[Note: The following is the prepared message for the offertory message for Pentecost services in Portland, Oregon delivered on June 16, 2024.]

Good morning brethren. At the end of the discussion of the Feast of Weeks in Leviticus 23, there is an unusual offering that is discussed that I would like to draw our attention to today. We find this offering in Leviticus 23:22. Leviticus 23:22 reads: “ ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God.’” What makes this offering unusual is unlike the other offerings that are given in this same passage and other places in the Bible, it is not an offering that is given to God Himself, but rather to other people. If we look through the Bible, the value that is placed on personal property and the ownership rights of people is very high–two of the commandments themselves deal specifically with protection to personal property, and if we include the value that is placed on marriage and our own lives and reputation, the entire second half of the ten commandments deal in one way or another with what could broadly be considered to be property rights. Yet the rights of people over their property was not absolute. Instead of being able to profit off of all the crops in one’s land, the gleanings and the corners were provided for the poor and the stranger. What I wish to do today is discuss how this commanded sort of generosity that we read in Leviticus 23:22 relates to the larger themes of Pentecost and how practicing such generosity in the manner that God commands here also mirrors the generosity of God Himself.

When we look at the Bible and seek to find examples of generous landowners who obeyed the law of Leviticus 23:22 that we just read, the most obvious example of such a landowner is Boaz. Indeed, the way that Boaz found a way to be generous in a way that did not shame the recipient of his generosity is one that we can read in Ruth 2. Let us start by setting the context of this generosity in Ruth 2:4-13. Ruth 2:4-13 reads: “Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered him, “The Lord bless you!” Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, “It is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.  And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house.” Then Boaz said to Ruth, “You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women.  Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before.  The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.””

Let us note what we see here among Boaz’s household. Boaz was himself a wealthy and generous landowner. We see him deeply interested in the community of family, employees, and others, and he takes an immediate interest in Ruth when she shows up gleaning in the part of the community field of Bethlehem that belonged to him. All that Ruth asked of his servants was the opportunity to work in his fields, which was her right as a poor stranger, but Boaz not only obeyed the law of Leviticus 23:22 but went above and beyond, yet in such a way that it signaled his interest in providing for her well-being in a way that did not shame her as the recipient of his generosity. We should note that Boaz offers Ruth membership in his community of workers, the young women who were under his protection, and he commands the young men not to touch her, which was no doubted appreciated as much then as it is today. Ruth is given lunch as well as the opportunity to drink water when she is thirsty from, and she feels the full force of this generosity. When she asks why it is that she has found favor with Boaz, he replies that he recognizes the importance of her leaving her own people and joining to God’s people, and blesses Ruth with the wish that Ruth be fully rewarded by God, as she was.

We see that this generosity was fully recognized not only by Ruth but by Noami as well and by Boaz’s workers in Ruth 2:14-20. Ruth 2:14-20 reads: “Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, “Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her; and she ate and was satisfied, and kept some back.  And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.  Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.” So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.  Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied. And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he of the Lord, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!” And Naomi said to her, “This man is a relation of ours, one of our close relatives.””

We see from this passage that Ruth was not selfish about the generosity she received from Boaz, but held back some of the lunch to provide food for Naomi when she got home. In addition, Boaz instructed his workers to deliberately leave grain for her without her knowing and to allow her to glean among the sheaves that it was Boaz’ right to harvest, thus allowing Ruth to get far more food than she could have gained through the laborious process of gleaning only that which had fallen naturally on the ground. When Ruth measured out a substantial amount of grain from her day of hard work in the fields, Naomi understood this to be more than the usual amount of grain and understood that someone had noticed Ruth and looked out for her (and Noami, indirectly through Ruth). When Naomi heard that it was Boaz who had provided for her daughter-in-law, Noami recognized God’s kindness through the generosity of her dead husband’s relative.

It is not coincidental that Ruth is read by Jews for the Pentecost, as the timing of the wheat harvest and the theme of even the poor and strangers being welcomed into the community of believers and being provided for by the community all relate to the larger themes of the day. Yet Boaz, as conspicuous an example as he is of being a generous landowner, is not the only such example that we find in the Bible whose actions help us understand the importance of generosity within the community of faith that relates to the themes of Pentecost. Those of you who do not have offertory envelopes at this time, please raise your hand for an usher to provide you with one. The rest of you, let us turn now in our Bible’s to one more scripture, the Parable of the Generous Landowner, which can be found in Matthew 20:1-16. Matthew 20:1-16 reads: ““For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.  Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.  And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went.  Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.  And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’  They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’ “So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’  And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius.  But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.  And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’  But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?  Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.  Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’  So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.””

How often do we think that not only is it generosity to provide an opportunity for someone to work, even in the spiritual work we read here of working out our salvation through service and obedience to God’s ways, but that it is a gift to receive the chance to work. Ruth understood that the opportunity to become a part of the community of Boaz’ household was a boldly generous act, and so too God acts generously to us when He gives us His Holy Spirit and makes us a part of his community of believers. All who labor in that work, no matter how long or how short of a time they live, are given the same payment of God of eternal life and entrance into His kingdom. Do we respond to the generosity of God as Ruth and Naomi did, with praise and humility, or do we respond as the workers in Matthew 20 did, angry that others who serve for less time than we have receive the same blessing, even if they were idle until the very last hour before the time of Jesus’ return and the establishment of His kingdom on the earth? Let us hope that we take fully appreciate the generosity of being given the chance to labor in the fields of our Creator and Lord, in whatever capacity we are able to do so, and that we fully appreciate the worth of being able to show to others the same generosity in our offerings and in our service that God has provided to us. Let us now take up the offering as is our custom of doing so on the Holy Days. Our offertory music this morning is [read offertory note]. After that we will have our announcements given to us by our pastor, Mr. Rex Sexton.