Ruth does not end as we expect. A literary masterpiece filled with dramatic tension should end with something other than fragmentary genealogy. But perhaps the Book of Ruth is a story about another story. A story where we find hope for our story. Join us as we examine Ruth 4:18-22 and Matthew 1:1-17 to consider the power of the story beyond the story.
Tag Archives: Ruth
03/08/2026 | “Filled Up” | Ruth 4:13-17
Are you empty? Coasting on the fumes of disappointment, bitterness, or grief? There is a Heavenly Father who delights to fill us up with sufficient, superabundant, saving grace upon grace through a redeemer. Join us as we examine Ruth 4:13-17 and consider how God fills up empty places with his grace.
The Story Beyond the Story
As a boy, our attic was a place of mystery and wonder. Its clutter was a treasure trove of self-discovery. Things my parents and grandparents knew but forgot. Things my parents and grandparents experienced but wanted to forget. But to me it was a place to discover people whose names I knew but whose lives I did not. It was a place to understand how I came to be who I was.
Family histories are precious. Even if notorious or even scandalous. The names on our family tree are not mere chronological markers. They represent real lives. And they had real impact on our lives through their character, their genetics, their successes and their failures. They tell both the story behind our story and story beyond their story. And what is true of our genealogies is also true of biblical genealogies.
At first glance those genealogies, like my childhood attic, seem cluttered and unfamiliar. But God has placed them in the Scriptures for our instruction. To understand more who we are, and more importantly, who God is. Like my attic, those genealogies are treasure troves of self-discovery. The difficulty with them is not how to find something meaningful, but how to distill all we find to its impact on us.
Ruth’s story does not end the way a modern reader might expect. Such a masterpiece of word play, foreshadowing, dramatic tension should surely end with something other than a fragmentary genealogy. But in a very real way, that is exactly the point God is making to us. The story of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz is a beautiful story of God’s covenant love taking root in the lives of real people in time, but it is part of a much larger story of hesed.
A story that unfolds with great kings and the ultimate kinsman-redeemer. A story which unfolds as our own love story as well. The genealogical fragment at the end of Ruth reminds us that it is a piece of a much larger picture. A picture that comes into focus in the opening genealogy of the New Testament gospel of Matthew. A picture that tells us of the only kinsman-redeemer able to redeem us.
And so at the head of the story of the Incarnation, God gave us a genealogy. This ancestry framed the humiliation and exaltation of our redeemer with the picture of a dysfunctional family. But Jesus’ family tree is ours as well. It is a family into which we have been adopted. A family that shows us God’s faithfulness and grace to those who will not and cannot get it together.
At every point in Matthew’s gospel the question is asked of Jesus, “who is He?” Who is this? Even the wind and waves of obey Him? Who is this who even forgives sins? Who is this of whom the crowds cry “Hosanna?” At every turn we find someone asking this question. But it is the question the Holy Spirit anticipates and answers at every turn. And like every significant milestone in the story redemption, this gospel is introduced by a ‘toledoth,’ a geneaology.
Jesus is the Christ. The Son of David. The Son of Abraham. He is the Son of Man and yet, the Son of God. The story of Jesus’ beginnings tells us who he is. And who he is not. By giving Jesus’ toledoth, the Holy Spirit unveils what Paul called a “great mystery, Jesus Christ manifest in the flesh.”
Jesus’ toledoth does not reveal a new way of salvation. But declares that God has kept his promise. He has fulfilled the covenant of grace he made with generations of men and women in the Old Testament. Matthew’s genealogy is not the story of a man’s life, but of God’s saving work to give new and eternal life to men who receive him.
The story begun in Ruth is a part of a greater story beyond the story. A story that answers the question, “Who is this Jesus?” A story with the power to change our story. Do you know who Jesus is? More importantly do you know Jesus, himself? Join us as we examine Ruth 4:18-22 and Matthew 1:1-17 to consider the power of the story beyond the story. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join our livestream on YouTube.
Filled Up
My first car was a 1980 ‘Vette coupe. No, it was not that kind of ‘Vette! It was a Chevette not a Corvette. It was pearl white. And had a sunroof and a premium aftermarket sound system which some good citizen of Due West, SC relocated to their own vehicle. It was powered, if powered is the right word, by a 1.6L, 4 cylinder engine. To make it up steep hills, passengers had to execute a kipping motion to add the necessary momentum.
My ‘Vette had a 12-gallon gas tank, which due to my limited college student resources, was rarely filled. Despite its slight stature, it could only muster a modest 19 MPG. And though the average price of gasoline in 1984 was only $0.88 per gallon, I could rarely fill the tank before making the 138 mile trip home for the weekend. $7 was just enough to coast in on fumes so long as there were no unexpected traffic snarls on the Atlanta freeways.
