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You know, the
new movie, you know.
Yeah.
You don't have to do it.
You want to just go ahead and go.
I mean, why?
Why?
Yeah. Yeah, we'll do it. We'll do it. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. We'll do it. We'll do it.
We'll do it together, okay?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
I'm going to let you do it.
But I don't have...
She doesn't get it.
Why don't you go ahead and start it then?
Why don't you?
I'm sorry.
It's okay.
I'm sorry. It's okay.
Stop it.
You stop it.
Stop.
Okay.
No, no.
Of course not.
You're not doing it.
I actually have to do it.
All
right, I would like to welcome you all to Cognizant Lutheran Church for our third.
In four midweek Advent services.
Today we'll be looking at Ruth chapter 3, and if my
eyes look misty, I'm not crying.
It's the incense.
My eyes are sweating, right?
If I have a hard time getting through this, you all understand.
And then Psalm tone A today, A is an alligator, and we
will be working through, again, the Vespers service on page 229 in the hymnal.
The Psalm tonight is Psalm 107, verses 1 through 9, verses
1 through 9.
After we finish verse 9, we'll immediately go to the glory be to the Father part, and then I
think that's all the notes that we have, so give me a moment and I'll get up the chancel.
Congregation, please rise.
O Lord, open my lips.
Make haste, O God, to deliver me.
Psalm 107, verses 1 through 9.
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
And gathered in from the lands,
some wandered in desert wastes,
hungry and thirsty.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble.
He led them by a straight way.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for he satisfies the longing soul.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and
to the Holy Spirit, as it was in
the beginning, is now, and will be
forever, Amen.
The office hymn today is 352.
You may be seated.
A reading from Ruth chapter 3.
Then Naomi, Ruth's mother -in -law, said to her, My daughter, should I
not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?
Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were?
See he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.
Wash, therefore, and anoint yourself.
Put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor.
But do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies.
Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.
And she replied, All that you say I will do.
So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother -in -law had commanded her.
And when Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of
grain.
Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down.
At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet.
He said, Who are you?
She answered, I am Ruth, your servant.
Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.
And he said, May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter.
You have made this last kindness greater than the first, in that you have not gone after young
men, whether poor or rich.
And now, my daughter, do not fear.
I will do for you all that you ask.
For all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.
And now it is true that I am a redeemer, yet there is a redeemer nearer than I.
Remain tonight and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good, let him do it.
But if he is not willing to redeem you, then as Yahweh lives, I will redeem you.
Lie down until the morning.
So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another.
And he said, Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.
And he said, Bring the garment that you are wearing and hold it out.
So she held it out.
And he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her.
And then she went into the city.
And when she came to her mother -in -law, she said, How did you fare, my daughter?
And then she told her all that the man had done for her, saying, These six measures of barley he
gave to me, for he said to me, You must not go back empty -handed to your mother -in -law.
She replied, Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest,
but will settle the matter today.
Oh, Lord, have mercy on us.
We'll sing the responsory.
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David
a righteous branch.
In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell
securely.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy
Spirit.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Well, this is the chapter in any good chick flick or any story like
Cinderella.
You think of the fairy tales.
This is the part of the story where the fairy godmother comes out or the big twist of fate shows up.
The person who is the patron of the downtrodden and the oppressed comes to their
rescue, and they give them a gorgeous dress, a coach to drive in,
and well, coachmen and things like this.
And this is where she makes her grand appearance, and everybody can see her for
what she is and gawking, whoa, and all that kind of stuff.
But you'll note, this isn't that kind of story.
In fact, it's a lot meaner than that.
We must remember, even this far into this text, that Ruth and Naomi are
dirt poor.
And when it comes to a marriage, they've got nothing to offer except for debt.
And you'll note that this is kind of the metaphor that we look at regarding our own lives.
She is in desperate need of a redeemer.
Without a redeemer, her situation will not improve.
They will live in squalor for the rest of their days, and that's the consequences of.
Sin.
But this is where we must recognize that this is us, this is you, this is me.
We are not capable of extricating ourselves from the poverty of sin.
We cannot.
Our days on this earth are mean and toilsome, filled with all kinds of anxieties,
and it feels like even on the best of days, we're always financially hanging on a knife edge.
Right?
We went from having everything.
Eating in Eden was simple.
If you were hungry, find your favorite tree, pluck a fruit or two, maybe one for your spouse
or your friend, and you were good to go.
At lunchtime, if you were having a hankering for some bacon, I'm sure it grew on trees back then, you know?
There is no such thing as a perfect Eden -like paradise without bacon trees.
