#fulness

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Nazim Hikmet

I

Living is no laughing matter:

you must live with great seriousness

like a squirrel, for example—

I mean without looking for something beyond and above living,

I mean living must be your whole occupation.

Living is no laughing matter:

you must take it seriously,

so much so and to such a degree

that, for example, your hands tied behind your back,

your back to the wall,

or else in a laboratory

in your white coat and safety glasses,

you can die for people—

even for people whose faces you've never seen,

even though you know living

is the most real, the most beautiful thing.

I mean, you must take living so seriously

that even at seventy, for example, you'll plant olive trees—

and not for your children, either,

but because although you fear death you don't believe it,

because living, I mean, weighs heavier.

II

Let's say we're seriously ill, need surgery—

which is to say we might not get up

from the white table.

Even though it's impossible not to feel sad

about going a little too soon,

we'll still laugh at the jokes being told,

we'll look out the window to see if it's raining,

or still wait anxiously

for the latest newscast. . .

Let's say we're at the front—

for something worth fighting for, say.

There, in the first offensive, on that very day,

we might fall on our face, dead.

We'll know this with a curious anger,

but we'll still worry ourselves to death

about the outcome of the war, which could last years.

Let's say we're in prison

and close to fifty,

and we have eighteen more years, say,

before the iron doors will open.

We'll still live with the outside,

with its people and animals, struggle and wind—

I mean with the outside beyond the walls.

I mean, however and wherever we are,

we must live as if we will never die.

III

This earth will grow cold,

a star among stars

and one of the smallest,

a gilded mote on blue velvet—

I mean this, our great earth.

This earth will grow cold one day,

not like a block of ice

or a dead cloud even

but like an empty walnut it will roll along

in pitch-black space . . .

You must grieve for this right now

—you have to feel this sorrow now—

for the world must be loved this much

Ruth 2:20–23 (ESV) And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” 21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’ ” 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” 23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Ruth's haul from the day in Boaz's fields has floored Naomi. He has given her enough grain for weeks after one day and one encounter. It is a picture of the Lord's grace toward us. He is not the Lord who simply gives here and there, He gives extravagantly. 

Now there is something deeper to this story here at the end of chapter 2. The scripture says Ruth stayed in the fields of Boaz from the "beginning of the barley harvest" (See Ruth 1:22), and she keeps gleaning until the "end of the barley and wheat harvests." That is a 7 week period which is bookended by two important Jewish feasts. The feast of first fruits which took place after Passover and at the start of the barley harvest and then the feast of "weeks" or "Pentecost" at which two loaves of bread from the different gatherings (barley and wheat) were baked and presented before the Lord. 

The ultimate fulfillment of Pentecost, of course, comes in Acts 2 when the disciples receive the Spirit and begin to proclaim the Gospel with POWER in Jerusalem. The work of the Spirit eventually leads from Jerusalem/Judea to the uttermost parts of the world. What is more, those two loaves (and two harvests) represent two people groups whom God would call to Himself - the Jews and the Gentiles. Both groups are partakers of God's promise of salvation. 

This is what Paul constantly referred to as the "mystery" of the Gospel. It was a mystery to Paul because as a lifelong Jew he only knew of God's plan for Israel but upon reception of the Gospel, his eyes were opened and he would become the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul no doubt would have reread Old Testament stories like this that further uncovered God's plan from before time. Ruth is a foreign woman (Gentile) about to become a member of the house of Israel by marriage to a Christ figure named Boaz. All this began to take shape at Pentecost! You cannot make this stuff up! God's Spirit was speaking through every chapter leading us to God's fulfillment of the ages in His Church. 

So the lesson for us is simple. As His Church, we need to be ready to receive the stranger. Like Boaz had eyes out for someone strange to his people (Ruth), we must have our eyes open to those who may not look like us. If there is one common failure of local churches it is how they gravitate toward "their own" at the expense of those far from God and least like them. This must never be. God's heart has always been for the outsider and the Nations. 

My prayer from this reading is simply this: God keep my eyes open to those far from you. Open my heart to receive them and open my ears to hear you speak to me so that I can speak to them. Lord, may my hand be ready to welcome them in and make a place available for them to come to You. Finally, Lord, FILL ME with the Holy Spirit again so that I will boldly proclaim your Word as I should.

The Church is the visible body of Christ on Earth. What we do matters for eternity. The harvest is happening. Let not our hearts grow tired or weary of participating in this most important mission to seek and save those who are presently lost. 

The Gospel is SO SIMPLE,

Everybody misses It:

Just pretend you're DEAD (Water Baptism)

And let The Lord Jesus

TAKE OVER YOUR BODY

(The Baptism of The Holy Spirit)!

John 14:23

Ephesians 3:14-21

Colossians 2:6-12; 3:2-3

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