God is our good Father and he gives us good gifts. But what does it mean to live a good life? What is goodness anyway? The bible actually says a lot about goodness, right from the first pages about creation.
In the verse quoted in our picture, God tells us that the good life is to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with God. In this retreat, we will learn from 3 women in the Bible who demonstrate for us what this means.
Come and enjoy a retreat in the beautiful setting of Edenmore Golf & Country Club, where you will get to explore what the good life means, along with other like-minded people. There will be time for teaching, personal reflection, worship, fellowship – and of course good food.
We can take up to 15 participants and still allow for social-distancing, so places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis; and of course, should government Covid restrictions change, we will have to revise our plans accordingly.
This is a non-residential retreat, but Edenmore has some apartments on site, two of which are available to us that weekend – one with a double bedroom and one with a twin bedroom. There are also other options available in the area.
While some of us have thrived on so much time alone over the past 18 months, most of us have eventually begun to crave contact with friends and family. We have longed for a hug, a coffee, a chat, or a meal together with those we love.
Now that schools and colleges are getting started again, perhaps it’s time to think about our own schedules. What are we leaving behind as we emerge from the pandemic? What are we keeping?
Perhaps you found that you thrived on some quiet time in your schedule – time to press the pause button, time to reflect and reset. And perhaps you are craving the opportunity to do that again, together with like-minded people in some way or other.
If that’s you, then I want to let you know about two opportunities to do that at Edenmore Golf and Country Club this autumn:
Day Retreat: ‘Come to the table’
Saturday 2 October 2021
10.00am – 4.00pm
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*Weekend Retreat: ‘The Good Life’
Friday 29 October 2021 (7.30pm-9.00pm) &
Saturday 30 October 2021 (10.00am – 4.00pm)
We can take up to 15 participants at each retreat and still allow for social-distancing, so places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis; and of course, should government Covid restrictions change, we will have to revise our plans accordingly.
*This retreat is non-residential, although there are two apartments available at Edenmore and there are also other options in the area.
If you are interested in knowing more about either of these retreats, please email me for further information at paulinewilson8@gmail.com
Many of us are staycationing this year and it’s been great to see people making the most of the beautiful weather and the glorious scenery around us, here in N.Ireland. Beaches have been busy, National Trust sites have been popular, picnics and barbecues have been frequent.
I found that I spent the first part of my holiday releasing my responsibilities – letting go of concerns and leaving my work behind; I spent the middle part resting; and I spent the third part resetting for the new season ahead.
During that third part, I was fortunate to get to spend a 24-hour period on a personal retreat, when I took time out with God to think through where I was at and pray through what I thought he might want the new season to look like.
I would really encourage anyone to take time out to do something similar. It may be less than 24 hours – it may be more. It may be away from home – it may be around home (but most of us find that the distractions of home make it very difficult to create that quiet space that we need). Whatever time you can carve out for yourself and whatever it looks like, it will be precious.
If you are looking for a place to retreat to and you live in N.Ireland, I can highly recommend Murlough House – a beautiful house with gorgeous gardens where you can spend time alone, and the sea is only a few minutes’ walk away so you can enjoy the wonders of God’s creation as well.
If you need some help to know what to do with that time alone with God, you may want to think of taking a guided retreat. Not many retreat houses are offering guided retreats yet because of coronavirus, but perhaps one of my online retreats would help.
‘Come and Rest’ is a free online retreat, encouraging you to respond to the invitation of Jesus to ‘come apart and rest awhile’. It’s available on YouTube and you just need a workbook to guide you through it – you can PM me for details.
‘Grow and Thrive’ starts with John 15 and encourages you to think about how you can grow in your faith journey through the use of spiritual practices. It is also on YouTube, it costs just £15.00 and again there is a workbook to guide you through it.
You could take either of these retreats in a half-day – or you could take them in smaller bites of an hour at a time. You could take one of them with you to somewhere like Murlough House and use it to reflect on while there.
Whatever you do and however you do it, be intentional about seeking some time for yourself with God – you won’t regret it.
I think this blessing beautifully tells the story of Mary’s life. It starts at the time when she has just had the visit from the angel Gabriel and she goes to visit Elisabeth, who welcomes her and affirms the calling which she has just received – and it concludes with Mary becoming the source of that same welcome to others.
So, why do we think that Mary was someone who demonstrated humility?
Mary takes the posture of a servant
When the angel Gabriel explains that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and she will conceive a baby who will be the Son of God, her response is immediate:
“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word”. (1:38).
