My wife and I grew up in very different homes. She was born in Texas. I was born 4 days later in TN. From there our stories took very different turns.

My parents stayed married. Her parents divorced. I had consistency. I always knew what to expect when I came home. She had chaos. Alcoholism. Abuse.

When she became a teenager, she had sexual relationships with guys. I was a virgin when we got married. She didn’t know much about Jesus when we met...I could probably count the Sunday’s on one hand that I had missed church.

We met on a church ski trip that she came on with a friend in college. One of the rst words I heard her say I can’t repeat in a sermon. We got married the day after she turned 21 and three days before I did.

In a lot of ways, we were naïve about how different we were. The truth is, at that point...even as we said “I DO” there was a lot of her story that I didn’t even know yet. That she would leak out to me through tears over the next 11 years.

Next Sunday, will be our 17th wedding anniversary. We’ve got 3 boys...our oldest 2 came home through adoption a year and a half after they were born....which means from birth... they started out with broken family pasts.

My wife and I will sometimes sit out underneath the ferns on our front porch in our rocking chairs. We affectionately call that time “Under the Ferns”. (I know, it sounds like we are retired, but we got married when I was 20 years old, so I guess acting like I’m retired at 37 is ok too).

We’ll sit there in our rocking chairs on warm summer evenings...and my favorite nights are when we say things like, “Wow. Can you believe what God has done with us? With our mar- riage? With our family?” Then we’ll talk about our sons. We’ll wonder “What is God going to do with them...and how is he going to use us to bring those future’s into reality?”

As I’ve been reading and thinking through the end of the book of Ruth, I was reminded of the answers to those questions my wife and I ask under the ferns.

In all the ways that divorce, abandonment, sexual abuse, and neglect affect families for generations... and affects your trust if people...your outlook on God....How in the world... could God redeem that? WHY would God take a broken, ugly, sinful, messed up past and do something beautiful with it?

If you are coming from a broken home, an ugly past, a family that has done more harm than good to each other...today, I want you to receive deep lasting healing hope...not from my story or my wife’s story...but from God’s story.

I want you to see today that God himself doesn’t have a clean family history. In fact, very literally, when it seemed God wasn’t there at all, in some of the darkest, most despairing family situations in human history, God was actually slowly working to save the world... when some prostitutes got pregnant. We’ll get to that at the end. In the mean time....

In case you missed the rst 3 chapters of Ruth, I’ll give you the 10 cent summary.

Because of a famine, Naomi moves with her husband and 2 sons away from Bethlehem to Moab to nd food.

But tragically her husband dies, and then her sons die, and she’s left only with one daugh- ter-in-law, RUTH. Naomi changes her name to “Bitter Old Hag” and resents God for taking away her family. So Ruth and Naomi share this problem. They have no food, and they have no family.

Naomi decides to move back to Bethlehem to solve her food problem. And Ruth, throws away her future and hope of having a family to stay with Naomi. She also throws away all the gods she worships in Moab and begins to believe and worship the God of the Jews.

But Ruth is a Moabite. Moabites are sort of viewed as home-wreckers in Bethlehem. They are the offspring of an incestuous relationship. So nobody is going to want to marry Ruth. It would ruin his reputation. The best Ruth and Naomi can hope for is to cling to each other and live hand to mouth. They might solve their food problem, but they will never have a family again.

But, when Ruth goes out to nd food in Bethlehem, she ends up in the eld of this rich landowner, Boaz. Boaz protects her, and provides for her. Giving her 50 lbs of grain and even takes her on a date and sends her home with a takeout box full of leftovers.

When Naomi hears about this, she REALLY wants to get Ruth and Boaz together, so she tells Ruth to go out to Boaz while he’s asleep in the elds after a big party, and snuggle up next to his feet. This is like telling your teenage daughter to sneak in the bedroom window of her boyfriend. It would kind of con rm the suspicions that Ruth was indeed just another Moabite prostitute.

But Ruth and Boaz don’t have sex out in the eld...instead Boaz promises that he is going to marry Ruth. BUT WAIT....!

According to Jewish law, there is another more eligible bachelor that has the right of refus- al to marry Ruth before Boaz can marry her.

