Leftovers?

There is a familiar scene in the lobby of our church after the service on Sunday mornings that I’ve never encountered at other places we’ve visited. On the floor, against the wall, are boxes and boxes of bananas, loaves of bread, and other various food items, waiting to be put into bags and taken home by anyone who needs them. It is one of the visible results of an important ministry called “gleaning”. There is a person in the church who goes to grocery stores in the area collecting food items and bringing them back to the church to use for youth group dinners on Wednesday nights as well as for other uses at the church. In addition to this economical aspect of the ministry, boxes of food for anyone in need are also available on Sunday mornings. And people are seen joyfully stuffing bags full of groceries they will use during the week as they talk to people around them about the message they just heard or about their plans for the week. It is the most natural unnatural thing I’ve seen in a church in years and I love it!

So what is gleaning, after all? We hear the word in expressions like, “What did you glean from that reading?” But because most of us don’t live in a heavily agricultural area, the original meaning of the word is sometimes forgotten. Definitions we may find today include “to gather slowly and laboriously, bit by bit.” Or “to learn, discover, or find out, usually little by little or slowly.” But the other definition for the word sheds light on the common meaning as we hear it in conversation.

The concept can be found in the book of Leviticus, where God instructs the Hebrews to be purposefully inefficient in gathering the harvest so that the poor and aliens among them could come along after the harvesters and take what fell to the ground. Look at the following passage of Scripture:

⁹ When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰ Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:9-10)

This set of instructions, like the rest of God’s Law as we find it in the Old Testament, reflects His heart and His character. He is a loving, compassionate God, who cares for those who are experiencing hard times or are ostracized by society. This, in and of itself, is interesting to some. (Me, for example) But look at how the practice, when used properly, had ramifications into the New Testament and can even show up in our lives today.

In the book of Ruth, Naomi returns to her native land near Bethlehem without her husband or two sons, who have died while they were all living in Moab, but with her daughter-in-law, Ruth. Two widows left to fend for themselves in the wake of great sadness and a tiring journey, they take advantage of the system that exists for those who had been displaced or inconvenienced by life’s circumstances and Ruth goes to a field and follows the servants who are harvesting grain to glean some for herself and Naomi. As luck would have it (or was it God’s hand working there…) “she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech”. (Ruth 2:3) Boaz and Naomi notice each other, they are both people of a solid work ethic and integrity, and Boaz redeems the land that Naomi’s husband left behind at his death, marrying Ruth as part of the deal. Neither had ulterior motives and neither had expectations of romance. They were simply living life as God had ordained for His children to care for each other. And it worked out so beautifully!

Not only did Ruth and Boaz come together to begin a family as a result of their hard work and obedience (and some mutual attraction, I’m guessing), but look at what came from that family tree in just a few generations after Ruth and Boaz had their son:

And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. ¹⁸ This, then, is the family line of Perez:

Perez was the father of Hezron,

¹⁹ Hezron was the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,

²⁰ Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

²¹ Salmon the father of Boaz,

Boaz the father of Obed,

22 Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of David. (Ruth 4:18-22)

That’s King David, by the way. Ancestor of none other than Jesus. Don’t take my word for it. Check out Luke’s account of Jesus’ family tree in Luke 3:21-38. Not only that, but the story of Boaz redeeming the land and lives of those who were alone in the world is a beautiful picture of what Jesus Himself did for us by dying on the cross to buy us back from the sin that was separating us from God. Good stuff, Maynard. (As the Malt-O-Meal commercial dad used to say…)

So what does all this genealogy have to do with gleaning? And what does it have to do with us? I’ll be happy to tell you.

God worked out His plan for the future through people who were living obedient lives. Boaz was a Jewish landowner who had instructed his servants to follow God’s law and leave a little extra for those who might need it. And Ruth was kind and hard working in her support of her mother-in-law. Gleaning wasn’t easy work, either. Hence the connotation for our modern usage that implies learning little by little. It’s bending and reaching in the hot sun to get stalks that then needs to be threshed to get grain to make bread. Freeloading it isn’t. These people are examples to us of how to live for others by living in the spirit of God’s Law. God will bless our lives and the lives of people we may never meet by our participation in His plan. We just need to do what He’s asked us to.

God’s heart is full of compassion for the downtrodden. As followers of God, we are called to emulate His priorities in our lives and pray for His heart for those less fortunate than we are. The Law was given to show God’s people how to live with His character. That includes keeping our eyes open for opportunities to bless others with the abundance we have received from Him.

So does God condone wastefulness? No. It would be easy to justify in the culture we live in as Americans, but this book of the Bible doesn’t make that case. Instead, it reveals a purposeful intent to leave selfish ambition behind and let go of some of what we perceive to be ours so others can be blessed, too. It’s a picture of community as God planned it: His children taking care of themselves and taking care of each other. And when we live by God’s plan, everybody wins.

• Read the following passages of the Law and see if you can find a similar concept of God’s symbiotic purposes for His people.

~ Leviticus 7:28-34 ~ 2 Chronicles 31:2-8 ~ Numbers 18:8-13

• What are some examples of modern gleaning that you and your family can discuss and institute? Here are some to get you started:

~ Instead of dumping extra change in the jar of your favorite coffee place, why not save it and give it to a charity each month?

~ When buying staple items at the grocery store, consider buying double of the most useful items and take them to a local food bank.

~ Why not make 2 entrees for dinner and take one to a neighbor or friend who may be alone or struggling financially instead of simply throwing out leftovers?