gleaning and great grace.

This week I had the opportunity to join the Jardin de Milagros crew (a farm that gives all produce to the Food Pantry in El Paso) in gleaning a chili field of another farmer.

While I was gleaning, I thought of Ruth.  Ruth the Moabitess, who after her husband’s death, left everything behind to follow her mother-in-law back to Israel.  This land was foreign to her, and in it she was an outsider.  Because by nature she was of a different people, she had no right to harvest alongside the Israelite people.

“So she went out to glean and begin to glean in the fields behind the harvesters” (Ruth 2:3)

And it so happened, that the field she gleaned from belonged to a close relative: Boaz.  When Boaz noticed Ruth gleaning, he protected her and said freely, “‘My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here…’” (Ruth 2:8).

Some people think that when Jesus reveals Himself as Lord and He calls all people to believe in Him and repent that He merely says, “Come and glean.  Stay here with Me.  Let’s be acquaintances, even friends. Your home is elsewhere, as is your heart, but stay and take what you need and what you want and then you may go as you please.”

But the story of Ruth continues.

Next, Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi, realize that Boaz is not only a close relative but “‘he is one of [their] kinsman-redeemers’” (Ruth 2:20).  He is the answer to all of their problems!  By his blood, he is the rightful person to be husband to Ruth and son to Naomi (and son of her late husband and therefore heir of his estate).  By his blood, he is the only one who can provide for them the home, and all that a home entails, that they desperately need.

But there was also another person who was in line to be redeemer to Ruth and Naomi.  He was, however, concerned more for his own estate.  He was unable to perform the task required of him by the laws of Israel.  He told Boaz, “‘You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it’” (Ruth 4:6).

And Boaz did. 

Ruth came to him in the night and “lay down…at his feet” (Ruth 3:7-8).  She said: “‘I am your servant…Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer’” (Ruth 3:9). 

And Boaz said to Ruth: “‘And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask’” (Ruth 3:11).   Ad Boaz declared to the people: “‘I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife’” (Ruth 4:10).

Ruth went being nobody to being somebody.

From foreigner to member of the people of Israel.

From outsider to gleaner to wife. 

She was not just provided for,

or invited to,

but pulled all the way in!

What GREAT GRACE!

And what a true picture of what Jesus does for those who come to His feet and cry out, “Lord, I am your servant!  Be my redeemer, and cover me with all that You are.”  He does not merely provide for needs.  Or save from eternal destruction.  But He answers and does more.  By His blood, He is able to take those who come to Him as His bride.  He frees from sin that we might walk in life, abundant life.  That we may not only glean, but grasp and dance around in His great grace.  That we may be His, and He may be ours.

What happened to the chilies and me?  Well, all the chilies we picked went to the Food Pantry downtown to feed the families who pick up food baskets from there.  And I was fortunate to take home about ten!  My friend Hilda chopped them up and made them into salsa.  And not just any salsa, but one that was muy picoso, or very hot!  Even in my life, the gleaning led to so much more.  I thank God for teaching me real life lessons with simple things like picking chilies.

“‘Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left [us] without a kinsman-redeemer’” (Ruth 4:14). 

Praise be to Jesus Christ who calls us to glean and then to gather and then to grasp and then to give His great, great grace.