Life, not leftovers

Boaz said, “May you receive a rich reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you’ve come to seek refuge.” Ruth said, “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, sir.”(Ruth 12b-13a,Common English Bible)
 
The Book of Ruth is a fast-moving little story in the Old Testament about a pair of refugees in Bethlehem who find a way to survive famine and death, despite the fact that they’re widows in a culture where women’s security depends on men, and despite the fact that Ruth was born in a despised foreign country.
These two widows, Naomi and Ruth, take advantage of God’s law requiring that the edges and corners of fields be left for the poor to glean. (Note that when Boaz, the landowner, expresses his desire that God reward Ruth, she pointedly asks for his favor instead.) Next, looking for life and not just leftovers, they persuade a rich relation (the same Boaz) to marry Ruth—based on another of God’s laws—thus ensuring security for both of them.
I like to say Naomi and Ruth may be down on their luck, but they’ve definitely read up on their Torah. They know how to work a system stacked against them, and they have God on their side.
But the Book of Ruth is not just a clever tale, written for entertainment. Naomi, Ruth and Boaz are in the Bible, and part of Jesus’s genealogy, for greater purposes.
One of them is the challenge they present to us today. Are we like Boaz, content to spout pious words and let the poor pick up our leftovers? Is it possible we are letting those with limited resources “glean” only after we have taken everything we want from society? Who is on the outside or the underside of our culture today challenging us to be the “good” people we claim to be? Living in an agricultural area like Bethlehem was, we can even specifically ask how farm ownership and food distribution favors some and excludes others.
Consider a group of immigrant farmers based in Rochester—called the Village Agricultural Cooperative—that wants to purchase adjacent small farm parcels of about five acres each to grow produce for sale and sharing. They come from places like Cambodia, Mexico and Kenya. They don’t intend to live on the land, but to create a farming association, where they can work the land together in community, each on their own small acreage.
As we know from our own immigrant ancestors, the desire to work and farm—the desire to thrive and not just survive—is great. Like Ruth and Naomi, these farmers are looking for more than society’s leftovers. They want dignity, property, a future for their children. They want to be a valuable part of a prosperous and optimistic community.
You could be the link to that future, to their prosperity. If you know of any local farmers who might have questions about selling some land to these small farmers, visit www.rochvillage.org.
As we reflect on this story of Ruth and Naomi and Boaz in the time of the barley harvest... as we pick sweet corn and tomatoes from our own gardens and savor their juicy goodness... and as we give thanks to God for all blessings and abundance... let’s consider these words of Jesus: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good portion—packed down, firmly shaken, and overflowing—will fall into your lap. The portion you give will determine the portion you receive in return.”