UNBLOCKING THE WELL OF THE LIVING WORD

DAY 24 MORNING  Read Philippians 2:1-11

RUTH: JESUS CHRIST IS OUR KINSMAN-REDEEEMER

The book of Ruth provides a beautiful picture of how Jesus would deal with his sinful people and redeem them from sin. Even in a faithless, godless immoral age, when God’s very own people are so evil, God would find a way to raise up a kinsman-redeemer, even if it meant grafting in a faithful Moabitess in to his family tree. God would find a way and He would receive the glory. So in the book of Matthew in the New Testament, the genealogy of Jesus Christ includes Ruth, the Moabitess, whose son was Obed, the father of Jesse who was the father of David. This story tells of God’s kindness in the midst of the difficult immoral and apostate time of Judges. He is a refuge of the God-fearing even using a Moabite woman’s friendship to bless and dedicate a vulnerable widow. The Lord our God is kind, he is faithful and he is a refuge.  After Naomi’s husband and her two sons had died leaving Ruth her daughter in law and herself without a husband m these two women were now in a desolate and desperate place. Ruth, the Moabitess loyally follows Naomi to Bethlehem.  Naomi means sweet but she calls herself bitter (Mara) and she travels to Bethlehem, “The House of bread.”[1] Clearly this story prefigures, the birth of Jesus to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem.  Ruth in her poverty is reduced to gleaning the harvest, that was part of God’s covenant provision for strangers and aliens. Although she was a despised Moabitess she obeyed God’s laws and followed the provisions of the Lord’s covenant with Israel, at a time when Israel was fragrantly disobeying God’s law. Ruth obeys Naomi and asks Boaz to be her kinsman redeemer as Ruth can ask a relative of her deceased husband to marry her. Boaz responds positively.  He is not the closest redeemer for there is another possible kinsman-redeemer, but Boaz chooses Ruth. Ruth and Boaz marry and have a son Obed, David’s grandfather. The Davidic line is thus maintained through the difficult time of the Judges. Through this narrative Jesus, the Son of David is shown to be our perfect kinsman -redeemer. In the book of Joshua, a prostitute Rahab became part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ and now Ruth, a Moabitess has become part of his genealogy, so there is room in God’s heart for the outcast, the poor and despised as members of his family, as sons and daughters of the living God. 

MISSIONARY MONKS: PETER WALDO 1140-1205[2]

Peter Waldo was a rich banker and merchant[3], in Lyons who was challenged when of one of his guests died suddenly at a meal he was hosting. He was directed to Matthew 19:21 “If you would be perfect, go and sell what you have and give to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven and come follow me.” He carefully studied the New Testament and was inspired to follow Christ and imitate him. Others followed him and dressed simply and preached and were described as the “Poor Men of Lyons.” They committed to memory sizeable portions of the Scriptures in the local language, and they travelled simply by foot or wearing sandals, surviving on what was given to them by those who are listening. The only form of prayer they used was “Our Father”, and Grace at meal times. Peter Waldo was highly respected by that Waldenses, who followed a similar way of life, but it is highly likely they were named after the Vallenses the Alpine valleys, where they lived. Their following grew rapidly throughout Spain, Italy, Germany and Bohemia.

CLICK ON BOLD and you will be directed to Joshua Project website with more information for prayer.

PRAY for  “the Afghani, general in Germany the twenty-first largest unreached people in Europe whose language is Dari. The primary religion is Islam. There are 295,000, 0.04% Christian and  0.03% evangelical.”[4] After the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979 there have been numerous waves of Afghan refugees fleeing for safety. Today more are arriving to evade the wrath of the Islamicist government. Lord we call out to you that the Gospel would be preached in a receivable way to the Dari speaking Afghans in Germany. You used the Waldenses in Germany in the past, traveling simply and humbly. We pray for a new wave of missionary monasticism to reach the Afghans in Germany.

