Pentecost and the Book of Ruth

We are currently in the season of Pentecost and will remain in it for a long time. In reality, the next season of the church year is Advent. Our color is green through all of Pentecost and it focuses on the color of growth as we hear stories about the growth of the church as gifted by the Holy Spirit. It fits beautifully with the agricultural season of growth during the summer and even looking into the harvest in the fall. Pentecost did not start out as a Christian holiday, but rather a Jewish one. It was one of the three holidays in which Jews and God-fearers made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Because of the pilgrimage, we find many people from all over the known world in Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday of weeks and the celebration of first-fruits with wave offerings in the temple. It also celebrated the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai. Understanding the Jewish roots of Pentecost helps us to celebrate the Christian meanings of the season. They celebrated the first-fruits, we celebrate the growth of the church. They celebrate the giving of the law, and we celebrate the gift of the Spirit which writes the law of love on our hearts. They experienced people from every tribe and nation making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and we celebrate the fulfillment that God’s love would reach even to the nations.

In the spirit of the harvest and God’s love reaching all peoples and nations, the Jewish nation read the book of Ruth in its entirety at Pentecost. It is perfect for the season in that it speaks of famine and God restoring the harvest in Bethlehem (the breadbasket of Israel) Bethlehem literally means “House of Bread.” How wonderful that Jesus, the true bread which comes down from heaven was born there. How wonderful that he came to save the last, the least, and the lost and that his lineage is drawn directly from the book of Ruth. How incredible that Jesus is descended from Ruth, a woman of Moab. What a glorious picture of God’s love extending to those who have nothing, even to the nations. For it is not our righteousness that saves us. It is not our heritage that saves us. It is not our wealth that saves us. It is the gracious love of God in Jesus that feeds us, sustains us, and gives us eternal life.

The end of the Book of Ruth concludes with this amazing sentence: “Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nashon, Nashon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.” This paragraph seems pretty boring until one adds to it the genealogy found in the first chapter of Matthew.  That genealogy traces back to Abraham the father of God’s chosen people, Israel. I wish to quote part of it, “ Judah was 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 Nashon, and Nashon 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.”

It is easy to see the parallel between these two genealogies. They are also a miracle in themselves.

First of all, women are seen as a crucial part of the story of the birth of David and by extension an important part of the birth of King Jesus. As a matter of fact, Mary is listed in Matthew’s genealogy. In Matthew’s eyes, and therefore Scriptures’ eyes, women play as important a role as men in the birth and genealogy of the Messiah.

Second, the women named are most likely all gentile. We can’t be sure about Tamar, but it is clear that Rahab and Ruth were previously members of nations that were at war with Israel at one time or another. Rahab hid the spies from Israel and was protected by hanging a scarlet cord from her window. The cord looked backward to the blood of the lamb that saved the firstborn of Israel in Egypt, but it also looked forward to the blood of the Lamb shed on the cross that saved you and me. Rahab was the ancient ancestor of the Lamb, Jesus the King. Ruth was not judged on being a Moabite. She had inherited her love from the God of covenant love and mercy from her relationship to Naomi. She had come to respect that God so much that she became a person of covenant love and mercy herself in sacrificing everything for her mother-in-law. My heart always melts with her words, “ Where you go, I will go. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die…” Her heart was filled with God’s mercy, she was filled with God’s covenant love, God’s Chesed… and so she became the ancestor of David and eventually the ancestor of Jesus, the Christ. God was building the nations into the Messiah. The sacrifice of his Son was not just for Israel, but for the sins of the whole world. Through Israel, all nations would be blessed. All nations were part of the promise to Abraham. On Pentecost, all nations heard the Gospel proclaimed in their own tongue. All nations heard of a messiah whose very DNA came from all nations.

Finally, we see in these genealogies that Christ came from the least, the last, and the lost. Judah was going to kill Tamar for her sin until he found that he was the father of her child. Rahab was a woman of the night, yet the Holy Spirit helped her to see the importance of protecting the spies from Israel. Ruth was a Moabite with no family, no money, and no home, and no future. Yet she was filled with mercy and loving-kindness toward Naomi. These women were nothing in the eyes of the world. But in the eyes of God who looked into their hearts, these women would become the great, great, great grandmothers of his Son, the King of Kings. Our past can’t keep us from the love of God. Our past can’t keep us from being his instruments. Our past can’t keep us from his family. It is made up of men and women, of princes and paupers, of the best and the worst, of Jews and foreigners. Jesus came from all of us. Jesus died for all of us. This Pentecost, may you grow in the appreciation of where you came from and where Jesus came from. May it encourage you to call him Lord and King. May we know him as the King of Kings. May we know him as the King of all.

In Christ,

†Mark