Ruth and Naomi

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family.

We’ll be in the Book of Ruth this morning, continuing our series, The Road to Emmaus, looking at how Christ shows up in the Old Testament. And so I want to say this to get started. It might be a hot take. I think Shrek is one of the most well-put-together films of all time.

Many would disagree with me. My wife included. We watched it a couple weeks ago. I think it has a great storyline.

This ogre feels like he can’t be loved, saves his princess, who also feels like he can’t be loved, and they fall in love. So I think it’s a beautiful storyline. It’s kind of where the Shrek comparison ends for the sermon. I’m not going to say anything else about that, other than I think it’s underrated.

And I bring that up because I think sometimes we do miss a beautiful storyline, one that’s underrated. And I believe that we’re looking at an underrated story this morning that doesn’t often get attention. Like I said, wWe’ll be in the Book of Ruth this morning, but we’re going to be looking at the story of Naomi and her role in the story. So the story really, as I was going through it, I was like, man, this is kind of all about Naomi’s life.

It begins with Naomi, it ends with Naomi. You see this radical transformation that she undergoes. So as we look at her story this morning, I think that we’re going to see a lot of our story in hers, but even more so, we’re going to see that the ways God provides for Naomi are the same ways that he provides for us. So let’s go into this story starting in chapter 1, 1-6.

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to Sojourn in the country of Moab. He and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi. And the names of his two sons were Malon and Chileon.

They were Ephraithites from Bethlehem and Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives.

The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other, Ruth. They lived there about 10 years, and both Malon and Chileon died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. So Naomi’s story begins with this devastating tragedy. She goes to this foreign land.

Her husband passes away. Her two sons pass away. The devastating story. The story continues.

Naomi’s left with her two daughters in law, Orpah and Ruth. She urges them to go back to Moab. She says, you don’t have a future with me. Orpah goes back to Moab.

But Ruth pledges her life to Naomi. Despite Naomi telling her to go back to Moab, Ruth pledges her life to her. And listen to just how powerfully Ruth commits herself to her mother-in-law. This is in chapter 1, 16 through 18.

But Ruth said, do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you for where you go, I will go. And where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.

May the Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you. And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. And so Ruth, she just gives this incredible pledge to Naomi. She really places her life in Naomi’s hands and in many ways unites herself.

Where you go, I will go. If you die, I will die. Your God will be my God. Your people will be my people.

So it’s a beautiful pledge, a beautiful commitment. I want us to kind of look at Naomi’s response. So Naomi doesn’t really say, she doesn’t say anything after Ruth does this. She kind of just puts up with it.

She sees that Ruth is determined to go. She’s like, okay, I guess you can go with me. And so she’s starting to experience some bitterness, I think. And we’re going to see this bitterness even more as we continue.

So let’s start back in 19, verse 19 through 21, continuing the story. So the two of them, Ruth and Naomi, went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the woman said, is this Naomi?

She said to them, do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?

So Naomi returned and Ruth and Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of harvest. So I want to camp out on this part for a little bit here, and really dive into Naomi’s experience. Naomi, she’s been gone from Bethlehem for 10 years at this point. She comes back without her family, with a foreign daughter-in-law.

So this is a shameful, this is a bitter return for Naomi, witnessed by everyone. And wWe’ll get into how bad it really is for her. But first I want to point out something strange that she says as she’s speaking here. She says, I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.

And I should make this thing for a second. Why did she leave in the first place, back in verse 1? There was a famine in the land, and that’s why they left to get more food. But here she says, I went away full, and so she left full in the midst of a famine.

It doesn’t really make sense until we realize that Naomi’s fullness was found in her family. It was found in her husband, it was found in her two sons. At that time, having a wealthy husband, having a full household, brought a lot of status, brought a lot of security to a woman. She was well known in Bethlehem.

After 10 years, the woman recognized her when she comes back. And so back when she left, she really, and her, she had it all. She was fulfilled in her family and her status, but now she returns and shambles. Without her family, she returns empty.

Like I said, this would have been an embarrassing return for Naomi. In the middle of a full, her whole community is in need. Her and her family leave. They’re like, see ya, we’re gone.

We’re going to go get food while you guys are here in the midst of the famine. And even worse than that, she goes to Moab. And that’s not something an Israelite family should do. This is the same Moab that King Eglon ruled over.

Mike talked about last week, these are enemies of Israel. I said, Naomi leaves her community in the midst of the famine, and now she returns without her family. And so this is basically a public display of shame for her. It explains why she changes her name from Naomi, which means pleasant to Mara, which means bitter, pleasant to bitter.

