When I was young, my family moved to Alaska. There was no housing for us on Post, so we stayed in a hotel. We also didn’t start school right away. There were no other kids to play with; anything familiar was packed away. I had one small suitcase. I missed my friends, my bed, and stuffed animals. I was lost and struggling. Things were off to a bad start in this new and strange place.  

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Finally, the day came when we got into housing! There was cleaning, moving trucks, crates and boxes. Boxes were carried into my room with old friends popping out as the tape was ripped from their tops – stuffed animals! Familiar posters with poetry and my bed were put up!  

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Soon, school started. My mother walked me to the office where the principal and a student stood – a girl from my class. After a welcome from the principal, this friend gave me a tour of the school. We talked about where we were from and what rank our dads were. Did I have any siblings? Did she like to dance? She said she’d teach me ice skating. She was so nice and welcoming, salve for my little soul. After all the waiting, I was getting some special treatment. The relief, the beginning of a sense of belonging, a friend: I was home.

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I can only assume this experience of mine was a sliver of what Ruth experienced, and when Boaz noticed and cared for her, she must have felt she was in a wonderful dream. As a single woman, she had no worth in this culture – no property, no blood relatives. No one knew her name. On top of that, here she was in Bethlehem, a foreigner. She probably had an accent, and everyone knew she was from a pagan country, not a Hebrew. She and her mother-in-law were poor. The only way they could feed themselves was to beg or glean from the fields, picking up the grains left over after the paid workers had gathered the crops. Ruth chose the latter. She was able; she would work and provide.  

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Enter Boaz, a man familiar with foreign women, accustomed to outcasts: His mother was a prostitute from a foreign country; her name was Rahab (Josh. 2:3, Heb.11:31). How he must’ve seen a glimpse of his mother’s struggle now reflected in this stranger laboring in his fields, a woman who had experienced grief, but had still chosen to stand by Naomi, even though it was another sacrifice to care for her. He sees her, really sees her, and gives her special treatment.

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Our verse today highlights an extraordinary act on behalf of Ruth. Boaz giving the instructions to allow Ruth to gather stalks of grain not only made her life easier – it was a sacrifice to his bottom line. He was sacrificing income for her. Boaz even feeds and gives her a place to get water that is already drawn. (Perhaps from the same well her great-grandson would yearn for water from years later.) He even tells the men not to lay a hand on her. A foreign woman would have been easy prey, with no one to protect her or be on her side. Boaz was a powerful landowner; his words carried weight. If anyone went against them, they also carried consequences.  

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Later, we find that Boaz is a kinsman redeemer (Ruth 4:4) for Naomi’s family, a man who can bring security to both women through Hebrew custom that God had put into place long ago. He is a close relative of Naomi’s husband who can marry Ruth, take responsibility for them both, and change their future drastically! Even though the deck was stacked against them, God had made a way for restoration in these circumstances. Ruth was home.

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This union between Ruth and Boaz eventually brings the Christ (Matt. 1). Yes, a foreign woman born into a pagan culture – a relative of Jesus. And she isn’t the only one – remember Rahab, once an idol-worshipping prostitute. Ruth lived 1,100 years before Jesus, and she was the great-grandmother of King David. A Gentile and a woman, and yet there is a book in the Christian and Hebrew scriptures named after her. Long before she was born, God was making a way for her restoration.  

Do you wonder if you matter to God, if you are too far gone? God has also made a way for restoration for you.  

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Over 2,000 years ago, Restoration hung on a cross for you, bled and died for you, and came back to life to seal the deal. Restoration’s name is Jesus.

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Are you from the wrong side of the tracks, infected with pride or greed? Wallowing in self-pity, struggling with pornography? Looked down on by ‘nice’ people, shamed by family? God has made a way. Cling to Jesus and the freedom from sin and shame that his sacrifice brings to you and me. Turn away from this world and run to the arms of our kinsman redeemer, Jesus. He’s brought special treatment to us all.

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Welcome home.