Dear Friends,

This week’s lesson is a Cinderella story, except in Ruth’s story a sandal takes the place of a glass slipper. Just as Cinderella went from servant to princess, Ruth went from an immigrant beggar in a barley field to a wife in Boaz’s home. But God did not stop there – the true “happily ever after” is that Ruth’s story ends in Matthew 1, placing this foreigner in the lineage of Christ. She went from outsider to an ultimate insider.

What I love about this real-life fairytale is that it mirrors the story of redemption, one in which we are the outsiders rescued to become insiders. Instead of our enemy status (Romans 5:10), we are called family of God. Instead of being stuck on the outside of His kingdom peering in on the wedding feast, we are brought inside the room, seated at the King’s banquet table as the Princess Bride (Rev. 19:19).  

How does such a transformation happen? Check out the hero of our story, Boaz. Neither Ruth nor Naomi could climb her way from outsider to insider. No matter how sweet or hard working they were, they could not do it on their own. Ruth and Naomi needed Boaz to jump through the legal hoops to become their kinsman-redeemer. Boaz sealed the deal with his sandal at the city gate, making Ruth his wife and restoring bitter Naomi to pleasant places.  

Boaz’s actions as a kinsman-redeemer foreshadow Christ’s actions toward us (see definition of kinsman-redeemer on p. 80 of this lesson). Just like Boaz, Jesus had to initiate a relationship with us when we were dead in our transgressions (Eph. 2:1). He took His blood up to the throne room of Heaven as a sacrifice to pay for our sins, legally making us righteous (Heb. 9:25). He swapped our shame for His perfect obedience. He gave us a new identity. Not just acquaintances. Not just “no longer enemies,” but family (Eph. 2:19). Ultimate Insiders.

My husband often reminds our youngest daughter, “You are a child of the King. That makes you a what?” waiting on her to respond, “Princess!”  She’s not a princess because she’s beautiful or special (although as her mom, I think she is), but because of the love Jesus, her Kinsman-Redeemer, showers on her. It’s an identity based on His actions, not hers. And, when Jesus puts a label on you like “Beloved,” no one can tear it off. Others’ treatment of you can’t (Rom. 8:34).  Your sins can’t (Rom. 8:38). Nothing can take away your status of ultimate insider.

And if you have this kind of insider status from our Lord, then consider how you can extend it to others, especially those who are easily excluded. Perhaps she is a woman whose family looks different than yours, whose skin color is different, whose education or socio-economic status is different. From body piercings to smocked dresses, from BBQ to baba ghanoush, from living on the streets to living in a palace, God’s people vary. We tend to make judgment calls based on these outward things, not the shared faith within. So, let’s act like Boaz, who recognized Ruth’s faith more than her poverty and looked past her status as an alien to see her loyalty to Naomi and Naomi’s God.

Let’s include all in our fairytale story.

Your sister (too old for smocked dresses and too scared to get piercings),