I want us to notice here that she attributes this bitterness to the Lord’s hand. He says, I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. The Almighty has dealt bitterly with me. The Almighty has brought calamity upon me.

And so she’s wrestling, and she’s blaming God for this tragedy. When she calls God the Almighty, she’s using the Hebrew word, Shaddai, it’s a name for God that emphasizes his power, emphasizes his wrath on sin. And so in her mind, her experience is, man, I’m suffering all of this out of the Lord’s wrath and his punishment upon me. Why her life has come crashing down.

So I want to pause here and ask, man, can we relate to Naomi? When our life starts to crash down, can we see her experience here? She kind of hits every low point that we can hit. She hits an individual low point, or the things that she clings to so closely are tore away from her, and she’s left empty.

She hits a communal low point, where everyone she knows sees her shame, sees her insecurities, sees her poverty now. She hits a spiritual low point, where she feels like God’s hand is going out against her. I feel like we can relate to many of these low points where we experience emptiness after being full. We have our hopes set on something that’s taken away.

We can feel that shame when other people know our struggle, even when they see us in our sin and our insecurities. And oftentimes we can feel like the hand of the Lord is against us. We can feel like it’s just one thing after another in life, over and over again. Naomi is really this depiction of hardship.

And when I first read through this story, I think I was a little harsh on her. Like, man, she’s complaining a lot here. She’s very bitter. She’s blaming the Lord for everything.

But notice that she doesn’t actually question God here. She doesn’t call him unjust for any of this. The story doesn’t even indicate that this was a punishment from God. This is just kind of how she’s experiencing it.

I think really what she’s doing is lamenting here. She’s experiencing her bitterness. She’s crying out. You see laments throughout the Bible.

You see the Book of Lamentations. Many of the psalms attribute suffering to the hand of the Lord. Jesus himself on the cross cries out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So we’re going to explore how the Lord provides for us and restores us.

But we can’t forget that He does provide us with this space to lament, to bring our troubles to Him, even if it feels like His hand is against us. This doesn’t mean we rebel against Him. It doesn’t mean we call Him unjust or question Him. It actually means that we come running to Him, that we bring our bitterness, that we bring our anger, that we feel, and we lay it at His feet.

The Lord tells us to bring these hardships to Him, because He’s a Father who listens to His children. So if you are going through something like that, you are experiencing emptiness, bitterness, run to the Lord, bring those things to Him, lament to Him, cry out to Him, because He will listen. But as we continue through our story, we also see that He provides. He listens and He provides.

The Book of Ruth is full of hints at what God is doing behind the scenes. One of my favorite hints is the name Bethlehem, which means House of Bread. And so it’s kind of ironic here. I think the narrator wants us to see this.

That Naomi leaves Bethlehem. She leaves the House of Bread full in the midst of a famine. But now she returns to the House of Bread empty at the beginning of harvest, when food is about to be abundant. So the narrator is saying, hey, God is about to provide abundantly for Naomi.

Let’s go back to our story here. We ended with Naomi and Ruth returning to Bethlehem. Then the story shifts its focus to Ruth. And so remember that Ruth, she’s a Moabite woman.

She’s a foreigner in a hostile land where her people are despised. So it’s a dangerous situation for her. And yet as you go through this story, Ruth is the one that takes all the action. Even though they were back in Naomi’s hometown, Ruth goes out into the fields.

She picks up the scraps of grain that are left behind during harvest. This is dangerous for her, like I said. She’s risking her life. Anyone could have taken advantage of her during this time.

But under the Lord’s guidance, she ends up in the field of a man named Boaz. He’s called the Kinsman Redeemer, which wWe’ll get to. He’s described as a worthy man. He treats Ruth with great kindness.

He gives her protection. He tells his men not to touch her. He gives her food. He gives her water.

And so Boaz just treats her with his great kindness. And I want to pause here to mention that the book of Ruth, it’s full of these themes that point to Christ. And Boaz is one of these themes. He is this great Redeemer who he takes in the foreigner and he provides for Ruth in for Naomi at his own expense.

So he is a Christ figure in this story. And to be honest, that was the sermon I was planning on preaching when I came to this text. But the more I studied it, the more I was struck by how Ruth just pours out her heart for Naomi. And really what kind of struck me when I was reading this is that even Boaz’s kindness to Ruth is actually predicated on Ruth’s kindness to Naomi.

Let’s look at this interaction here that they have in the field. This is right after Boaz just provides for Ruth and gives her all this protection. This is chapter 2 verse 10 through 12. Then Ruth fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner?