What sweet humility! Mary puts herself in the place of a servant, submitted to God’s will for her, whatever that might mean – and, as we have seen, from her vantage point, that would have meant shame and ostracism, and possibly even death.
So Mary took the posture of a servant. It is reminiscent of Jesus himself, as described in Philippians 2: 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.
Such was the posture of Mary – the posture of a humble servant, ready to do whatever God asked of her. Kenneth Bailey, in his book ‘Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes’, says this about Mary: She was a saint from beginning to end and was wiling to accept the costly discipleship of being the mother of Jesus.….She humbly accepted a discipleship that she knew would bring shame on her in the eyes of the community and could be the cause of her death.
Immediately after being given her assignment by Gabriel, Mary goes to visit her relative Elizabeth and it is there that she proclaims what we have come to know as The Magnificat – Mary’s Song of Praise – which we find in Luke 1:46-55.
Mary takes the posture of a sinner
Again we see Mary’s humility in her song. Not once does she call herself the mother of the Son of God. In fact, the song doesn’t draw attention to herself at all – it praises God for what he has done:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name”. Luke 1:46-49
She calls God her Saviour, putting herself in the posture of a sinner who needs a Saviour. Although she says “from now on all generations will call me blessed”, she freely acknowledge it is not because of anything she has done, but because “he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name”.
Mary begins to understand what her particular call to serve God means when Jesus is born. We are familiar with the story. Mary had no doubt made preparations in their own home in Nazareth, where Joseph, the master carpenter, would perhaps have constructed all that was needed to welcome their baby. But then the census was announced and they had no choice but to travel to Bethlehem.
Can you imagine how distressing it was for Mary to have to place her Son in a manger, among the animals? Did she ever wonder what was happening? Did she feel responsible? Did she ever ask herself why an angel hadn’t come to tell her what to do?
Mary takes the posture of a spectator
And then the shepherds came to visit the baby – shepherds, who were regarded as the lowest of the low. But they had something important to say, which Mary didn’t miss: apparently angels had appeared to them and told them where to find Jesus – “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger”. Luke 2:12. So it was the manger which led the shepherds to Jesus! People marvelled at what the shepherds said but Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart 2:19. Although deeply involved in the narrative as the mother of Jesus, Mary is also listening to others, watching Jesus, putting pieces of the jigsaw together, pondering in her heart.
When Mary and Joseph present the baby Jesus at the temple, Simeon blesses the child and his father and his mother marvelled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” 2:33-35. This is something else for Mary to ponder – a sword shall pierce your own heart also – what does that mean? When she humbly accepted this assignment, did she have any idea what it would mean?
When Jesus is twelve years old, he and his parents visit the temple. Jesus stays behind and Joseph and Mary, three days into their journey home, think he is lost. Can you imagine the anguish as they retrace their steps and search through Jerusalem for their son? When they find him in the temple, discussing with the religious leaders, again we are told that the onlookers are amazed – but his parents are astonished. Mary rebukes him: “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” Of course Jesus says he must be about his Father’s business and Mary and Joseph do not understand. But, as they return home, we are told that his mother treasured up all these things in her heart 2:52.
Already Mary is beginning to take the stance of a spectator – she is watching Jesus, listening to what he says, listening to what others say about him, treasuring up all these things in her heart. And that posture just increases as Jesus grows up. Sometimes the wisest thing we can do is keep quiet and watch and listen. As Mary watched and listened, she was learning so much about who Jesus really was.
Jesus starts his public ministry and performs his first miracle – changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana. In setting the stage for the story, John tells us: When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” John 2:3-5.
Jesus’ address for his mother – Woman – as well as his question to her, are expressions of polite distance. Mary is becoming more and more of a spectator as her Son takes on his public role and goes about his heavenly Father’s business. But again we see Mary’s humility here. She is not put off by the words of Jesus. Rather, she tells the servants: “Do whatever he tells you”. And wasn’t that her own attitude to God? When the angel had come and told her she would be the mother of Jesus, her humble response had been “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word”.
The final exchange we see between Mary and her Son is a very moving one. After his betrayal by Judas, after his denial by Peter, after his mock trial, Jesus is hanging on the cross. And we read that standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. John 19:25-27.