You know, I'm just saying, if we're not able to eat the pigs, well, we'll have bacon trees.
And so that's the idea.
Adam and Eve, they had the wealth of the Garden of Eden, everything at their
disposal, and their work and their life was not toilsome.
And then they rebelled against God.
They broke the one command that God had given them.
And what came on them was pain, suffering, slavery, the
sin, death, the devil, and a life
of barely getting by, of toiling, working hard by the sweat of the brow, and
farming back then could not have been a joy at all.
I mean, you'll note that major farm implements were not around at that time.
And at that time, the ground was completely cursed.
And so eking out a living was at best all that anybody could do.
But with Naomi and Ruth, they don't even have a property to their name that they can work.
They have assets that are locked up that they cannot get to.
And Ruth, well, she's a foreigner.
And I want you to kind of think this out for a second here.
She has come to a new land.
This is not where she grew up.
This is not the culture she grew up in.
And these technically were not her people.
They've now become her people.
And by them becoming her people, because she has faith in the same God as they do, there's
a whole host of rules and regulations.
And the rules and regulation regarding her getting out of poverty in the situation that she is in
requires her to marry a fellow.
And you're going to note that this marriage is awkward.
It's not one that normal kids her age, and yeah, I would say she's a kid,
would choose.
Marry a man twice her age?
You'll note that girls are not really that interested in marrying guys that are the same age as their fathers.
That seems a little icky.
And here we've got this woman, and you'll note not one single complaint
from her.
If the only way out is for me to marry a Redeemer, then she's
already set her eye on Boaz.
And I don't think she could have picked a better man.
He's kind.
He's merciful.
He's generous.
He's protective.
And it's absolutely stunning that he has set his eye
on this woman, and she knows full well what's going on.
But she doesn't get to pull out the princess dress at this time, far from it.
Instead, her mother -in -law has concocted a scheme.
We're going to see if we can, well, if we can hook Boaz.
It's an interesting scheme, and we know because I've just read it that it works, but let's walk our way through the text.
Naomi, her mother -in -law, said to her, my daughter, should I not seek rest for you?
That it may be well with you.
Is not Boaz our relative?
Love that pronoun there.
She's basically saying we're family, we're kin.
And the way she's talking.
You can always tell, by the way, when an employee goes from being new, when they first show up
at a business, they'll talk about, you know, y 'all need to do this, y 'all need to do that.
And they've already on the payroll, but they're still using the y 'all thing, right?
But once they've settled in and actually feel like they're part of the team, everything changes.
They say things like, we.
We need to make this decision.
We need to jump on this opportunity.
We need to.
And they see themselves as part of it.
And so here, Naomi, she considers Ruth to be absolutely family.
And she says, he is our relative.
You know, so should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you.
So Naomi's thinking about her daughter -in -law and realizing that, you know, she needs more than what she can offer her.
And so she says, see, he's winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.
And I just look at this and go, how did she get that little juicy bit of information,.
Was she having tea with a gal from next door?
You know, was somebody passing by and she overheard, as my mom would say, a little bird
told her.
She knew exactly where Boaz was going to be.
Was there any kind of internet stalking going on here?
Was she watching his Facebook?
I don't know.
It doesn't say, but she knew exactly where he was going to be.
And so here's what she says, wash, take a bath,
anoint yourself, put on your cloak, a dark one.
By the way, it has to be dark because she's going all ninja style here.
And I want you to go down to the threshing floor.
Do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies, then go and
uncover his feet and lie down and then he will tell you what to do.
It sounds like a crazy plan.
I mean, would Ruth get in trouble if she was caught?
I mean, she's in stealth ninja mode at this point, making sure that she's not going to be recognized.
When she goes out the door, is the music going, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun?
We don't know, right?
But she says, all that you have said I will do.
And so she does.
There is no beautiful dress, there are no coachmen, there is no fairy
godmother, just a very, very poor woman.
Poor because of the consequences of sin.
On a wing and a prayer and the advice of her mother -in -law, she steals out into the night
and she heads to the threshing floor.
She did just as her mother -in -law had commanded her.
And when Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, the good night there at the
threshing floor.
A lot of work was done.
Threshing is an important thing.
This is where the wheat and the chaff are separated.
Do you think that this is some kind of a throwaway detail?
No, it's not.
You'll think about this, that the temple itself was built on a
The threshing of Ornon the Jebusite.
It belonged to that fellow before it became the property that David
purchased when the angel of the Lord stayed his sword.
And so great things happen on threshing floors.
In fact, you can kind of think of Mount Moriah itself as one big, huge threshing floor.
