Ruth 1: 1 - 18

  The book of Ruth discloses the hidden programme of God’s providence at work in and through humble people in hard times.  Momentous developments occur in obscure situations and we only see their significance as history unfolds.  We catch a glimpse of the sovereignty of God in seemingly insignificant events.

 Elimelech and his family were not grand personages on the world stage.  Afflicted by famine in Judah they emigrated to the country of Moab, for the Israelite a questionable enterprise:  “No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, even down to the tenth generation” (Deuteronomy 23:2).  Moab was suspect, a traditional enemy of the people of God.  Necessity overruled propriety.  Food overcame fear as the prevailing concern.  Survival was imperative.

  The mighty hand of God was the real force behind the move of this small Israelite household.  In its preservation God was in a suave, subtle, and marvellous way establishing the most important household of all, as shall soon be seen.  But the immediate outlook was severely grim.  Elimelech, his wife and sons, had escaped physical want but not the experience of intense woe.

  Elimelech dies beyond his homeland, the sons died without progeny, and Naomi inherited deep sorrow in an alien land.  She endured such grief that she concluded that God was against her.  She resolved to make her lonely return to Judah counselling her admirable daughters-in-law to remain in their native territory.  It was her studied advice and no blame attaches to Orpah for kissing Naomi goodbye.

  We do not know the private persuasions of her heart but one supposes she must have gained and cherished a reverence for Judah’s God through the influence of her adopted family.  Ten years is a long time to associate with believing folk by whom she was surely loved:  “Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home.  May the Lord show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me.  May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband’ ” (vv8-9).

  But Ruth is another story.  The closing scenes for Naomi in Moab are bitter-sweet - sad but deeply affectionate between a child of God’s grace and two Gentile women.  One eventually said goodbye on good terms, the other was so bonded to Naomi that she could not break the tie until death.  Naomi suggests several compelling reasons for Ruth to return to her home and rest with a new husband but Ruth rejects her dire warnings.  Something urges her to share Naomi’s destiny.  It is the divine impulse in her heart.  Love for Naomi is the rule of her life and she will not resist it.

   The words exchanged between the two women, indeed two widows with dashed hopes, are heart-wrenching.  They discuss futures at a defining moment, not just for themselves, but for the ultimate welfare of the whole world.

  At the crossroads between Moab and Israel the two ladies have no idea, no hint, as to the historical moment in which they participate, but God is at work in this small domestic decision that no-one else knows of.  Here a divinely ordained companionship was sealed for the eternal prospects of God’s chosen ones

 Ruth recognized for herself in Naomi “my delight” (her name’s meaning), and she solemnly chose never to be separated from the mother of her deceased and precious husband.

  The entire story is imbued with noble feeling and profound love, for it is the shadow, a small human replication, of the divine love of the great Architect of our salvation who is adding to its construction through the human lineage of the Messiah block by block until the chief cornerstone secures it all.

  Because God sticks to his purposes Ruth clung to Naomi.  God was clinching the plan of rescue for all those who would, by his grace, come to trust in Jesus.  God’s business is the reversal of human wrong and misery, the repair of damaged creation and especially defiled humanity.

  The existence of Moab was due to Lot’s incestuous relationship with his two daughters.  “So both Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.  The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today” (Genesis 19:36-37).  God is replacing disorder with a beautiful new order to be established through his perfect Son.

  When Israel wandered towards its promised land Moab refused it hospitality.  Now there is shared hospitality between a Moabite and an Israelite, and as the story of Ruth continues we see why, and as to how, God so ingeniously brings good out of great evil.

  We telescope the biography of Ruth to see how, through the guidance of Naomi, she comes to be joined with the wealthy landowner, and relative of Naomi, Boaz (chapter four).  Together Ruth and Boaz produce Obed, and Obed was the grandfather of King David, and from David’s royal line came the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ.

  God knits together a beautiful design for the rescue of mankind.