What does this tell us of Mary? She was with him till the end. It’s difficult to know how many of the disciples were there at the cross. Matthew and Mark both tell us that all of the disciples had forsaken him and fled (Matthew 26:56); Mark 14:40). We do know that Peter accompanied him to his trial and John tells us so did ‘another disciple’ – scholars take this to refer to John himself. But who was there to watch him die, to be with him in his final hours? We are told that there were several women there, among them his mother Mary and her sister and Mary Magdalene – and the disciple whom Jesus loved. This was how John referred to himself – not that he thought he was the only one Jesus loved, or even the one he loved most, but that John just could never get over the fact that he was loved by Jesus – a theme which he develops in his epistles.
I wonder, as she stood there at the cross along with the other women and John, if Mary recalled those words of Simeon spoken over the baby Jesus in the temple that day: “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also)”. Her heart must have been breaking. Possibly she had never felt more like a spectator than when she watched her beloved Son being crucified so cruelly, being taunted by passersby, being mocked by one of the criminals at his side and offering salvation to the other criminal on his other side. I wonder did she understand that the death of her Son would bring salvation to the world.
But in his final hours, in the midst of his suffering and anguish, Jesus thinks about his mother. As Mary watches and waits for him to die, Jesus asks his disciple, John, to care for Mary, who was almost certainly widowed and probably in her late 40s or early 50s at this point. Seeing them both, he says to Mary: “Woman, behold, your son!” and to John: “Behold, your mother!” We are told that from that hour John took her to his own home.The One who was cared for since birth by Mary, now, in his final breaths makes sure that she will be cared for by one of his closest friends.
The last time we see Mary in the New Testament is in Acts 1, when the 11 apostles are gathered in the upper room after the ascension of Jesus. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.1:14. It is just a comment that she is there with the disciples, no more than that. But perhaps we are meant to understand that she has taken a more active role now in the group of disciples – certainly she was welcomed and included among them, as she had been welcomed by John when he took her into his home.
So Mary was a woman who walked humbly with her God – in the posture of a servant, a sinner and a spectator.
Esther illustrates God’s call to ‘do justice’; Ruth illustrates God’s call to ‘love kindness’; and now we want to look at the call to ‘walk humbly with your God’. (Micah 6:8)
If you have guessed the character of Mary, the mother of Jesus, for this one, you have guessed right!
We are first introduced to Mary in Luke 1 as a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph. Research indicates that since betrothal often took place soon after puberty, Mary may have just entered her teens. This relationship was legally binding, but inter course was not permitted until after marriage. Only divorce or death could sever betrothal; and in the latter event the girl, though unmarried, would be considered a widow. (Expositor’s Bible Commentary).
So Mary is probably a young teenage peasant girl. She comes from the small town of Nazareth – and we know from John 1:46 what the contemporary attitude to Nazareth was: Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”.
Betrothed to Joseph, she is looking forward to marriage and setting down to a normal married life, within a normal conservative Jewish community. There was perhaps nothing significant about her community, her family or indeed about Mary herself at this point.
And then one day her life changed forever. The angel Gabriel comes to visit her. Throughout Scripture, the appearance of angels often evoked fear – think of Zechariah in Luke 1, the shepherds in the fields in Luke 2, or the women who visited the tomb of Jesus on resurrection morning in Luke 24. But it is not the appearance of the angel Gabriel which made Mary afraid – it was his message. Verse 29 tells us she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
Angels often need to reassure the people they are sent to and Gabriel is no exception. He tells Mary not to be afraid, for she has found favour with God.
And then Gabriel delivers his message:
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Luke 1:31-33.
Mary’s first response is to ask “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” This was not because she didn’t believe the angel – it was because she didn’t understand how it was going to happen – because she was a virgin.
There would have been no doubt in Mary’s mind that this was no ordinary message. And she understood its implications for her. We know that when Joseph first heard the story, he wanted to divorce her. Professor David Gooding, in his book ‘According to Luke’, says this about Joseph: He, and all his social class, would have regarded Mary as guilty of a criminal breach of the law of betrothal for which Scripture (though it was no longer normally carried out) prescribed the death penalty (see Deut. 22:23-24)…..All this, with a woman’s instinct, Mary would have instantaneously foreseen the moment the angel made the announcement.
Hence, Mary’s question: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Her mind had gone into overdrive. Gabriel explains:
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” Luke 1:35.