So we ended chapter 3 with a pit in our stomach. “Oh no! Ruth and Boaz aren’t going to get together. She’s going to have to marry some other dude who probably doesn’t even care about her! And Boaz is such a good guy!”

But Boaz has a little something up his sleeve...and now. I give you thrilling ending to the Book of Ruth.

Ruth 4

Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the eld from the hand of Naomi, you also ac- quire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and ex- changing: to con rm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Nao- mi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpet- uate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are wit- nesses this day.” Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman.”

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. 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.” Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And the women 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.

Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jes- se fathered David.

This story has a happy, but strange ending. I hope what you see today is that it is in the STRANGE WAY this story ends that you’ll see the most beautiful hope in the universe.

But before we get to the end...lets see what brought that hope about. First, 1) Love takes wise risks.

Most of us tend to think more with one side of the brain than the other. Some of us are more right brained. We like to feel, and tell stories.
We paint with all the colors of the wind.

Some of us are more left brained. We like math. And logic. We like to solve problems, not cry about them.

...and then there are Renaissance Men like Boaz.
On one hand, we know Boaz isn’t controlled by his emotions. He thinks things through.

This is evident by the fact that when he found out about this other guy that has the right of refusal to Ruth, he didn’t panic. He didn’t freak out. He didn’t say, “Oh no Ruth! Without you my world will stop. Lets run away together. Lets give ‘em something to talk about!”

No, Boaz is calm and collected. In Ruth 3:13 he says, “If this other guy will marry you, so be it. But if not, then I will.”

That’s not exactly a 21st century idea of love is it?

Of course, we also know that Boaz doesn’t get dragged around by his libido either. Be- cause when Ruth was sleeping with him in the eld, he didn’t take advantage of her. He didn’t look at her and say, “You and me baby we aint nothin’ but mammals, so lets do it like they do on the Discovery Channel!”

So here’s what we know about Boaz going into chapter 4. He is not “ ghting for Ruth” be- cause he can’t imagine life without her.

This is not a 21st century romance. He has not found his soulmate. He is thinking things through very clearly.

The actions in chapter 4 do not represent a desperate man scheming his way to get a woman he “HAS TO HAVE.”

This chapter is lled with wisdom that is driven by a love for God, and a love for the people God loves. He doesn’t see Ruth as a sex object, or an emotional life raft...he sees her as a daughter of God.

...and that’s where the left brained- emotional Boaz kicks in.
See, There is a kind of ght in Boaz, too. One that very much comes from passion and emotion. One that ercely loves Ruth...

To see that, lets take a look at this other fella. First you need to know why he’s even on the scene. There are two Old Testament laws that are in play here.

One law from Leviticus 25 says that when a woman’s husband dies, and you are the closest member of the family, you can REDEEM, or buy back, his land...so that it stays in the fami- ly. With that, come all his responsibilities as well. Like taking care of any remaining family. Say...like his widow.

The other law in play is this one from... Deuteronomy 25:5-6

It says that when a member of your family clan dies, and he has no son, then the closest relative should marry her...and when he has kids with her, those kids will be considered the kids of the dead brother...so that his name is carried on. But, if the closest relative refus- es...then the next closest guy can marry her.

A couple of things right here.

First, remember, in this society...your kids were your retirement. Without kids, you had no one to care for you in your old age. This is about provision. Safety. This is God caring for the widow.

And second, just in case you think God favors men over women or gives women no power... did you see the end of this law?

Deut 25:8-10 says that if this brother refuses to marry the widow, with a host of witnesses there to see it, she gets to walk up to him...take off one of his ip ops, hock a giant loogi, and spit in his face.

Then Dude gets a nickname... “Guy who had his sandal pulled off”...and his grandchildren will talk about that time granddaddy got shamed by a widow. All the kids in the school

yard will yell at them, “nanny nanny boo boo, your are from the house of him who had his sandal pulled off”.

They’ll make jokes like “Why was your gradpa kicked out of the all expenses paid resort?... Because its called SANDALS...not SANDAL...get it...SANDAL...SANDAL! O’doyle RULES!”

