Ruth 3:1-15
Continuing in the story of Ruth. And after seeing Donald Miller a few weeks ago (he's a writer), I remembered his whole take on Bible stories. He pointed out how whack it is for us to hear these stories, that we believe are a part of the greater epic of God & us, and always try to boil them down to some lesson or life application on Sundays. Don made the point of how rude that is.
It's like what if a good friend came up and said they had some important jive to tell us, to talk about, and all we did was look at our watch and say "get to the part that affects me, that changes my life; give me the three concise points of your story and tell me why I should care"?
Obviously the Bible applies to us, or so we say/hope, but isn't there power in a good story? The book named "Ruth" is a good story. Just read Ruth 1 and 2 and then 3:1-15 to see where we are at this point for Sunday. Maybe read it several times to really get up in there and experience it. See what it makes you wonder...
I've been wondering about: the whole idea of a "kinsman-redeemer", what that meant in the old school days, and how does it compare to what Jesus does? Also, wouldn't it have been hard for anybody to care much for Ruth, her being from Moab, and Israel having been at war with Moab for years and years at that time. Were people mean to her, what was it like for her and Naomi to come home that way? What did people say about them? How is Boaz such a righteous dude to her (I also wonder how old he is, it makes him sound old...)? Getting to the end of the book of Ruth, what did this story mean to Jews who kept it, wrote it down, and cherished it? Do we take it to heart, and/or what does it mean to Christians?