I have often wondered what the difference was between Zechariah’s response to the angel’s announcement that he and his wife Elizabeth would have a child (who would grow up to be John the Baptist) and Mary’s response to the angel here. Zechariah asked, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years” (1:18). Mary asked: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (1:34). Both seemed to find it difficult to believe what the angel was saying – and we can understand that. Zechariah and Elizabeth were well past the years of childbearing, Mary was a virgin – and yet both were told by the angel that they would have a child. Both questioned the angel – but Zechariah was struck dumb for it and Mary was not. What was the difference?
Professor David Gooding explains that Zechariah actually did not believe that God could perform a miracle of divine intervention – i.e. the reversal of the ageing process in Elizabeth’s body. And if f God could not do that, then creation itself would never be delivered from its bondage to corruption and God would never raise Jesus from the dead and no resurrection would ever be possible…..Gooding says:
We are told that the angel struck him dumb. The action is neither vindictive nor arbitrary….A priest who cannot believe the authoritative word of an angel of God, because he cannot accept the possibility of divine intervention to reverse the decay of nature, has lost faith in the basic principle of redemption. Without redemption, he has no gospel. Without a gospel, any blessing he pronounced upon the people would be the emptiest of professional formalities.
Zechariah was about to pronounce a blessing on the people, in his role as priest – and God could not allow him to do that, because of his unbelief.
People notice. People have obviously been talking about Ruth’s kindness to Naomi, because Boaz says this:
“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 and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.” Ruth 2:11.
People notice this kind of love. Its commitment stands out as different in a world where so much of what is called love is self-seeking and shallow.
‘Hesed’ love restores hope
When Ruth returns home after her first day in the fields and reports to Naomi all that has happened, Naomi exclaims: “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness (‘hesed’ love) has not forsaken the living (Naomi) or the dead (Elimilech)!” (2:20).
There is some debate as to whether Naomi is talking about the kindness of Boaz or the kindness of the Lord here and some believe that it is intentionally ambiguous – for the kindness of Boaz illustrates the kindness of the Lord.
This should not surprise us, for human kindness reflects the kindness that God shows to his people.
So Naomi is transformed. It is as if she was living among the dead and now she is living among the living – with renewed hope. Ruth’s ‘hesed’ love has renewed her hope. The kindness of Boaz has reminded her of the kindness of the Lord. It has allowed her to dare to believe that God’s loving kindness has not forsaken her.
Life’s circumstances have broken Naomi and here is her interpretation of events: God has brought calamity on me, God has brought me back empty. God’s hand has gone out against me. How does God respond to Naomi?
Paul Miller suggests that ‘in the context of the whole book of Ruth, Ruth’s love is God’s response to Naomi’s lament. God often uses human agents to show his love’. Ruth weeps with Naomi, she cares for her, she doesn’t leave her alone, she provides for her, she shows her the kindness – the ‘hesed’ love – of God.
And that, incidentally, is a beautiful lesson of how we can come alongside someone who is broken by life’s losses. At that stage, they don’t need our theology. They need our tears, our love, our presence. We can show them the love of God when they have lost sight of it, just as Ruth does for Naomi.
‘Hesed’ love leads to worship
The end of Naomi’s life is a cause for worship and celebration as God provides a redeemer for Naomi, a husband for Ruth, and then a little baby who will carry on the family line:Then the women 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 your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”. Ruth 4:14,15.
The community of women around Naomi see what God has done. They see that his gracious act of redemption has restored Naomi’s life and will nourish her in her old age. And they worship God.
This biblical patten of strength from weakness, glory from brokenness, was written long before another humble woman from the same insignificant town of Bethlehem was the head of another royal dynasty. Paul Miller
For of course this little baby who has been born is an ancestor of our Redeemer, the One who demonstrates ‘hesed’ love perfectly. As the village women gathered to worship God for what he had done for Ruth and Naomi in the provision of redemption, so we worship God for what he has done in providing redemption for us.
Like a many-faceted diamond, we have thought about ‘hesed’ love. All of these attributes are seen perfectly in God, for ‘hesed’ love is God’s love.
Why don’t you take a few minutes to reflect on the ‘hesed’ love of God?
Think over the past week or two. How can you trace the ‘hesed’ love of God in the events and circumstances of your life? Take time to thank God for whatever he reveals to you.
Think about your relationships with others. How do you think God would like you to express his ‘hesed’ love in your relationships? Ask God for his help to do that.
Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the steadfast love (‘hesed’) of the Lord. Psalm 107:43
Ruth and Orpah, Naomi’s two daughters-in-law, want to go back to Bethlehem with Naomi but she tells them to return to their own homes. Orpah turns back but Ruth refuses. ‘Hesed’ love is stubborn. Ruth has decided to pledge herself to Naomi, in spite of the cost to herself. In doing so, she was – humanly speaking – throwing away any possibility of marriage.
