The Cost of Christmas

Read Ruth 4:5–6

PAYING THE PRICE

With newsfeeds, TV screens and magazines all seeking to persuade us to
spend our cash on advertisers’ festive products, it’s no wonder that we often
lament the ‘cost of Christmas’. But most people don’t ever give much thought
to what the first Christmas cost the one person it’s all about...

WHO WILL REDEEM?

We’ve been left on tenterhooks after Naomi’s unnamed relative said he
would do his duty and redeem Naomi. But wait...
Boaz is not done. Perhaps shrewdly, he points out what Naomi’s relative
might have missed:
On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the
Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead
with his property (v. 5).
Ah, hang on... It seems this man hasn’t quite factored in everything. By the
way, the language of ‘acquiring’ here isn’t to demean Ruth, as if she were
merely a possession. It actually highlights her dignity and right to receive
care.
But the man will not only need to care for Ruth. Boaz makes clear the
redeemer will also be expected to maintain the name and line of Elimelek,
Naomi’s dead husband. The implication is that the man would need to
marry Ruth and provide an heir for Elimelek.

DEAL-BREAKER!

We can imagine the man’s eyebrows going up! Not only would there be extra
mouths to feed (Ruth’s plus those of any future children), but he would then
have to pass on Naomi’s land to those children. Then there’s the fact his new
wife would be a Moabite!
Suddenly, this doesn’t seem a very lucrative deal. And so he says, ‘Then I
cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it
yourself. I cannot do it’ (v. 6).
At least there’s no pretence here. The man is honest about this being too
costly to his bank balance, his pride and his reputation. Ultimately that’s not
a price he’s willing to pay.
And so we’re back on with Boaz!

I’LL NEVER KNOW HOW MUCH IT COST

This twist doesn’t just make for a more gripping story, but it also highlights
how costly this redemption was. Boaz’s willingness to redeem suddenly
becomes all the more glorious in contrast to the other man’s unwillingness.
His sacrificial kindness shines all the brighter when set against a backdrop
where the norm is self-preservation and ‘looking after number one’.
We sometimes miss this cost of redemption in our culture. An individual
can ‘redeem themselves’ after a fault or mistake. We might ‘redeem’ a
voucher at the shops.
But in the Bible, redemption isn’t something we can do. Humanity’s
enslavement to sin, death and the devil leaves us utterly unable to redeem
ourselves – and desperately in need of a willing Redeemer.

REFLECTION

In Zechariah’s announcement of Jesus’ birth, he says, ‘Praise be to the Lord, the
God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them’ (Luke
1:68). The cost of this redemption was the Redeemer giving his own life. Whilst
our redemption is free to us, it is only possible because Jesus Christ willingly
paid the cost with his blood. What difference does it make to know that you
have a Redeemer who paid the cost for our lives? Nothing or no one else has
done that!

Listen to ‘The Cradle and the Cross’ by Austin Stone Worship.