Can Women Lead Men?

Maybe you should be ashamed of yourself for even being interested in reading a devotional with that title…

Back when Ruth first arrived back in Bethlehem at the beginning of the story, she started leading the men around her. She pushed the limits of the Law in Deuteronomy to appeal to what the Spirit of God was saying - namely, that it wasn’t enough just to leave a few leftovers for the poor. No, that’s not it. What God wanted us to see underneath the Law to the value of providing for those in need. Ruth’s request inherently asked Boaz to listen to the Spirit above the Law… and he responded to her leadership.

Then in Ruth 3, again Ruth comes to Boaz and makes an audacious ask: that he follow the Spirit over the Law one more time. This time she pushes to the breaking point the Law in Leviticus about marrying a brother’s widow. Instead she appeals to what the Spirit was saying underneath the Law- namely, that Boaz wasn’t ‘off the hook’ for caring for Ruth and Naomi because they weren’t married to his biological brother, because God wanted them cared for nonetheless. And again, Boaz responded to her leadership and stepped up to the plate.

There are plenty of problematic passages in the Bible about women and men - that’s not in question. But the scripture we’ve been looking at these weeks emphasizes Ruth’s leadership and Boaz’s followership. It’s done in a particular way that fits that particular culture (and in a way that often s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d that culture too!). As is the case with Jesus so often: in the life of faith it’s the norm to cross cultural norms.

How are you at being led by those who are not typically seen as leaders in your culture? (think: at home, at work, in friendships). Ask the Spirit what it’s saying to you these days about being led and about being a leader.

I love the collision moments between this respectable, established man of valor who has spent an entire lifetime meticulously coloring inside the lines and the irrepressible foreigner who for most of her life didn’t even know such lines existed.

- Caroline Custis James, The Gospel of Ruth