In our continuing Lent journey along the Way of Love, we
have found Rest in letting God be in control. We have seen that when we Go
in faith God prospers our way, even though there may be lessons to Learn,
and even times when we have to Turn back to God.
Today we consider the fifth tenet along the Way. How are we Blessed
and how can we Bless? The answer is found in God.
Naomi’s life begins to look up as we come to Chapter 2 of
the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament. There is “a kinsman on her husband’s side, a prominent rich man, of the family of
Elimelech, whose name was Boaz”. (Ruth 2:1) I find it interesting to
remember that Boaz is the son of Rahab of Jericho. He is Jewish by his father’s
lineage, not his mother’s. Most early peoples and many nomadic tribes count
tribal and cultural heritage as descended through the mother. Perhaps this is
based on the fact that you always know who the mother is. God’s family has no
boundaries, because God is Father and Mother of each and every one!
At the time of Naomi, the Law of Moses stated that widows
and orphans were allowed to glean in the fields. That is, they could gather up the leftover
bits of the harvest from the edges of the fields. This practice was found in other cultures, including ancient Egypt as this image from the tomb of Ramose shows.
Ruth goes to glean for herself
and Naomi. Because there really are no coincidences with God, she ‘happens’ to
work in the fields belonging to Boaz. The man takes note of her work, and
invites her to stay with his workers. He even instructs his workers, ‘pull out some handfuls for her from the
bundles, and leave them for her to glean, and do not rebuke her’. Boaz Blesses
Ruth and Naomi by his generous actions. He goes above and beyond the
requirement of the Law of Moses. He provides extra for her. In fact, when Ruth
“beat out what she had gleaned, and it
was about an ephah of barley”. That is a lot (almost a bushel)! Certainly,
more than she would have gotten just by picking up the stray straws!
Blessing is about extravagance. It is about giving and giving
again-our goods, our money, our time, our talent, our love. It's about having Hope, and Trusting that God does Bless even when things look bleak.
In the Sunday Gospel (John 12:1-8) we learn that Jesus has
again visited his friends in Bethany. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus welcome him
into their home. Mary “took a pound of
costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her
hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” She does
this out of love and to Bless the rabbi.
Jesus knows there is a deeper meaning to her actions. He
says, “She bought it so that she might
keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do
not always have me” We are reminded that we are on this Lenten journey to
the cross and grave in these words. What we do to Bless someone may have a
deeper significance than we know or understand. Mary may not have understood
Jesus’ prophetic words as being imminent. Boaz may not have known that his
action to Bless Ruth and Naomi with extra grain would lead to a family
for him (and down the road to a dynasty for Israel).
Mary of Bethany and Ruth of Bethlehem reached out to Bless someone else and discovered that they were Blessed in return.
In the Philippians reading from Sunday, Paul talks about how
he has found Blessing not in his Hebrew heritage, but in “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”. So, he
states that he is “forgetting what lies
behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for
the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians
3:4b-14)
Paul recognizes that this Blessing has come through
“the loss of all things.” He says
that their loss has brought the Blessing of “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one
that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.”
It is only by loss of our worldly identity that we can “know Christ and the power of his resurrection.”
Sometimes we have to lose something in order to find the Blessing. Ruth had
to lose her pride in order to glean. Mary had to change (lose) her plans to save the oil for Jesus' burial. Paul had to lose his identity as “Hebrew of the Hebrews’. By letting go of
their plans, each found that they were Blessed by God. They all found new
Hope in God’s greater Blessing.
What do you need to let go of to receive God’s Blessing?
Think about what Mary of Bethany might have thought when
Jesus told her that the perfume was to be kept for his burial.
Have you experienced God’s Blessing in an unexpected
way?
