Home > Reading > NALC Devotion – February 25, 2017

Today’s readings; Ruth 4:1-22; 2 Corinthians 4:13–5:10; Matthew 6:1-6

One definition of the word redeem is to buy back. In the story of Ruth, Boaz, in line as next of kin, redeemed the land that had belonged to Naomi’s husband; and along with it he took Ruth as his wife. When Ruth gave birth to a son, Obed, Naomi’s hope for the continuation of her husband’s family line was fulfilled. The women around Naomi described the grandson born to her through Ruth as “a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age.”

Without this lineage, Naomi and Ruth, as widows, would have lived in poverty, on the margins of their society. Yet when Boaz redeemed them, when he bought them back from a rough existence, the words spoken to Naomi pointed to a much more significant redemption that was to come. This child Obed fathered Jesse, who fathered the great king David, and through this lineage many generations later came Jesus Christ. God did not leave Naomi without a redeemer; neither does he leave us without a redeemer, the one sent from God himself to buy all his children back from sin, death, and the grasp of the devil. Christ is for us the restorer of life.

Prayer: Thank you, Heavenly Father, for redeeming us and restoring us to life through your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today’s devotion was written by Marty Ramey, Interim Pastor of Miller’s Lutheran Church, Hickory, NC.

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