Identity in Christ

The Old Testament Book of Ruth reads like a romance about a Jewish kinsman redeemer and his bride. But it’s actually a love story for us, a historical account that gifts us with a message that we too have a Redeemer and our true identity is in Him.

Ruth marries into a Hebrew family after they had relocated to her homeland of Moab during a famine. After about a decade, her husband and her brother-in-law die. Her mother-in-law Naomi, a widow who is now grieving both of her sons, decides to return to her homeland of Judah, and Ruth accompanies her.

A stranger in this new land, she becomes known as “Ruth the Moabite.”

While it’s true that Ruth was a Moabite, we are also seeing a label adhered to Ruth that is repeated several times in the Scripture. To offer some context, Ruth’s homeland was an area settled by a cousin tribe to the Hebrews that descended from Moab, who was the son of Lot from an incestuous relationship. Biblical history depicts the Moabites’ relationship with the Hebrews as complicated, and the Moabites were notoriously a “bad influence” because of their pagan practices.

Like Ruth, we are strangers in this broken and corrupt world. It is not our home. And it’s eager to slap some labels on our names: addict, orphan, bitch. The list goes on. Labels have a tendency to attach handles to our identity — if we let them.

It was a Jewish custom to allow the needy to pick up any remaining grain left in the fields after a harvest. So at Naomi’s suggestion, Ruth gleans from Boaz’s field and when she first meets him, we get a glimpse of how she sees herself as an outsider. “Why have I found favor in your eyes, my lord, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner? … you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants” (Ruth 2:10,13).

Another Jewish custom were kinsman redeemers, male relatives who had the right and responsibility of caring for relatives who were in danger and needed protection. If they were unmarried, they would marry widows of their brothers or cousins. Boaz was a relative to Naomi and was in line to be Ruth’s kinsman redeemer. You can read for yourself about Naomi’s matchmaking, but for our focus today, we can see the transformation of Ruth’s worth and identity as Boaz shows her kindness.

“He said, ‘Who are you?’ And she said, ‘I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer’” (Ruth 3:9). Notice the shift; she is no longer Ruth the Moabite. Now she belongs.

We see Ruth mentioned again in the New Testament as one of three women personally named in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). From “Ruth the Moabite” to Ruth, great grandmother to King David and ancestor to Christ the Redeemer.
So who are you? Today, we’re going to recognize some qualities your Arize Together community sees in you. Your accomplishments, your gifts, your potential.

But more importantly, how does your Redeemer see you? When you place your hope in Jesus, you are his workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), you are chosen (Ephesians 1:4), you are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), you are a child of God (John 1:12), you are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14), you are his friend (John 15:15), you are an heir of God (Galatians 3:26, Romans 8:17), and you are a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20).

Let’s pray.
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Jesus, we were lost and in danger, but as our Redeemer, you have covered our sins with your work on the cross and placed us under your protection. We are not the labels that the world has slapped on us; we are not the lies that the enemy has spread about us. We are who you say we are, and your Word has spoken life and freedom over us. Silence the noise in our ears and help us to trust in the truth and “walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). Amen.