Like the prodigal’s dad, my dad would be pacing the driveway with his pipe as I arrived. After welcoming me home with a hug, his first question was “how much money do you have?” I assured him that I had close to a dollar. “And how much gas?” “Not even below ‘E’” I would respond proudly.
And then commenced the ‘dad-lecture’ about contingencies and wisdom and preparation and foolish youth! A lecture which I learned well and now can reproduce in various forms for my own children. But my father’s exhortation would always end with him slipping me $20 to fill my wallet and my tank.
Love delights to fill up what is empty. It is stressful and soul-wearying to be empty. When life has not met expectations. When what we love is taken from us. Or what we hoped never materializes. When life is filled with pain, we feel a profound void. An emptiness that brings fear, anger, resentment, bitterness, depression, hopelessness. The Psalms are filled with faith’s plaintive cries from the bottom of miry pits.
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day? – Psalm 13:1-2
And in the opening chapter of Ruth, Naomi expresses the pain of emptiness.
And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. – Ruth 1:19-21
But Ruth is a love story within a love story. Ruth’s love for Naomi and Boaz’ love for Ruth is grounded in the steadfast, enduring love of the Lord for Naomi, Ruth, Boaz and us. Emptiness is not the last word. Grace always fills up the empty places opened by the unfolding plans and purposes of a sovereign God.
The Covenant God, who thus far in Ruth, has been offstage, always in the wings, now takes center stage as he acts to fills empty wombs and empty lives. All that was empty is now full in Naomi’s life. All her complaints, sorrows, and prayers converge in the steadfast, covenant love of the Lord who has been working all along to bring about grace upon grace.
Songwriter, Sandra McCracken expresses it well.
In every station, new trials and new troubles
Call for more grace than I can afford
Where can I go but to my dear Savior
For mercy that pours from boundless storesGrace upon grace, every sin repaired
Every void restored, you will find Him there
In every turning He will prepare you
With grace upon grace
-Grace Upon Grace, Sandra McCracken
Are you empty? Coasting on the fumes of disappointment, bitterness, or grief? There is a Heavenly Father who delights to fill us up with sufficient, superabundant, saving grace upon grace through a kinsman-redeemer. Join us as we examine Ruth 4:13-17 and consider how God fills up empty places with his grace. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join our livestream on YouTube.
02/15/2026 | “Our Kinsman-Redeemer” | Ruth 2:18-23
Naomi and Ruth needed a redeemer. Not just from hunger, poverty, loneliness, and insecurity. Boaz, their near kinsman-redeemer could offer those, but a greater Kinsman-Redeemer was needed to deliver from sin and death. He is the redeemer we need most. Join us as we examine Ruth 2:18-23 and consider the Lord’s kindness in providing a kinsman-redeemer.
Our Kinsman Redeemer
They are almost all gone. Those children of the Great Depression who went on to become the Greatest Generation. Who survived hardships few today can fully understand. Those were my parents. The times in which they grew up forever affected the way they thought about money and security. Though not a miser, my father did not “part easily with his brass.” Luxuries like color television and air conditioning were never on the table until mama got sick. And there was no such thing as an ‘allowance’ for children.
Unlike my friends, whose parents grew up in a prosperous post-war economy and doled out generous allowances, my father required work for pay. And those chores which were worthy of pay were paid for in 1935 dollars, unadjusted for the rampant inflation of my youth. If I was going to have money for essentials like Slurpees, baseball cards and wacky packs, I had to expand my personal economy.
My gig-economy consisted of door-to-door sales and bottle redemption. My father gardened and allowed me to peddle the excess to our neighbors. But the real money was to be made in scouring roadside ditches for glass coke bottles which were redeemed at the local grocery store for the princely sum of $ 0.05 each. This cost nothing but time and pride but paid hefty rewards.
Not all bottles could be redeemed. But those that could were clearly labeled. We understood redemption. It meant buying back something discarded and deemed useless. Today only 10 states have bottle redemption programs. But you can look on bottles for the code, “ME-VT-CT-MA-NY-OR-IA-5¢ MI-CA 10¢” to see how they may be redeemed.
The word redeem literally means “to buy back.” It involves a cost paid to recover, restore or ransom something or someone viewed as irrecoverable. While our modern meaning includes the idea of restoring value, meaning or purpose to something or someone beyond hope, the word redeem always involves some type of payment or cost. The story of the Bible is a story of redemption. In fact, it is THE story of redemption. The gracious, Triune God ransoms, recovers and restores His people to rescue them from slavery to sin, death and eternal rage and torment.
