Lesson Two • Serving Even When It Is Hard
Devotion #2: Another
Karsen Theede
Redemption is a prevalent theme within the Bible and in pop culture. I have always loved redemption stories. The idea of going from zero to hero has always intrigued me. In this family series, we are going through the book of Ruth, which holds one of my favorite redemption stories. It is the story of Ruth and Naomi. As I was reading the story of Ruth, another redemption story popped into my head. This story is not found in the Bible but it is found in one of my favorite movie series of all time, “Star Wars.” It is the redemption story of Darth Vader.
For those of you who do not know who Darth Vader is, he is one of the main villains of the original three “Star Wars” movies. He is shown as an extremely strong and hostile figure, but if we look at the last of the original movies (“Star Wars: Return of the Jedi”), we will see where this redemption story takes place. At this point in the series, Darth Vader’s son (Luke Skywalker) has become powerful enough to face Darth Vader and his master. Throughout this confrontation, you see that Luke slowly helps his father return to the good side or the “light” side. Eventually, Darth Vader helps Luke to defeat his old master. This is only possible because Luke was able to help his father become redeemed. Vader was not able to do it on his own, he had tried before and failed, and he needed someone to step in and help. For Darth Vader it was Luke, but if we look into the story of Ruth, we see a similar story between Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz.
Boaz steps into Ruth’s life at a very important time. At this point, Ruth had been married to Naomi’s son, Mahlon, and then widowed alongside Naomi. Ruth then decides to stay with Naomi as Naomi travels back to Bethlehem. During this time, women almost needed men to survive. Women had very limited privileges, so two widowed women would have a tough time surviving on their own. For Ruth and Naomi to survive, or in other words, be redeemed, Ruth would need to remarry. At this time, it was very uncommon and difficult for a woman to get remarried. As we talked about before with Darth Vader and Luke, Darth Vader needed someone to step in, just like Ruth needed someone. For Ruth, that person to step in was Boaz. He stepped in and married Ruth, and he redeemed her. Ruth could not redeem herself. In this situation, Ruth needed someone to come alongside her and help her.
It is actually beautiful if you look at how the story of Ruth and Boaz parallels the story of us in Christ. We cannot escape our sin on our own; we need another to come alongside us. Jesus is that person. He intervenes and redeems us; He saves us from our slavery to sin. Just as Vader needed Luke, and Ruth needed Boaz, we need Christ. We cannot redeem ourselves, we will fail if we try to do it on our own. So be like Ruth, be willing to accept the help, and allow yourself to be redeemed.
Galatians 4:5 tells us that Jesus came “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”