2nd Greatest Love Story Ever Told

People love love stories. There is something about them that draws a person in - whether it is seeing themselves in the characters or remembering their own story or enjoying the feeling it brings up in them. Now this isn't to say that everyone loves every story - some are too sappy, some have unbelievable characters - each person agrees that there is a hierarchy, they just disagree about what that hierarchy is. Everybody has their personal preferences - Sweet Home Alabama, P.S. I Love You, The Notebook, The Lion King - but there are some stories that everyone agrees are timeless - the best example being Romeo & Juliet. The story of star-crossed lovers is near the top of everyone's list - even if it is just because it is Romeo and Juliet.

The story of Ruth is a story that I think should be at the top of everyone's list as well for a couple of reasons. First, it starts with funerals and grief and ends with a wedding and hope. It isn't just one funeral but it is three funerals, and it isn't just a wedding but the marriage of King David's grandparents. Second, it involves sacrifice (Ruth leaving her homeland), chivalry (almost everything Boaz does), a complication (one who is closer) - everything that a good love story needs.

The biggest reason that it deserves to be near the top of the list is because it points us towards the greatest love story ever. The story of Jesus. The story of how he came to earth and performed the greatest act of love the world has ever known and ever will know - dying for those whom He loved. It is this story that the story of Ruth and Boaz points us to.

In the story of Ruth, Boaz is known as the "kinsman-redeemer". A kinsman redeemer is just what it sounds like - "kinsman", it was someone who was a relative, and "redeemer", it was someone who helped purchase something back (whether land, a person from slavery, or a debt). This was special role that was layed out within the law system, which allowed people to retain the land that their family had been given. Not just anyone could be a kinsman-redeemer, there were three qualifications: 1) They had to be a blood relative, 2) They had to be willing to help 3) They had to be able to help. Boaz fit all those requirements.

Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer - He fits the requirements. By coming to earth and living a human life He became a blood relative of the human race. We read in the Gospels that Jesus willingly gave up His life. Jesus being God could pay the unpayable debt that the human race had incurred. He payed this debt by dying the most painful death known to man - the cross (they had to invent a new word - excruciating - to describe the pain that was felt by someone during their torture and death!) - all because He loved us; it wasn't based on anything we did or could do (let's be honest He's God, what could we do to impress him?) but based solely on the fact that He loved us.

Since he did that for us, that means that we are part of the greatest love story ever told. Not only are we a part of it - we are one of the main characters!

Do we live like it? Do we live like the people in movies - full of joy, happiness, and life? Do we acknowledge what he has done for us, or do we just live apathetically?