And listen to this, though I have answered her, all that you have done for your mother-in-law, since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother in your native land, and came to a people that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. So why does Boaz treat her with kindness? Boaz says, I’ve heard about how kind you’ve been to your mother-in-law.

I’ve heard about how you’ve cared for her. And so it’s interesting, most commentators agree that Ruth’s name means friend or faithful companion. This is exactly what Ruth is to Naomi and her emptiness. She’s a friend that commits to her, friend that seeks to help her.

So what do we need in our emptiness? We need a friend, honestly. I remember when I first moved to Mississippi, I felt just a lot of emptiness. I was leaving my family behind, I was leaving a lot of friends behind.

And when I got here, I just remember feeling that emptiness. One of these days I end up working an event for the PCA’s, General Assembly, volunteering, watching pastor’s kids. And we go through the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and it’s a disaster. These kids are not behaving well, they’re going crazy.

Not our pastor’s kids, they were great. Others, we’re going crazy. I remember in the midst of all that, I meet this guy named Justin and we’re just like, man, this is horrible, this is hard. And we kind of bond over that.

Before too long, I’m hanging out with him every other night. Him and his wife just really take me in and just show me a lot of kindness. Justin becomes a friend that can bear these burdens with me, make some feel lighter. He sets me up with my future wife, but you can’t really get a better friend than that.

So as I kind of reflected on this time that I moved here, I was really just struck by how the Lord reminded me of his goodness through his people, through Justin, through others. We just pointed to the Lord’s provision, who sat with me in a lot of emptiness. And that’s really what we need in our emptiness. We need friends that sit with us, that remind us that the Lord is faithful.

We can’t fill ourselves up on our own. If you’re hurting this morning, if you feel like you’re on empty, I encourage you to lean on this church’s family, lean on brothers and sisters who care for you, who are there with you in the emptiness, but also who point you to the Lord’s provision. This is what we’re called to as a church, really all of the love that we show to each other is sourced in the love that God has for us. Just as Ruth and Boaz were an avenue of God’s love for Naomi, we’re called to be this vessel of God’s love for one another.

This is what Ruth does for Naomi, what we’re encouraged to do for one another. But we see that as great of a friend Ruth is, she really points to a greater friend that we need to find our hope in. Let’s continue in this story and wWe’ll see this. So Ruth, she has this encounter with Boaz, where Boaz treats her with kindness.

She returns back to Naomi, she tells Naomi everything that’s happened, how Boaz has taken her in, has cared for her. Naomi begins to experience hope again. She knows that Boaz is this kinsman, redeemer, meaning someone who can provide for Naomi and Ruth by purchasing the land left to Naomi by marrying Ruth. So she sees this potential in Boaz to bring security, bring provision.

So Naomi comes up with a plan for Ruth to ask Boaz to marry her, to redeem her, to take her in. If you look at it, it’s kind of a sketchy plan. Naomi tells Ruth to approach Boaz in the middle of the night to uncover his lower body, to lay down beside him and wait for him to wake up. Then when he wakes up, Ruth is supposed to just wait for him, like, hey, I’m here.

So Ruth does that, she goes out, she uncovers them, she lays down beside them, Boaz wakes up, and Ruth actually takes the initiative. She says, Boaz, you’re a kinsman, redeemer, redeem me, spread your garment over me, spread your wings over me. And so it’s an amazing, really amazing initiative, it’s amazing provision and kindness by Boaz. But the part I want us to think about is that Naomi doesn’t really do much through all of this.

She does suggest the plan to Ruth, but Ruth is the one that carries it out. And it’s not that Naomi’s being lazy, it’s not that she’s scared to do this. It’s actually because she can’t really do this, like she’s passed the age for bearing children, she couldn’t provide any children for Boaz. She can’t redeem the field on her own, she can’t work the field.

And so it’s really not her ability to go and do this. So Ruth takes it on for her, and Ruth’s efforts actually end up in Naomi being redeemed and finding security and provision. And so the ironic thing for Naomi is that the friend who helps her, Ruth, is actually the greatest symbol of her suffering and her tragedy. I mean, think about that.

Naomi’s tragedy is that she went to Moab and lost her husbands and lost her sons. And now she’s with her daughter-in-law, who is a Moabite and who is the widow of one of her sons. And so Ruth really is this symbol of her suffering. And it’s amazing that God actually uses Ruth to bring blessing back to her, to restore her to fullness.

I was talking about how we need friends who sit with us in emptiness, who point us to the Lord, and we do need those friends. But there’s only one friend who can truly take on our emptiness and give us his fullness. This is the friend that we have in Jesus. And our emptiness and our bitterness.