In Exodus, God redeems his people from almost half a millennia of dehumanizing slavery in Egypt at the staggering cost of the firstborn of Egypt. Then in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, as the Lord leads them to the Promised Land, he decrees laws that obligate kinsman-redeemers to redeem their relatives from landlessness and slavery due to financial hardship, to avenge their blood if they are killed, and to receive restitution for property sins against a dead relative to hold in trust for their families.
Redemption was woven into the social fabric of God’s people to point them to THE Kinsman-Redeemer who was to come. One who would redeem people from enslavement to sin and death at the ultimate cost of the death of the only-begotten Son of God. The Old Testament is filled with anticipation of this redeemer, the only redeemer of God’s elect, whom the Shorter Catechism describes as
The only redeemer of God’s elect … the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever. -Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 20
The Book of Ruth contains one of the beautiful Old Testament pictures of this kinsman-redeemer foreshadowed in the person of Boaz, Naomi’s relative and redeemer. Boaz’ kindness (hesed) toward Ruth reveals God’s grace active in his life. Though she is a foreigner, Boaz not only permits her to glean, but offers protection, provision, and inclusion into his own extended work family to ensure provision for Ruth and Naomi. But there is more! When Ruth returns home, Naomi tells her that Boaz is a ‘redeemer.’ And as the story unfolds, we see God’s grace upon grace unfolded to Naomi and Ruth through their redeemer.
Boaz, whose name means “strength,” who is described as a “mighty man.” who is a faithful kinsman-redeemer, exercises proverbial love over and above what the law demanded. Yet even as remarkable as his strength, valor, and faithful lovingkindness are, Boaz is but a dim reflection of THE Kinsman-Redeemer who was to come. The genealogy at the end of Ruth foreshadows the more complete genealogy in Matthew 1 of the one who would “redeem us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us… so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
Naomi and Ruth needed a redeemer. Not just from hunger, poverty, loneliness, and insecurity. Boaz, their near kinsman-redeemer could offer those, but a greater kinsman-redeemer was needed to deliver from sin and death. He is the redeemer Naomi, Ruth and we need most.
Join us as we examine Ruth 2:18-23 and consider the Lord’s kindness in providing a kinsman-redeemer. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join our livestream on YouTube.
02/08/2026 | “Going Viral” | Ruth 2:1-17
Naomi lamented that God “piled up ruin” in her life. But in the end, it is God’s loving-kindness that piled up instead. First in Ruth then in Boaz and finally in Naomi. That is how God’s covenant love is. It goes viral. It impacts. It replicates. Join us as we examine Ruth 2:1-17 and see how God’s grace unfolds into “grace upon grace” in the lives of those it changes.
02/01/2026 | “On Being Bitter” | Ruth 1:19-22
Bitterness has its benefits. Bitter foods help digestion. Bitter spices balance the sweet, salty, sour & savory in our food. But a bitter person’s anger, resentment, & disappointment poison everything. Everyone is to blame. Especially God. Join us as we examine Ruth 1:19-22 and consider the danger of bitterness on our relationships with others and with God.
Going Viral
As a boy, ‘going viral’ meant chicken broth, thermometers under the tongue, cold rags, and isolation. And if things really ‘went viral,’ a trip to Dr. Remy’s office was in order along with the certainty of shot. Back in the day, no one wanted to go viral. The phrase ‘going viral’ carried only bad connotations and unpleasant consequences. And even early in my IT career, the digital version of ‘going viral’ meant network outages, security breaches, and hours of tedious data recovery. But in the age of social media, ‘going viral’ has shed its negative image and is now the goal of influencers, extroverts, and narcissists of all stripes.
What my generation strove to avoid has become the Millennial’s path to monetization, impact and glory. Going viral means to make a rapid, broad-reaching impact and influence the attitudes and actions of a vast audience. The site CreatorEssentials defines it this way.
For content to go viral, it means it has achieved widespread popularity very quickly across the internet, particularly on social media platforms. Viral content typically experiences a rapid and exponential increase in views, shares, and engagement, surpassing ordinary content by a significant margin. This high level of engagement prompts social media algorithms to further promote the content, making it visible to an even broader audience.
In other words, like a real biological virus, viral content makes a big impact by spreading rapidly through replication. The connectedness of the modern world has made this phenomenon possible.