In a culture that is all about building up honor in the community and avoiding shame...this is a BIG DEAL. Because taking care if widows and orphans is a BIG DEAL to God.

And THAT’S why what happens here is so extraordinary.

Ruth 4:1

Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down.

Notice that in this story we are never told this guys name. Boaz doesn’t use it. He just says, “hey pal, Hey brother, hey friend.” This is a hebrew idiom for so-and-so. Whenever you nd a character in the OT without a name, it implies judgment. In other words, this guy is being contrasted to Boaz. He’s not a worthy man as the narrator has already called Boaz. He’s a man worthy of judgment.

And that shows in the way that So-and-so is only thinking with the left side of his brain. He is all risk-bene t evaluation. He’s a nasty guy with no heart.

Boaz isn’t motivated by a carnal lust for Ruth...and he’s not JUST motivated by an emo- tional attachment...he is REALLY concerned about her well-being...her safety...and her ourishing.

So he puts so-and-so to the test. Because if some guy is going to Marry her...he better be a worthy man.

Ruth 4:2

And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down.

First he gathers the witnesses. He wants this thing to be legal.

Ruth 4:3-4

Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here

and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.”

Then Boaz casually says, “Hey cuz, Just thought I’d mention this to ya. Naomi is back in town, you know, she married our cousin Elimilech?. Well, he dead now. But Elimilech had some “pretty sweet land” over on the South Side. You tryin’ to buy it back? I’m sure you will. You know it actually is a really sweet set up. Cuz Naomi, well she ain’t got much life left in her...and then you know...you wouldn’t have to worry about taking care of her any- more...then you’d just have all that land. Watching the cash roll in.”

And so-and-so says, “Oh yeah, I’m redeeming that!”

Ruth 4:5

Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the eld from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.”

Now Boaz has this guy. This is where he is using his wisdom. He says, “Oh and by the way... Forgot to tell you, Broseph, Naomi brought her Daughter-in-law back with her...who is also a widow....and ...mmmmmmmm....shes a MOABITE. So you’ll have to marry her, have kids with her, and all the kids you have are going to get her rst husbands last name, not yours....and all that land will be theirs.”

Ruth 4:6

Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheri- tance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

Surprise, surprise. Our boy changes his tune.
“uuuuuhhhhh, that’s cool man.. You can have it. I can’t have all my inheritance going to some other dudes kids. I got my own name to watch out for.”

Ruth 4:7-8

Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and ex- changing: to con rm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal.

Now we get the Sandal ceremony. Except this is interesting. Notice that Ruth doesn’t take off the sandal of So and so. He takes it off himself and passes it over to Boaz.

See, what you have in this guy is a dude who is trying simply to get the best deal. He is

trying to minimize his shame, and maximize his honor. At rst he wants to Redeem Nao- mi’s land...but not because he wants to care for and provide for a widow...nope. He’s a gold digger.

He sees the ability to build his reputation. He sees the opportunity to avoid the whole “Sin- gle Sandle” nickname...while he looks like a hero.

This is a win-win-win.

But he is exposed in front of everyone when Boaz tells him about Ruth.
See, in Ruth, he loses his honor. He gets the reputation of marrying a promiscuous Moabite woman, he loses his name and ability to build his lineage...

See, the shame of marrying Ruth is so great, he’d rather be known as the “One Sandal Guy” than to Redeem Ruth.

Do you remember Orpah? Orpah was Naomi’s other daughter in law. At the rst of this story, She left Naomi when Ruth stayed with her.

Now, here at the end of the story, we have the other bookend. Like Orpah left Naomi be- cause the cost would be too great to her, now Brosephus is leaving Ruth because the cost is too great to redeem her. He minimizes his risk...he plays it safe...to preserve his honor. ...and ironically, he’s THE GUY whose name is never mentioned.

In the words of Jesus, “Try to save your life, and you’ll lose it. Lose your life my sake, and you’ll save it.” Biblical wisdom says, “Love like God loves...and you’ll take risks so that his name is great.”

