Receiving and Giving
The second-generation Audi S8 is remembered by most car folks as the luxurious full-size sports sedan with a Lamborghini engine. Amazing. But false.
Audi built its own V10, a 444-horsepower, all-aluminum, 5.2-liter, FSI (direct-injected) wonder based on the technology pioneered by their 4.2-liter V8. The Lamborghini Gallardo, meanwhile, had a 5.0-liter V10 with an even 500 horsepower. Eventually it would get a 5.2-liter V10 – specifically, Audi’s 5.2-liter V10.
Big car conglomerates have created a world where this kind of wacky, surprising, and thought-provoking parts-sharing stuff is possible. The history of these cars is stuffed full of teachable moments with themes of giving, receiving, and character.
The story of Ruth is packed with themes of giving too. Ruth was a Moabite, kind of a lower-class citizen among God’s people. After her husband unexpectedly dies, she is given the chance to marry someone else. Her mother-in-law, Naomi, in her bitter grief, gives Ruth her blessing to go and live a happy life:
“Naomi said, ‘Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me – even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons – would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has gone out against me!’… But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.’” (Ruth 1:11-13, 16)
Eventually, Ruth is given the opportunity to work for Naomi’s relative, Boaz. Boaz gives her a new life, a future, and inclusion into a wonderful family when he is moved by compassion and love for her and marries her.
Compared to the other stories in the Old Testament that feature action-packed accounts of divine judgment, war, and plagues, the story of Ruth reads a bit like a soap opera, with boring things like emotions and marriage. Ruth is worth a thorough read though. She has nothing except faith and willingness, and by the end of the story, she is given a new family, a new inheritance, and a spectacular role as one of four women in the genealogy of Jesus.
Think about it: Ruth is given an eternal place of honor in the family tree of Jesus. Wow! But Ruth – little, humble, unremarkable Ruth – gives something to the story, narrative, and even persona of Jesus. Think of Naomi’s bitterness. She thought she had run out of options. She thought her life was effectively over. But Ruth is faithful. Ruth doesn’t make a solution magically appear, but she faithfully sticks by Naomi’s side and lets her presence bring peace and consistency to calm Naomi’s heart. Then Ruth rolls up her sleeves, gets working, and wins a new life for Naomi.
Ruth isn’t boring anymore, is she? No story is boring if you hear God whispering throughout: “This is what I do. I got this.” You can think of Ruth and know that God has given you the same faithfulness, reassurance, action, and inheritance. And just as Ruth adds something to the narrative of Jesus – and lowly Audi gave something to Lamborghini – your life and death, victories and struggles, character and vice, ambition and hopelessness add something to the grand story of God’s grace for humanity. God gives to his people, and his people keep on giving – and receiving.
Since its introduction, the S8 has been Audi’s flagship. The second-generation S8 entered the market against V12-powered competition from Mercedes-Benz and BMW, yet its V10 was hardly a demerit against it. Its character and construction added something to the character of the S8. It gave the S8 something wonderful and unexpected.