DAY 24 EVENING Psalm 116-120, Re-read Psalm 119:1-3

PSALM 119: YOUR WORDS LORD JESUS CHRIST ARE LIKE HONEY TO MY MOUTH

Psalm 119:1-3“ Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord .Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart— they do nothing wrong but walk in his ways…. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Eugene Peterson in  “Eat this book” [5] gives a wonderful illustration at the beginning of chapter 1, of his dog growling over a bone. Sometimes we could hear a low rumble or growl, what in a cat would be a purr.” Eugene Peterson says[6] “Imagine my delight when I came upon a phrase one day while reading Isaiah “like a lion growling or muttering over its prey…” (Isaiah 31:4) “Growls” is the word that caught my attention and brought me that little “pop” of delight. What my dog did over his precious bone making those low throaty rumbles of pleasure as he gnawed, enjoyed and savoured his prize, Isaiah’s lion did to his prey. The nugget of my delight was noticing the Hebrew word here translated as “growl” (hagah) but usually translated as “meditate,” as in the Psalm 1 phrase describing the blessed man or woman whose “delight is in the law of the Lord”, on which he meditates day and night.” Isaiah 31:2.

Meditating on the Word is described in similar ways in Psalm 119:103 which says “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Hans Boersma in his book “Pierced by love” says [7]“Reading the Bible as the word of God isn’t just like eating, it is eating. Our everyday eating and drinking are symbols or types that hint at the real or prototypical eating and drinking that unite us to Christ. The language of eating God’s word is prevalent in the Lectio Divina tradition. [8] Few biblical passages are as suggestive for exploring the metaphor of eating as God’s instruction to the prophet Ezekiel: “Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.’ So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.” Ezekiel 3:3.[9]If we are meant to eat the Scriptures can we link the various steps of Lectio Divina to step stages of the eating process? This is exactly what Guigo II does in “The ladder of the monks. “Reading as it were puts food into the mouth, meditation chews it and breaks it up, prayer extracts its flavour, contemplation is the sweetness (dulcedo) itself which gladdens and refreshes.” How important is contemplation to you when reading the scripture? In his book “5 things theologians wish biblical scholars knew” Boersma says “action and contemplation together make up the Christian life.. and feed into one another ..The end of Bible reading lies penultimately in action and ultimately in contemplation. Scripture presents models for both Martha and Mary, Leah and Rachel, Peter and John. Saint Augustine favoured contemplation over action. When Saint Gregory the Great turned from monk to Pope he often wrote of his desire to devote more time to contemplation. He wrote to his sister “I have lost the profound joys of my peace and quiet, and I seem to have risen externally, while falling internally. Wherefore I deplore my expulsion far from the face of my creator.” Contemplation is the one thing necessary, that Mary chose. Nine times in psalm 119, the psalmist speaks of delighting in God’s laws, commands or decrees. In Psalm 119 the Hebrew word for “delight” (shaw-ah) [10] often has the connotation of ‘smearing over the eyes”.. here effectively meaning in Psalm 119, “smearing God’s laws over our eyes”. Is that your and my attitude to God’s boundaries? Do we want to see everything through the lens of God’s word? In a day when our society seems to highly value independence, the idea of delighting in boundaries seems counter-intuitive. We might even call it an oxymoron, that is a phrase or figure of speech that appears to be a self-contradiction.

PRAYER Lord, as I smear your Word over my eyes, as I choose to obey your commands, and submit to your boundaries over my life, may I delight in your word like a lion over its prey

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[1] Fee, D.G and Stuart, D. How to read the Bible book by book, Zondervan, 2014, 79.

[2] Latourette, R.S. A history of Christianity beginnings to 1500 volume 1, Prince Press, 2003, 451-453

[3] Broadbent, E.H. Pilgrim Church, Crossreach publications, 2022, 92-94.

[4]  Data provided by Joshua Project https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/19314/GM

[5] Peterson, E. Eat this book, Hodder and Stoughton, 2011,1.

[6] Peterson, E Eat this book, Hodder and Stoughton, 2011, 2.

[7] Boersma, H. Pierced by love, Faithlife corporation, 2023, 92.

[8] Boersma, H. Pierced by love, Faithlife corporation, 2023, 93.

[9] Boersma, H. Pierced by love, Faithlife corporation, 2023, 95.

[10] Boersma, H. Five things theologians wish biblical scholars knew, IVP Academic, 2021, 112, 113.