That’s Boaz. He cares more about Ruth, and Naomi, than about his spreadsheet bottom line...even his own name. He has a deep affection for these women, these widows, be- cause God has a deep affection for him. And its that love, that care, that causes him to say, “I’m willing for this to cost me honor, to cost me money...I’m willing to take on any shame and any nancial cost...I’m willing to give these kids’ a different last name than mine...be- cause I have a heart of mercy.”

Listen, they way you measure your love for someone is not in how giddy you feel about them in your rst year of dating. Because those early feelings fade. They disappear. That’s not love. That’s a chemical wash that happens in your brain. Your feelings don’t make deci- sions for you.

But you also don’t decide to commit to someone by evaluating how that other person
will help you achieve your life goals. Adoption, marriage, getting pregnant, none of those things are about helping you to achieve individual honor...and they certainly won’t make you rich. They are all about making a deep commitment to someone over and above Do- pamine and serotonin levels in your brain...but motivated rather by the unwavering steady

commitment of God to you...and to the hurting and helpless. Your budgeting program should not decide how you show mercy. Instead, the wisdom of God should make your de- cisions for you. Lay down your life. Put aside your own self-interest...and take a risk on love. Because what you lose now...well...you really aren’t losing anything at all.

You know, sometimes I hesitate to tell the story of my wife and me, because I see so many young couples that would look to us as an example. But we weren’t. I operated almost completely in “I JUST GOTTA HAVE HER” kind of mindset...and she covered her past up with me to minimize her shame.

And after 10 years in our marriage...we collapsed. It was only by the grace of God that 10 years later, BECAUSE of the wisdom of God that he had brought into my life, that I was able to stay with Keva. And it was only his grace that eventually changed her.

Make risky decisions out of love...but be sure its love grounded in the wisdom of God.

Now, you ready for this? I want to give you hope. Is your family’s past mangled and ugly? Have you been sexually abused and its effected who you are, what you think about your- self? Have you slept with any number of men or women who you aren’t married to? Do you believe that you’ll never be ‘normal’? That your future is going to continue to repeat the past? I want to show you hope that no divorce, no abuse, no dysfunction, no sin...not even death can stop.

And don’t be fooled...your hope is not in nding a man like Boaz, or a woman like Ruth to love you. Your hope is nding a God who, like Boaz, is willing to shame himself to redeem you. Your hope is nding a God who, like Ruth, is willing to leave his home to be by your side.

Your hope is nding a God who will take everything you’ve done, and everything that’s ever been done to you...and weave it into the very story that is going to change you. You need a God that somehow is not just sentimental about you...not all right brained...yet also, is not just a left-brained cost bene t kind of person. He needs to be full of love and grace....but equally full of truth and justice.

Now, I want to show you that God not only CAN save you...He’s already been at work to do it. And Boaz and Ruth isn’t just some Romantic fairy tale...they are playing a role in what THIS God is doing in your life.

See...
2) God is saving broken & sinful families through broken families with sinful pasts.

Ok, deep breath, because this is kind of like the endings to one of those old M. Night Shy- malan movies where when you gure out Bruce Willis has been dead the whole time...so you want to go back and watch the whole thing again because you’re like “what!” No way!”

And indeed, This whole book started with Naomi saying “I see dead people!”

Her husband died. Her sons died. She didn’t have anything to eat.
When Naomi went back to Bethlehem she exclaimed, “Call me BITTER, because I used to be full, now I’m empty.”

Her stomach was empty, but even worse, the seats at her table were empty.
I’d rather have my wife and kids and split a happy meal 5 ways than I would have feast with- out them to share it with.

In fact, all along, the two great problems of this book are food and family.
Seemingly, Boaz solved the food problem.
After all, it was his elds where Ruth found grain. He was the one who protected her there, loaded her up with a months worth of it to take home to Naomi...right?

But maybe you missed it at the rst of this book. Take a look.
Ruth 1:6

Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the elds of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.

It says that it was the LORD that solved the food problem.

And seemingly, Boaz solved the Family problem, right? He agrees to marry Ruth...and then they have a baby. Birds and bees. Biology. But look again.

4:13

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son.

It was the LORD that gave her conception.

I know what you’re thinking. Come on, Trev. That’s my problem with Christians right there. All this stuff that is just natural scienti c stuff you are going to attribute to God.

