” In the scripture above, Boaz the owner of the land being gleaned had heard about this foreigner and how she was taking care of her mother-in-law Naomi. Ruth’s love for Naomi was made visible so that even Boaz had heard about it. In turn, he made sure she was able to glean and get drink and he even had his reapers leave extra for her to pick up so there would be enough for her and Naomi. God’s Love is made visible in the way he treated this foreigner.
For as long as I have been going on the UN Seminar (@1995 I think) immigration has been one of our main topics of discussions. This is not a new issue but one we, as a country, have failed to address for some time. So many are still fearful of those who come from different places especially when they also come from a different culture and speak a different language and may not look like me. Today, many immigrants are fearful they will be forced to return to who knows where or what conditions. I pray that we, who follow God’s ultimate Love made visible, might move beyond fear to find ways to make God’s love visible in us.
Prayer: God, made visible in Emmanuel,
Make your love visible in and through me today and throughout this holiday season.
Amen
Stephen Bentley
Retired Pastor