Where do we see the greatest symbol of someone’s suffering? As we’re going through suffering, where do we look to and say, oh, that person is a symbol of my suffering? We look to the cross. We see Jesus and his emptiness suffering for us.

When we can’t do it on our own, we can’t fill ourselves up. And yet Jesus goes to the cross and empties himself for us. Philippians 2 says this, Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Jesus, he embodies, he gives his life for us in the midst of our emptiness.

Think about those low points that Naomi went through, that we go through at certain points. Jesus takes those low points on himself. If you’re feeling empty, you’re mourning something that you’ve lost, that leaves you empty. Jesus, he empties himself so that you can be filled.

If you feel embarrassed, if you feel insecure and humiliated, Jesus is publicly humiliated on the cross for you. Jesus undergoes the worst humiliation so you can find security and honor in him. If you feel like the hand of the Lord is against you, Jesus steps in front of you and he takes that hand for you. So now that the punishment, the condemnation, the fear you feel, Jesus takes that on himself.

Jesus, he is this friend who takes on our condition, who empties himself so that we can be full. So I encourage you to come and know Jesus as this friend, look to him in your emptiness and see his for you, and come to him and be filled. This is how the story ends for Naomi, that ends in fullness. Boaz, he accepts Ruth’s marriage proposal.

He negotiates with another redeemer. He ends up purchasing Naomi’s land. He ends up marrying Ruth. So he just brings a lot of security to them.

He brings long-term protection for both of them, status again in the community. And so he achieves just a lot of blessings and restoration for them. So let’s read this last passage here that focuses on how Naomi has been restored. Chapter 4, 13 through 17.

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And he went into her and the Lord gave her conception. She bore a son. Then the woman said to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel.

He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of old age. For your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him. Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And the woman of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying a son has been born to Naomi.

They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. This is why I think Naomi is the best story in Ruth. The narrator is explaining this complete reversal that takes place for her.

Back in chapter 1, she was bitter. She was mourning. Now she’s restored into pleasantness. She’s renamed Naomi.

Let’s say that Ruth is more to her than seven sons. So really just highlighting all these great things that happened for Naomi. But as I was reading this, maybe you’re like me, and you’re like, man, this is great for Naomi. She experiences all this blessing and this restoration.

But how is that helpful for me? Maybe you’re wondering, man, God hasn’t completely switched all of my circumstances. Like he did for Naomi. How does he provide for me in the midst of this?

Does he provide for us in the same way that he does Naomi? I believe that he does. If we look at this text, the emphasis isn’t necessarily on all of these material blessings that Naomi receives. All of these blessings actually center on Obed, Ruth’s son.

The women say that the Lord has not left her without a redeemer. And you would think that they’re talking about Boaz, but they’re actually talking about baby Obed. Saying that Obed is going to restore life to you. Obed is going to take care of you in your old age.

But the thing is, you can’t do that for her yet. And baby Obed’s not going to go out into the field and glean grain, right, for Ruth. Rather, he’s actually a promise to Naomi that the Lord’s kindness has never left her and that the Lord’s kindness will always be extended to her. His kindness will never leave her.

And this is how God provides for us in Christ. Christ is the symbol. He’s the redeemer. He says God’s kindness has never left us in our bitterness.

God’s kindness will always go forward to us. It’s a promise of bringing us life, bringing us restoration. Obed’s name means servant in Hebrew. And while he will serve Naomi, he points to a greater servant that is to come.

This genealogy tells us that Obed will be the grandfather of David. David, from the line of David, Jesus will come. This great servant who bears our emptiness on the cross for us and gives us life. This whole story really points forward to Jesus as this great redeemer that is to come and who has come for us.

So if you are feeling empty right now, know that the Lord sees you. Know that the Lord wants you to come to him in your bitterness, your anger, your confusion, your shame. Know that in Christ he has taken your emptiness on himself. That he knows your shame.

He knows your suffering. He knows the condemnation that you feel because he has borne it for you. But also know that in Christ all the fullness of God has come to dwell. And Christ shares this fullness with you as your redeemer.

He brings you a love that will never leave you in your bitterness. He brings you a security that surpasses all of your shame. He brings you satisfaction that can be found in him alone. So come and know him.

Know him as your friend. Know him as your redeemer. Let’s pray. Lord, we just praise you.

We just thank you for Jesus. We thank you that he has taken on our emptiness. Thank you that he knows our suffering. He knows our hardship.

But he also does something about it. He takes it on to himself. Let us pray that you help us trust in this life, the satisfaction that can be found in you, in the midst of our circumstances that are hard. Let us trust in you.

Let us look to Christ as our Redeemer. Amen.