Rain falls on the seeded ground...and crops spring up. A sperm gets to an egg, and a baby is conceived.

That’s science. But see, that’s just the author’s point. Its more than science. Did you know that the narrator only refers God 2 times in this book?

Those are the only 2 times. At the beginning and the end. At the alpha and the omega.

He’s pointing out to you, that in the places you don’t think God is at work he is diligently working FOR YOU. To save you. To REDEEM YOU. To give you everything you need. This “Oridnary” or “Common” grace brackets this book as if telling you, God is quietly at work in every twist and turn of Ruth and Naomi’s story.

And take a look... The Narrator just doesn’t say God, he uses God’s covenant name. That’s what that all caps LORD is about.

In other words, God is providing for the deepest needs of Naomi and Ruth not simply because he’s giving them common grace...but a very special covenant grace. Like a groom to a bride...he has committed himself to them. He’s caring for them because they are his people.

Now, look at verses 11-12.

Ruth 4:11-12

Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tam- ar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman.”

To whom does this God commit himself? Who is this God taking “wise risks” for so to speak?

Well, how about some of the folks who are in Boaz’s family tree? At the engagement party, all the witnesses pray a prayer for the soon to be married couple. And they ask that God would make their house like RACHEL and LEAH...and then like Perez, who is the child of Judah and Tamar.

Do you know who those folks are? Rachel and Leah were sisters who were jealous of each other and competed for the same man’s attention...who they BOTH married. Leah was jealous of Rachel’s looks, and Rachel was jealous of Leah’s ability to have children like a rabbit.

Let’s not even mention that the only reason Jacob even married the not-so-photoge- nic Leah is because he was so driven by his lust for Rachel that he got wasted and then tricked. That’s some dysfunction right there!

Then, there’s Perez. Perez is the child that Tamar bore to Judah...who was HER FATHER In LAW.

And the only reason Judah had sex with Tamar, is because she put on a hoodie and pre- tended to be a prostitute. This is only after her brother raped her.

WHO PRAYS A PRAYER LIKE THIS FOR A NEWLYWED COUPLE!?

This is like me being the pastor at your wedding and praying, “Lord, make this marriage as strong as Tyga and Kylie Jenner.” “LORD, take this couple and make them worthy of a reality TV show”

We’ll come back to that in just a minute.

In the meantime, something really strange starts to happen right here.

Ruth 4:13

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son.

The title character of the book, RUTH fades out. This seems like it should be the end of the book. Food problem? Solved. Family problem? Solved. Ruth is married and pregnant with a son. Fade to black. Roll Credits.

But the book of Ruth is not about Ruth.

You ever been to a movie where the credits start to roll, and you start to walk out of the theater but someone tells you to sit back down, because they heard from a friend that after the credits roll there’s a sneak peak at the sequel?

That’s exactly what happens here.

Ruth 4:14-15

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.”

In verse 14, the camera is just on this shot of Naomi holding this baby.

Naomi, who came back to Bethlehem saying to all the village women, “Call me bitter, be- cause the LORD has taken everything from me. He’s left me starving and without a family. I left full, and I have returned empty.” She now ends the book with all those village women saying over her, “You thought your life was empty, but Ruth, this Moabite daughter in law of yours, has been better for you than 7 sons.”

Seven sons is the Hebrew expression for the perfect family. You see, these women who were supposed to call her bitter and empty, good as dead are now saying, “What you have is better than perfect...its God’s provision.”

And then a curious little question comes to mind. Exactly WHO is the redeemer here?

Remember, according to the law...its Boaz. Right? But when these women talk about the redeemer...they are talking about the baby!

This is the only time in the OT where a baby is referred to as the Redeemer. As the one who will buy back his relatives.

And then we close the book with this. A genealogy.

Ruth 4:18-22

Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jes- se fathered David.

10 names.

The 10th name in a Hebrew genealogy represents completion. Something signi cant. So the narrator goes back to the bastard child of Tamar, and works his way to a king. King David.

Of Course, if you’ve read the OT, you know that King David doesn’t just represent King David. He is always pointing forward to this eternal king. This king whose throne will never expire. Who will reign forever.