  A corrupt lineage from Lot is incorporated in the merciful plan of God, signalling the salvation of Jew and Gentile in Jesus.  A secret is revealed that God works in mysterious ways in mean circumstances.  History, to the smallest detail, moves at the direction of God and through his good governance.  The climax of the movement man-ward of his gracious intent arrives in Jesus Christ to whom we must cling with the fierce determination of Ruth, who clung so firmly to Naomi.

RJS

Matthew 8:23-34

  The disciples pose the most important question that can be asked concerning Jesus Christ (v27).  Before salvation can be gained the man and his meaning must be grasped.  If we don’t understand Jesus then we cannot possibly participate in the rescue he has undertaken for us.  Trust requires confidence and confidence can only be established if we know the competence of the one on whom we depend.

  Reputation is the route to reliance, and the purpose of the gospels is to elicit our confidence in Jesus on the basis of their testimony gleaned from many sources that commend the trustworthiness of the Lord Jesus to us.  Faith is reasonable.  Through apostolic witness we gain access to Jesus’ person.  When that faith is grounded in fact its insights transcend the realities probed by reason.  We enter the zone of divine revelation.  We view vistas of reality beyond normal human vision.  We search, through divine illumination of the word of God, the secrets of the divine mind, and gain a sense of his lofty purposes that human speculation cannot reach.

  Scripture yield riches we could never dream of or suppose.  It is a whole new universe of experience and enjoyment, and it is the concentration on and uncovering of Christ that makes it so.  Jesus is the ultimate disclosure that makes all things clear, the sunshine that lights our way.

  What kind of man is this?  The witness of Holy Scripture supplies the truth; the witness of the Holy Spirit confirms it.  The Spirit’s superintendence of the inscripturation of divine revelation has brought the word of God to its final form in which we have it - inspiration, organization, compilation, and accurate information assembled for our perusal.  The word of God which we read is the result of a complex historical process through many contributors and circumstances, and the Spirit has built it into the solid foundation of our faith in the living God who lives in the word he addresses to lost mankind.  Here is what it discloses, in this passage, about this man - Jesus.

 He is in the voyage of life with us just as he was among us in the substance of our flesh.  The all-knowing God knows what it is to be human.  He was in the same boat as the disciples when a furious storm raged and made the waves of the lake so rough that they swept over the vessel and caused hardened fishermen and experienced sailors to quail with a deep fear that was not customary to them.  These men were adventurous and brave.  This was no ordinary storm but one so severe that they panicked.  To their chagrin Jesus was sleeping, seemingly unaware of the tempest and the noise that frightened his friends.  His slumber should have fortified the fishermen.  If he was calm why should they register alarm?  They should have concluded that his presence guaranteed their safety.  But doubt suggested the imminence of drowning and so they anxiously disturbed the Saviour.

   Jesus rises from his rest without a qualm and in sovereign serenity of mind commands the frenzied storm to subside - a storm divinely sent to exhibit the status of the Son.  The winds and waves, so terrifying to the disciples, obey the Redeemer’s firm rebuke.  In an instant all is quiet.  Jesus demonstrates his unlimited dominion over the forces of nature.  He is the monarch over creation and his power astonishes the spectators of the marvel.

  What kind of man is this?  The man in whom God is manifest in the flesh and who possesses mastery over all other powers.  Nothing that exists is exempt from his control.

  Matthew goes on to amplify our appreciation of the authority of Jesus, which extends to the realm of evil and all that opposes God and harms mankind.  Jesus encounters the forces of the demonic domain and overpowers them in their possession of the two violent men so fearsome that inhabitants of that region did all they could to avoid them.

  This is Satan’s intent - to terrorize men - to trouble man and destroy him totally.  Satan would reduce us to perpetual fear and despair- to live among the tombs as it were in the shadow of death.  But when these two appallingly scarifying men emerged the situation was reversed.  The demons that drove them were afraid - afraid of Jesus who was more than mere man but the Son of god who presided over their destiny of doom:  “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted.  “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”  They trembled and shrieked before the Lord who not only calmed the angry outbursts of nature, but calmed the hearts and minds of those oppressed by evil and caused the agents of evil to quake in utter cowardice.