Ruth looks after Naomi on the long way back to Bethlehem – and her kindness is shown to a woman who is embittered by her grief. When they get back to Bethlehem and the townswomen gather round Naomi and Ruth, Naomi tells the women she has come back home empty – but Ruth is standing beside her! Naomi is so preoccupied with the circumstances which have led to her return home that she doesn’t seem to think about what Ruth’s needs might be, as a foreigner arriving in a land and a culture which would feel very strange to her.
But, undeterred, Ruth decides to go out to the fields to gather the grain which the OT Hebrews were required to leave at the edges of the fields for the widows, the orphans, the foreigners and the poor. (Leviticus 19:9-10; 23:22; Deut.24:19). She was determined to provide for Naomi and here was the way to do it.
One scholar says this:
Ruth took on the uncertain future of a bitter widow in a land where she knew no one, enjoyed few legal rights, and – given the traditional Moabite-Israelite rivalry – faced possible ethnic prejudice….She gave up a marriage to a man to devote herself to an old woman – in a world dominated by men.
This is the stubborn commitment of ‘hesed’ love.
Ruth and Naomi needed to find a way to survive – so Ruth did the obvious thing. She went out and looked for work. It wasn’t glorious, there was no fanfare, she had no one to make introductions for her in high places. ‘Hesed’ love always works itself out in practical ways – it looks for ways to express itself. And Ruth found a way.
Picture Ruth bending down and collecting individual stalks of grain in the midday sun – unthanked, unprotected and unknown. This is the face of ‘hesed’. Paul Miller.
She was just being helpful – finding a way to make ends meet, doing what she could. Somehow we don’t think that ‘being helpful’ is noteworthy.
To be helpful is to be free – of messianic delusion, of pride, of condescension, of despair, of impossible burdens, of selfish withdrawal. Helpfulness is humble, caring, forgiving, and constructive in innumerable small ways. And ‘helpful’ is the very best we can be for each other. David Powlison
Ruth doesn’t give up. Eventually, of course, the love story unfolds and it becomes clear that the owner of the field, Boaz, is one of Naomi’s relatives and, as such, someone who could possibly redeem her and thus reverse the direction of her life completely by buying everything that belonged to Elimilech, Mahlon and Chillion and by marrying Ruth.
Ruth courageously goes to the threshing floor at night and lies at the feet of Boaz. When Boaz realises that she is asking him to be their redeemer instead of choosing a younger man, he recognises her loving kindness:
“May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness (‘hesed’ love) greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.” Ruth 3:10
The stubborn commitment of ‘hesed’ love made a way for Ruth and Naomi.
‘Hesed’ love is costly
As Paul Miller puts it: in ‘hesed’ love we enter into the dying-resurrection life of Jesus.
Ruth dies to her own desires for marriage, a family, a normal life. In committing herself to Naomi, she commits herself to the unknown and keeps on loving a woman who has been embittered by life’s circumstances. Ruth tells Naomi “your God will be my God” and later Boaz recognises that she has taken shelter “under the wings of God” (2:12). Her faith was in God, not in Naomi. This is the nature of ‘hesed’ love – it depends on God, not on the object of its love, as it dies to self and commits to keep on loving, in spite of the cost.
When the pressure of love builds, we think that somehow we showed up for the wrong life. This isn’t what we signed up for. But no, this is the divine path called love. Paul Miller
And we know that through death comes new life. Through death comes glory. The moment when you think everything has gone wrong is exactly the moment when the beauty of God is shining through you. True glory is almost always hidden – when you are enduring quietly with no cheering crowd….Walking into Bethlehem alone, a foreigner, without a male protector – with only Yahweh – that is Ruth’s glory.
In going out alone to search for work, Ruth was putting herself at enormous risk. She has no one to protect her, she is a woman, and she is a foreigner. Libbie Groves explains:
The presence of a male represented more than protection. If a male was with Ruth, it declared her status and said that she was properly fitted into a family structure and was a respectable woman. She should be treated as such. If she was unaccompanied, it signalled that she was not a respectable woman. It was fine to treat her any way you chose.
Yet Ruth takes this risk and puts herself in danger for the sake of love. She was a courageous woman who loved God and followed his ways even when it was costly.