There was Christ bleeding, dying, suffering for your sins and mine on the cross.
And he was crucified between two thieves.
One on his right, one on his left.
One cries out to him, if you're the Messiah, save yourself and save us.
And the other rebuked him and said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your.
Kingdom.
That threshing floor is a big deal because on that day, one was wheat and the other was.
Chaff.
And the threshing floor continues to this day.
The threshing floor metaphor here, this little detail invokes all of that threshing
floor theology that points to how there's wheat and there's chaff and it
invokes this question, will Ruth be tossed
with the chaff?
Will she be seen as a defiant, rebellious,
law -breaking foreigner?
Or will she instead be seen as wheat to come into
the barn of the Lord?
And you remember, all of this took place a long time ago in a little town called
Bethlehem.
And that's not a throwaway detail either.
So, Boaz was married and he went to lie down.
Long day.
He went down to sleep with good thoughts running through his head.
Maybe there was singing.
Maybe a little bit of dancing.
Maybe there was a little bit of merrymaking and he was with friends and it was a great.
Night.
And so, the text then says, Ruth came softly and
uncovered his feet and then she lay down.
Why uncover his feet?
It's real simple.
Okay?
If you have your feet uncovered, when you're used to having them under a blanket or a cloak or something, your feet are going to get cold.
And if your feet get cold, you're going to get cold.
Which means you're going to have to wake up, reach down, and figure this out and sort it all out.
So, this is a perfect way to wake him up, but not in a startling way, but to wake
him.
Up.
That's the plan.
Wake him up.
Get his feet a little bit cold.
So, she lay down.
And at midnight, and we don't know how many hours have passed, two, three,
it doesn't say, but Ruth has got to stay awake.
She's got to see the plan through.
At midnight, the man was startled and turned over.
Behold, a woman lay at his feet.
What?
Poor Boaz, the guy who's been a single bachelor his entire life, there's a
woman lying at his feet.
And so, he says, it's dark.
She's got a cloak on.
Who are you?
And now, in one of the most beautiful and startling and jarring texts in all of
scripture.
The reason why it's jarring is because what she says next is a full -on marriage
proposal.
Now, think this through with me.
Women today are trained that if the guy is interested in you, and if this relationship
is really getting serious, he has to put some thought into how the
proposal takes place.
He's got to put some thought, some creativity, some ingenuity.
Women today, they want what?
They want a social media potential
type of proposal that would go viral on TikTok or YouTube or something like that.
Their friends would sit there and everybody in the family would go, aww.
That's not what happens with Ruth.
In fact, she doesn't insist on anything.
You'll note that this woman has legitimately
been doing everything in a selfless way.
She's there on the request of her mother -in -law.
And so, she answers, I am Ruth, your servant, your slave.
She's come under the wings of Yahweh.
Yahweh spreads his wings and we take shelter under the wings of Yahweh.
Christ is our redeemer.
And this beautiful metaphor then invokes something that is deep,
profound, beautiful.
It kind of chokes you up just thinking about it.
That Christ in his great work to redeem you and I from the poverty of sin.
He has spread his wings over us.
But in so doing, we must remember that his wings were nailed to the cross.
In spreading his wings to redeem us, it cost him his life.
And this he did for his bride, to redeem her, to redeem you, to
redeem me, lost in sinful humanity.
Jesus indeed spread his wings over us, and it's beautiful.
And so now Ruth, kindly, unpretentiously, seriously,
looks Boaz in the eyes.
And says, spread your wings over your servant, you are a redeemer.
She has nothing to offer him, except for maybe herself and all that debt.
And she knows full well that if he agrees, and
she gives birth to a son, that legally it's not even his own.
It belongs to her dead husband.
Who would do that?
Christ does that for us.
Boaz exemplifies Christ.
Is it any wonder he has a notable place in the lineage of Jesus?
I remember when I first started reading the Bible.
Do you guys remember Beat Alton Booksellers?
Remember Beat Alton Booksellers?
But there was a Beat Alton Bookseller right there in the Santa Anita Mall in Arcadia, California.
This was the mall that we would hang out when malls were still a big thing, right?
And the Beat Alton Bookseller, I went to the Beat Alton Bookseller, and I said I wanted to buy a Bible.
I had just started attending a Christian school.
I'd never owned my own Bible.
And the lady looks at me and says, well, what translation do you want?
And so I got my first patent leather King James
Bible, patent leather, black, right?
And when I got home, I was shocked.
These and thous and therefores and wherefores and who would you just, it was a little difficult to read.