  The demons pleaded for escape, temporary as it must be, and raced away in what was a precursor to the judgment that awaited them, heading for a cliff in a herd of pigs that rushed them into a lake of water where the pigs drowned and the lake of fire dawned more dramatically to the minds of the spirits in rebellion against God.

These episodes in Jesus’ ministry demonstrate the kind of man Jesus was - resting in and revealing the supremacy and strength of God - Lord of all that is, seen and unseen.  For the believer this is tremendously reassuring and comforting.  Jesus is always in the same boat with us where ever on life’s ocean we happen to be.

  Jesus has defeated the devil and his minions.  He restrains them in their wrath, diverts them in their designs, and ultimately delivers us from their malign mischief, consigning them to the abyss that will incarcerate them forever...  The mystery in Matthew’s account is the occurrence of the negative reaction to Jesus on the part of the people who learned of his action of exorcism and dismissal of the demons.  These folk came out to meet him and requested that he leave their region.  They could not summon repentance and turn to him in heartfelt relief.  Was their wish for his absence motivated by fear, or more likely, their continued favouring of their style of life and its being threatened by the loss of their pigs as a source of income and enablement?

  Their performance was paltry when compared with what Jesus could do for them through his power and compassion - bestow life with God in complete liberation from Satan, his lusts and loathsomeness.

  This man Jesus confronts us at the centre of our needs and desires.  We pose the question, “What kind of man is this?”  He makes the enquiry, “Will you embrace me or cling to your customary values and goals in life.  Will you beg me to depart?”

  On the brink of this world’s uncertainties, anxieties, and options Jesus says to the hesitant, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”

RJS

John 4:15

  Water is a precious commodity not to be wasted.  It is essential to all life.  It is a massive inconvenience in every day life not to have access to water.  It cleanses, refreshes, and sustains.  Many parts of the world experience a severe lack of water and that is disastrous, sometimes fatal, for their inhabitants.  Water is an absolute and basic necessity.  It is suggested that future wars between nations will be fought over water rather than resources such as oil and minerals.

  For many in biblical times supplies of water were scarce and getting it was a chore.  If it had to be purchased it was expensive.  That is why Isaiah’s invitation is so striking, “Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost” (Isaiah 55:1).  People in hot climes crave cool water. Folk exhausted from labour and afflicted with dehydration thirst for water.

  On the Isle of Wight in the south-eastern corner of the island a clean, clear little stream tumbles through weeds and over rocks and pebbles in its hurried descent to the sea.  In the midst of this chattering rill someone has placed an erect stone tablet quoting the words of Jesus as he claims to be the water of eternal life.  It is the sweetest message at the mid-point of a pleasant path.

  The path of life for the Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus at Jacob’s Well does not seem to have been entirely pleasant.  She had a total of six liaisons with men, and came to fetch water alone, which suggests she may have been a social outcast without close friends.  She had no inkling or idea that in eternity past a meeting with the Messiah had been arranged for her.  This was so unlikely, given her lowly status.  Frowned upon by her society, and a citizen of despised Samaria detested by the Jews, this lady had little prospect of moral and spiritual redemption.  Hers was a life of rejection and yet Jesus deliberately strayed into alien territory to converse with her and convert her.

  What a merciful rendezvous was listed in Jesus travel itinerary.  How aptly he engages her attention.  No sudden verbal assault but a gentle request, “Will you give me a drink?”  The woman is made to feel useful and is thus set at ease with a sense of respect accorded to her by this stranger.  The courtesy and humility of the request surprises her.  Jesus had broken a strict taboo and she is amazed.