But there is something even more ‘viral’ that has been around for ages. And that is the grace of God, expressed in his covenant love for his people. Nothing has a greater impact, spreads faster, or replicates more powerfully God’s grace applied to his people. It produces gracious people with an infectious impact on their spheres of influence. The gospel is transformative. It is attractional. And it goes viral.
The Book of Ruth reveals this vividly. Throughout this short book several words are repeated over and over. Like beating drums, we read the words ‘return,’ ‘redeemer’ and ‘kindness.’ The ancient word translated ‘kindness’ is hesed. A word used throughout the Old Testament for the special love God has for his people. Covenant love, steadfast love, loving-kindness, grace.
In the midst of great tragedy and suffering, God exercises remarkable loving-kindness toward his people. Naomi hears of Yahweh’s grace in the fields of pagan Moab. So she returns to Israel in her sorrow, grief and bitterness along with her Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth. During their return, Ruth expresses her faith in Naomi’s God as her own. And as God applies his grace to Ruth, it works its way out graciously through her loving-kindness toward Naomi. Grace that leaves the whole town of Bethlehem ‘buzzing’ as Naomi and Ruth arrive. Then in the field of godly Boaz, the attention of this grace-filled man is attracted by the God’s grace evident in Ruth and he responds in loving-kindness toward Ruth and his kinswoman, Naomi.
Upon their return Naomi had declared that God was “heaping up ruin” in her life. But the rest of the story reveals that he was “heaping up grace” instead. God’s grace applied begets grace, loving-kindness, expressed in Ruth and then in Boaz and finally in Naomi. That is how God’s covenant love is. It goes viral. It impacts. It replicates. As the Spirit gives us this grace, we too become grateful and gracious people. Its impact is irresistible and sweeping. As Sandra Macracken sings.
Grace upon grace, every sin repaired
Every void restored, you will find Him there
In every turning He will prepare you
With grace upon grace.
Naomi lamented that God returned her to Bethlehem empty yet in the end God’s grace repaired every sin and restored every void. What about with you? Are you still empty? Or have you experienced God’s grace upon grace that repairs every sin and restores every void? Has God’s grace gone viral in and through your life?
Join us as we examine Ruth 2:1-17 and see how God’s grace unfolds into “grace upon grace” in the lives of those it changes. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join our livestream on YouTube.
On Being Bitter
Sweetness, sourness, saltiness, savoriness and bitterness are the five taste sensations that make our culinary world go around. Each weigh in on our taste buds to make the difference between “mmmmm” and “ughhhh.” When in balance, there is delight. But if one is dominant, revulsion. Too much sweetness is “sickly sweet.” Too much saltiness, inedible. Too much sour brings a tingle from head to toe. While too much bitterness turns the stomach and the soul!
To be sure bitterness can have its benefits. Bitter foods play an important role in our health. Often, they support liver function and enhance bile flow which helps detoxify. Bitter foods also stimulate the production of digestive enzymes and improve nutrient absorption. And many bitter foods, such as “green leafys” are rich in anti-oxidents and phytochemicals which are anti-inflammatory. From a culinary perspective, bitter spices balance sweetness and saltiness and can assist in tenderizing meats.
But bitterness in a person is quite another matter. While a bitter person may be an agent of our sanctification, more often the bitter person only makes life miserable for everyone. Themselves included. Like Eeyore, a black rain cloud follows everywhere they go. Their anger, resentment, and disappointment poison every spring in their life. They refuse every attempt at consolation or comfort. They are hardened in discontent. Everyone is to blame. Especially God.
The Bible warns us that a “root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.” Such bitterness is the enemy of grace. And we are warned against it by examples from scripture. Like a grieving Jacob whose “sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted,” Naomi, the mother-in-law of Ruth, returned from Moab to Bethlehem a bitter and hardened woman.
She had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and so she set out to return. As she arrived, Bethlehem was buzzing over her return. “Is this Naomi?” they cried. But she snapped, “Do not call me Naomi (pleasant) but Mara (bitter), for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.” Even Ruth’s moving expression of love and commitment did nothing to sweeten Naomi’s bitterness. Her life was ruined and it was all God’s fault.
Yet even in the midst of her bitter complaint, her anger, her resentment, God is preparing to be gracious. Are you bitter? Are you inconsolable? Are you resentful toward God for what he has done, allowed, decreed, chosen not to prevent or provide? Has he disappointed you? Seemed silent or absent? Has this made you bitter? Perhaps in your bitterness, God is preparing to be gracious. Are you looking? Are you praying? Expecting? Don’t let your bitterness distort your view of God or rob you of hope.
Join us as we examine Ruth 1:19-22 and consider the danger of bitterness on our relationships with others and with God. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join our livestream on YouTube.
Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church 