But I remember distinctly, when we got to that part of the year where the Christmas story would be read,
of going into my King James Bible and reading the account found in the book of Matthew.
And it starts with a genealogy, with a bunch of names that I
knew nothing about.
I had no concept of the history of Israel.
And all I heard was so and so begat so and so, who begat so and so, who begat so and so,
and my eyes rolled back in my head.
And I thought, what kind of stupid thing is this?
You know, when I grow up, I'm never gonna read this again, kind of nonsense, right?
But yet, when you read those beautiful genealogies, every name
has a story behind it.
And Boaz is prominently featured, and that's the beautiful bit,
is that Boaz's name is there, not the name of the deceased husband,
Boaz, by Ruth.
And so his selflessness now, God returns.
The one who humbles himself, God exalts.
And so he then, in this moment, with this awkward marriage proposal, the woman
has proposed the marriage.
Basically saying, marry me, but saying it in code talk, spread your wings over me, you're a redeemer.
Will he say yes?
Will he say no?
That's always the thing, you know, you ever watch a proposal?
As soon as the guy gets down on his knee, and he pulls out the ring, and she goes,
he asked the question, and everyone's like this.
It's like listening for EF Hutton to give stock advice.
That's an old reference.
What will he say?
His response, may you be blessed by Yahweh, my daughter.
You have made this last kindness greater than the first, in that you have not gone after
young men, whether poor or rich.
He's not seeing her as a burden at all.
Her proposal is received in the best possible light, and he
describes it as a great kindness.
Listen, I know I'm twice your age.
I'm old enough to be your father.
And yet, you didn't go after any of the younger men, either poor or rich, which was your right to do.
And because I know you're new to town, and what we do here in Israel may not make sense for what
happens in Moab, but this is the way Yahweh has set it up, and you have chosen to
embrace not only Yahweh's commands, Yahweh's redemption,
and have chosen to embrace me.
So now, my daughter, do not fear.
There's always a detail.
There's always a wrench that gets thrown into the works.
And it's like, we can't get a clean resolve at this point.
There's another guy, yeah, here's the bit, is that Boaz isn't redeemer numero uno.
He's redeemer number two.
What will happen?
What is that redeemer like?
Is he anything like Boaz?
There's nobody like Boaz.
What do we expect to happen here?
But Boaz has character.
You can trust him.
You can trust him with your life, and Ruth does.
He's nothing but kind, and he's upstanding.
He's not gonna do something underhanded.
So he says, there is a redeemer nearer than I.
I've gotta tell you the truth, so remain tonight.
And in the morning, if he will redeem you, well, good, let him do it.
But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as Yahweh lives, I will redeem you.
And now we've got a thorny problem.
We've got a woman at the threshing floor in the middle of the night, and we've gotta get her out of here without creating gossip in
town.
So he's already concerned about what's going on here, but he's got a plan.
You lie down until morning, so she lay at his feet just like she had until the morning.
But she arose before one could recognize another.
She was getting out of there before she could be recognized.
And so he said to her, let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.
And he said, bring the garment that you are wearing and hold it out.
So there in the darkness of the early twilight morning, before she could be recognized,
she held out her garment, and he measured out six measures of barley
and put it on her.
That's not a small amount.
And then she went into the city, and when she came to her mother -in -law, she said, how did you fare,
my daughter?
You're the one who put her into this situation, right?
I bet you wanna know all the details.
Tell me the tea, dear.
And so she told her all that the man had done for her, saying, these six measures of barley he gave to
me.
For he said to me, you must not go back empty -handed to your mother -in -law.
Again, nothing but generosity, nothing but kindness, complete mercy, complete looking out
for her reputation as well as his own.
But yet he has to not only meet her needs, he knows that he needs to also give
something back to Naomi.
So she replied, you wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out.
For the man will not rest, but he will settle the matter today.
And if you wanna know how this ends, you have to come back next week, in the name of Jesus, amen.
Let my prayer rise before you as incense.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Amen.
The Lord be with you.
Let us pray.
At the end of each of the colleagues today, please say the word amen with me for each one.
O Lord, God of life, the life of all the living, the light of the faithful, the strength of
those who labor in the repose of the blessed dead.
Grant us a peaceful night, free from all the disturbances, that after a time of quiet slumber, we
may, by your goodness, be endued in the new day with guidance of your Holy Spirit.
And enabled in peace to render thanks to you through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of your only begotten son.
That by his coming, we may be enabled to serve you with pure minds.
Through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now
and forever.
O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels, all just works.
Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give.
That our hearts may be set to obey your commandments, and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies,
may live in peace and quietness through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Let us bless the Lord,
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.