  Coming to the well was a daily routine.  She came with no great expectations - just to get a pitcher of water.  Life was predictably ordinary.  There is no accounting for the sudden interventions of God in unexceptional lives.  The story alerts us to be on the lookout in our uneventful existence as we sometimes deem it to be.

  The woman responds to Jesus with caution and curiosity.  “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman.  How can you ask me for a drink?  (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans)”.  Divine grace breaks through human notions and conventions.  It is unregulated by human standards, timetables, and categories.  Grace comes freely to the unnoticed and undeserving - even those way off the proper religious track, which we all are if only we knew it, spiritually careless or indifferent or self-righteous and smug.  We all by nature slot into one of these types.

  When the woman is truly tuned into Jesus in appropriate terms - he has triggered her interest - he ministers to her enquiry.  He has touched her vital centre of being with intense concern for her personally and not as a mere statistical target.  “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (v10).

  Jesus is making a salient point.  The salvation he came to provide is pure gift.

  This woman was unprepared.  She fulfilled no conditions.  She was unworthy.  When she came to know who had drawn near to her and had selected her for favour all she had to do was ask as he had invited her to do.  The greatest gift of God is granted eagerly.  Jesus had approached this woman where she was without registering shock at her circumstances, without demands upon her moral effort.  All that was required was candour concerning her soul’s condition, thirst for spiritual satisfaction and a quiet conscience.

  He came to give and forgive.  He aroused her interest by identifying with her preoccupation - a thirst more urgent than her physical want of water - and then showed that our identified needs, of which we become gradually conscious in his presence, point to a greater need than any other, the mercy of God and saving knowledge of him.  He excited that need by revealing that our normal requests and goals in life will not slake the thirst of the soul, or solve our yearnings and frustrations.

  We carry our pitchers to wells that cannot quench the deepest thirsts of our parched spirits.  Our lives are dry and laborious - we lack life in God and Christ in us.  The wells of the world are stagnant and polluted.  We keep dipping into them without lasting benefit and the effort wearies us and often ends in resignation to cynicism and bitter disappointment.  Why do so many of the celebrated and successful of the earth drug or drink themselves into oblivion and even to death in spite of their attainments and privileges?  It is because the wells of the world cannot plenish or replenish our arid natures that ultimately wilt with a sense of futility and boredom.  The momentous aims in life prove to be mirages when we reach out to seize them.  How vain they are.  Our triumphs are trifles.  We spend our lives chasing after shadows.  Life becomes a desert because we have deserted God.

  Standing at and sipping from our cisterns of futility and failed hopes, whatever and wherever they are, Jesus seats himself beside them, summons our attention, and solicits from us an admission of our real longing, our deepest desire not yet supplied, and pledges a gift for the asking when our greatest lack is disclosed by his skilled and accurate probing of our lives and consciences.  Like the Samaritan woman our record is not good, we are defensive, and utterly undeserving.

  But Jesus has drawn alongside in his gospel manifesto.  “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks of you the wellbeing of your soul, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

   We should not hesitate but respond with alacrity, “Lord, give me this water”.

RJS

John 2: 1 - 11
The Wedding at Cana

  An occasion of joy, celebration, and intimate union between two persons was the occasion for Jesus’ first performance of a miracle.  There is much to be deduced from this simple fact and normal human event.  The God who married himself to Israel and pledged himself to her in spite of her innumerable and enormous infidelities upholds and confirms the sacred bond that is analogous to God’s connection with his people.  The divine bridegroom comes to seek out his wayward partner in generous grace.

  The opening phrase “on the third day” alerts us as to the significance of Christ’s attitude and action displayed at a humble and modest matrimonial ceremony and celebration.  In Holy Scripture the third day signifies something monumental - an extraordinary transformation in circumstances of which the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the epitome, the ultimate climax of biblical third days.  Jesus is indicating the arrival of a new era - the lavishing of divine love upon lowly and desperate people.  In his manhood he identified with such people and was fully involved in their community, the community of ordinary folk caught up in ordinary life.  He mingled among them as a skilled and respected carpenter - no pretensions!  He was a well-disposed member of the wedding party, and the couple he supported by his presence was obviously of modest means because they could not fulfil the obligation of expected hospitality to their guests - a legal obligation - to supply adequate food and sufficient wine.  To fail in this could be grounds for complaints against the newly-weds entailing financial compensation.