See, this little baby redeemer born to Ruth in Bethlehem, points to another, little baby redeemer born in Bethlehem.

Matthew 1:1-6

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the fa- ther of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.

The New Testament opens with the Genealogy of Jesus Christ.

First of all...you see that...Jesus is the son of David. Not literally. But Matthew is showing you...this is the eternal king. This is the one to whom david points. This is the better baby born in Bethlehem. Then, if you count through, you’ll nd that Jesus is the 49th person in this list. In other words. He isn’t just the 7th son, he’s the 7th son TIMES seven. He is eter- nal perfection.

So, who’s in the list? Who does the Holy Spirit of God use to bring about the perfect re- deemer? Well, its unusual to have women in a genealogy at this time. But in Jesus’ gene- alogy, there are 5 of them.

Tamar (who was raped and then pretended to be a prostitute), Rahab (who WAS a prosti- tute), Ruth (who is the product of a incestuous relationship and acted like a prostitute on the threshing oor with Boaz), Bathsheba (an adulteress), and of course, Mary, the mother of Jesus (Who everybody thought was an adulteress).

Don’t you see? It is not your past...it is not your families past that quali es you to be grafted into the family of Jesus Christ. To be one of his brothers and sisters.

When Jesus came, he went to adulterers, and prostitutes... and he told them... “I am the Everlasting King to whom David pointed. And I have a kingdom. And I’m here to make you royal. I’m here to buy you back. I have come to redeem you.”

Jesus was full of grace and Truth. On one hand he is serious about your sin. He objectively and rationally looks at what you’ve done and sees it as offensive. Shameful.

On the other hand, he is so in love with his people, that he doesn’t want you to be crushed by your sin. He doesn’t want you to be empty, bitter, dead.

So on the cross he was crushed in your place. Like Boaz, he took on the bride that would cost him dearly. He was shamed deeper than the no-name guy who passed on Ruth. See, Jesus is God himself. And they didn’t just take his sandal. They took all his clothes off. And they did spit on Jesus but they did much more. They whipped him. Mocked him. Hung him on a cross in public. And in the presence of many witnesses...he was shamed.

...so you could be honored. Redeemed. Restored. We were the no-names who deserved Judgment. He had the name that is above all names...Yet...he switched places with us on the cross.

...and then on then on the 3rd day, Jesus resurrected. He overcame everything. He defeat- ed sin and death.

He is the beginning and the end. You know, its not only in the book of Ruth that food and family is the problem being solved. That’s the story of the bible.

In Genesis he was there, with the Father creating everything. A perfect garden with food as far as the eye could see. And family... and man and a woman who were to love each other, be fruitful and multiply. Then we cheated on God. We sinned. And it brought a curse that was passed on to our family.

It was a curse against the food. Thorns came up and man would have to toil in order to harvest from the ground. Food would not come easy. And our sin cursed the family. The woman would have pain in childbirth, the husband and wife would hide from each other, and ght with each other...and then they had two sons...and one killed the other. Family dysfunction.

But, at the end of all things, there will be another garden. And there, when Jesus returns, the Bible says there will be a wedding feast. The groom, with his adulteress bride, the one who cheated on him, The church.... will be redeemed. And all of Jesus’ brothers and sis- ters...all the sinners made saints...all the broken families restored....all the empty will be lled...all the dead...will be alive. And we will feast with our family. Full bellies. Full table. Fully satis ed. Food problem solved. By Jesus, the bread of life. Family problem solved. Jesus is our big brother, our redeemer, that restores us to our father.

Jesus bookends history with uncommon grace. He is the Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end. The eternal redeemer.

The church is a broken family with a sinful past...but we are also the Bride of Christ that will sit with him at the wedding feast...and, I bet we’ll even get a take out box for our leftovers.

The book of Ruth opened with death. It ends with eternal life.

Your hope is not in getting your family to be perfect. TO the Broken, hurting, abandoned,.... wife, husband, daughter, son...To the adulterer, to the sexually abused,....though you may feel empty, and hopeless...There is a redeemer.

He’s already done what’s necessary for you to come into his family. He’s already loved you with a beautifully wise and risky love.

All that’s left for you to do is turn around...and trust him.