DAY 94

UNCOVER YOUR LIGHT

Ruth 1, 2, 3 & 4 and Luke 8:1 – 25

In the picture, do you think the basket is coming off, or being put on?

After reading Judges, Ruth is a welcome respite. It reads like a love story, and it is! It remarkably takes place in a village during the time of the events of Judges (1:1). Here we see in one small village the results of one good faithful man, and two good and faithful women, not to mention an entire community that is faithful to the covenant.

I pray as you read it you enjoyed it. You no doubt picked up on Boaz obeying the Law by not harvesting every last morsel from his fields so those who are poor can get food. You saw the dedication of Ruth to Naomi. And of course, you saw Boaz and Ruth.

Beyond enjoying the story there is the subtext here of what Israel is to be like as a people. While most of the “action” of the story centers on Ruth, it tells the story of Naomi. The story unfolds in four scenes. We begin with Naomi’s emptiness in 1:6-22, then her hope is awakened in chapter 2, followed by progress towards its fulfillment in chapter 3, culminating in complete fulfillment in chapter 4 (see 4:14 and on). How does fullness come: Through Ruth, a young Moabite widow, and Boaz, a wealthy upstanding man of Judah – two extremes of the social scale – yet both Ruth and Boaz act in a way of openness and concern for Naomi – they act in way that God’s Law describes.

Ruth becomes an example of the blessings of Abraham working out in practice (Genesis 12:3). She is an alien from a hated foreign nation. Yet she chooses to follow Israel’s God and thus becomes part of his people. Ruth loves Naomi by showing her Yahweh’s kindness. In turn she is blessed, becoming one of only four women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.

The point of this story is to show what happens when a person follows Yahweh – they become a light to others. Isn’t that what God wanted to make Israel; a light to the Nations?

In the New Testament in Luke 8:1-25 we get some wonderful snippets from Jesus. We read about Mary Magdalene (please note she is not a prostitute, people at times assign her this label, you won’t find that in the Bible). We also read about the Parable of the Sower with an explanation, and we see Jesus perform a miracle by calming a storm.

We also get one of those famous quotes, “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.” (cf. Luke 8:16). At the Easter Vigil, in the pitch black darkness of the night, a candle proclaims, The Light of Christ…let's make sure we take our jar/basket off.