  At the outset of wedded life this pair of devoted persons faced personal disaster.

  When Jesus responded so magnificently to their crisis they were not only delivered from public and pecuniary embarrassment, they launched out on married life with a valuable asset - finest quality excess wine left over from the party.  They could sell this and set up home with a stable future before them.  Jesus’ first miracle was a sign of God’s great liberality, bounteousness, and kindness as well as the gladness with which god blesses the needy and transforms their prospects.

  The miracle at Cana was an endearing exhibition of God’s gracious intentions to -wards mankind through his wonderful and winsome Son.

  But the story has greater depth than the Saviour’s compassion toward a particular couple.  It signifies the renewal of human life that Jesus came to bring through his assignment of rescue from the poverty and death of human sin and estrangement from God - dangerously eternal if not dealt with promptly.  On “the third day” Jesus was announcing the solution to mankind’s insoluble problems.  God has the answer and power to act in deliverance. Just watch!, says Jesus.  And when Jesus performed his miracle the husband and wife were relieved and the disciples believed - taking a first step on their slow journey of faith.

  There are clues in this account of Jesus’ mercy and power that help us to grasp the character of God in our humble and reliant walk with him.  God is not tied to any predictive formula but we are habitually given to fear, frustration, and anxiety.

  Our difficulties are not merely circumstantial.  They include the private and profound agonies of soul that we sometimes pass through - the persistence of sin, the sense of spiritual privation, the pining for divine presence and reassurance.   Sometimes our weakness overwhelms us, and Satan rages against us.  We are susceptible to torments and temptations.  We are in the midst of a war that we cannot win and God seems distant and indifferent.

  Of course, our minds and emotions are lying to us, but these lies are very convincing and are strengthened in force by the father of lies who meddles with us more than we are aware.  His campaign is to thwart right thinking and distort our perceptions.  He is the marauder of the mental processes detaching us from rational guidance of God’s truth.  But there is help in what we read of Jesus in the narrative of his first gracious sign of effective divine deliverance.

  Mary poses a problem to her Son.  “The wine has run out.”  Mary believed that Jesus was much more than an emergency caterer with the right connections.  She knew that Jesus was a carer.  Both mother and Son are solicitous of the welfare of the bride and groom.  They possibly knew them very well, hence the invitation and their acceptance.  They were involved.  But each had a different perspective.  Mary’s is the natural human and maternal approach.  “Please act promptly!”

  Jesus’ affectionate reply reveals the standpoint of God whose hand is in perfect control.  “My time has not yet come.”

  When we yearn for a so-called “third day” experience, a momentous intervention of God, it is often that his time - the time of rescue and renewed hope - has not yet come.  Our panic would minimize the dimensions of his mercy towards us.  He has something far greater in mind than the alleviation of the misery of the present moment.  Our moods do not determine the moves that God has decided to make.  We are frail, wounded, and short-sighted.  We have every cause to be urgent and it hurts us terribly to cope with delays when God seems to keep on indicating that “my time has not come”.  It is no fairy-tale solution to say that we must be patient - it is sometimes excruciating and unbearable.

  But it will be the testimony of the redeemed in the final outcome- perhaps delayed until heaven- that Jesus reserves the best blessings until last.  If our cup is bitter here and our joys are not replenished, whatever we see and sense does not nullify the ultimate outpouring and in-filling of divine grace and generosity.

  The Word of God, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper we observe say with absolute certainty that for us who believe Jesus has saved the best wine for all this time until he deigns to inform us, “the best is now”.  He is waiting to toast the triumph of the Father with us.  “For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes” (Luke 22:18).

RJS