‘Hesed’ love doesn’t look for love in return. ‘Hesed’ love just keeps on loving. That is the sacrifice it makes.
‘Hesed’ love is committed and ‘hesed’ love is costly.
Do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8.
We have already looked at the the call to do justice, as illustrated by Esther. Now we want to look at the call to love kindness. If you have guessed the character of Ruth for this one, you have guessed right!
‘Hesed’ love
Kindness is one of the major themes in the book of Ruth. The Hebrew word which is translated ‘kindness’ is ‘hesed’ and means ‘steadfast love’. But, as we will see, it means even more than that.
Paul Miller has written a wonderful book about Ruth called ‘A Loving Life’.
Sometimes ‘hesed’ is translated ‘steadfast love’. It combines commitment with sacrifice. ‘Hesed’ is one-way love. Love without an exit strategy. When you love with ‘hesed’ love, you bind yourself to the object of your love, no matter what the response is. ….. ‘Hesed’ is a stubborn love…. ‘Hesed’ is opposite of the spirit of our age which says we have to act on our feelings. ‘Hesed’ says ‘No, you act on your commitments. The feelings will follow’. Love like this is unbalanced, uneven. There is nothing fair about this kind of love. But commitment lies at the heart of Christianity. It is Jesus’s love for us at the cross, and it is to be our love for one another. Paul Miller
Background
The book of Ruth begins with an explanation that Naomi was the wife of Elimelech and the mother of Mahlon and Chilion. She lived in Bethlehem of Judah, the very birthplace of Jesus. The name ‘Bethlehem’ means ‘house of bread’, so Naomi lived in a place where she had all she needed – a husband, two sons, a home in a place of plenty, and the community of God’s people around her. And then her life began to unravel.
First of all, famine struck. To escape from the famine, she and her husband and two sons fled to Moab. Paul Miller says: Ancient readers would have been intrigued and possibly troubled by the family’s move to Moab. The Moabites were…the result of an incestuous relationship between Lot and one of his daughters. And of course Moab was one of Israel’s enemies as well.
While in Moab, Naomi was thrust into a situation of further loss – she lost first her husband and then her two sons. That was devastating. And it would be hard enough in any culture but in the traditional cultures of the Near East, mothers have no identity outside the home. Their daughters marry and leave while their sons remain, forging a powerful mother-son bond. Their sons are their life. Paul Miller.
It was bad enough for Naomi to have lost her husband. Now that she has lost her sons, she has lost her identity. There is no one to carry on the family name. There is now no future for that family in the Ephrathite clan. Her sons would have been the source of financial security for her. She has lost that as well. Everything has been stripped away. Her life, as she knew it, is over. Her dreams have died, along with her husband and sons.
Now she is left alone, to mourn her losses. In Ruth 1:5, we read the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. Naomi was left without. ‘Left without’. What a series of losses. Naomi has lost her life. She has entered into a living death….Living outside of Israel…is already a partial death. Now with the death of her husband and two sons, Naomi’s life is functionally over. Paul Miller
That’s the background story – a story of death and grief and pain. Against that dark background, the ‘hesed’ love or loving kindness or steadfast love of Ruth shines as a bright light of hope which will lead to life and joy and healing.
This kindness is no ordinary kindness. This is steadfast love, ‘hesed’ love. Let’s see what makes it so special.
I want to conclude this week’s brief exploration of the theme of ‘Doing Justice’ with this beautiful poem, written by Priscilla Reid in January 2013, during a trip to Uganda with Tearfund:
IF
IF I really had your heartbeat,
IF I saw things through your eyes,
IF I truly loved my neighbour,
IF a cry in me would rise,
Rise to you the God of heaven,
To move your people with the truth,
That we can raise a shout of justice,
And build your Kingdom here on earth.
IF that were so,
Then children would not die for lack of bread,
But give themselves to play and learning,
A future generation born.
IF that were so
The wealth of nations never squandered,
Used instead in wise investments.
People matter more than things.
IF that were so
The sick and broken would know the healing power of God.
Clean water flowing, sweet, refreshing,
Life blood to a thirsty soul.
BUT ONLY IF
I feel the heartbeat,
Only if I loose the cry,
Then the IF is more than maybe,
Then God’s Kingdom will come down.
Priscilla Reid, from her book ‘Love the Thread’
Come back next week as we look at the next theme from our key verse in Micah 6:8: ‘Loving kindness’. Which woman in the Bible would you choose for that one?
Nurturing Growth, Encouraging Rest 