Generosity like God's

At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar." When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Let her gather among the sheaves and don't reprimand her. Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her." So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough. (Ruth 2:14-18)   There is a parable Jesus tells in the gospel of Luke (12:16-21) about a wealthy man who was faced with the dilemma of an abundant harvest.  His barns were not big enough to hold it all.  So, he decides to tear down his old barns and build bigger ones. "And I'll say to myself, "Self, you have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."  But God said to him: "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?"  It is a warning toward all those with plenty saved up for the future for themselves to perhaps reconsider where they invest their abundance.  As Jesus says at the beginning: "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed: life does not consist in an abundance of possessions." You see: according to the Old Testament law, the best place to store one's surplus agricultural products was in the bellies of the poor.  The harvest was a gift from the hand of God: the land was his, the rain was his, and so was the sunlight and the pollinators.  The harvest was given in trust to those who stewarded the land for the sake of the whole community—not just for personal gain.  Hence the command to leave the edges of one's field unharvested. So here in the book of Ruth, we discover what kind of "man of standing" Boaz is.  It turns out that he is generous as God himself is generous.  Boaz lives into all the ideals set forth in the law.  Not only does he leave the edges of his fields for the poor, but he feeds them from his own table and orders his harvester to pull grain from his own sheaves to ensure they have enough!  This was an unheard of, overflowing generosity. Boaz also raises Ruth up to an unheard of status.  She goes from foreigner, to welcome gleaner, to having a place of honour at a meal with the field's owner, all in one day!  Boaz lifts her up from obscurity to a place of honour in the community. One can faintly sniff the aroma of the Lord's Supper table here, or of the Messianic wedding banquet.  Food and cups run over.  Ruth eats to her satisfaction from Boaz's generous abundance and still has plenty left over to share with Naomi later.  For poor widows with nothing—this is the best meal they've had in a good long time.  What gifts!  What generosity. Two questions arise here for us.  Firstly, do we see all that we have as gifts given in trust from God to be used for the sake of the whole community?  Secondly, where do we rank on the scale of generosity between the barn builder of Jesus' parable and Boaz?  There are certainly enough bellies of the poor and homeless in which to store our surplus should we be looking for a good investment.  As the book of Ruth will tell us—one never knows the surprising(ly good!) returns that might come from such a risky investment!   As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:     May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.