https://odb.org/2024/06/26/learning-from-each-other
The book of Ruth is probably the empitome of the inclusiveness of God as it tells the story of an outsider, a Moabite, who followed her Jewish mother in law, Naomi, back to Judah after the death of her husband. To put this relationship in context, the Moabites are enemies of the Israelites. Ruth later found love in Boaz and, as a result, became the great grandmother of David and is thus part of the geneology of Jesus Christ. In other words, a naturalised Jew was one of the ancestors of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In today’s ODB, the emphasis placed was the relationship between Naomi and Ruth of how the elder taught the younger what to do when it came to Boaz. However, Ruth also was the one who suggested and volunteered to go out to the fields to take whatever was left behind as Jewish law required harvesters to leave some harvest behind for the orphans, widows and the foreigner. Both Naomi and Ruth were widows and penniless when they arrived at Judah, and this law allowed them to have something to make a meal for themselves.
In most cases, it is the older who has eaten more salt who teach the younger. People who had gone ahead first who had experienced the ups and downs and pitfalls of life. For example, I was advised by my seniors in the university to stay faithful at a workplace. Although my work organisation that I had spent 27 years with had helped me raise my family and gave me opportunities to travel, in hindsight and retrospect, I believe that I would have had a richer work experience if I had moved around a little when I was younger.
However, in the contemporary work setting, where people are progressing from mere Internet to AI (when I started work, the world wide web was at its nascent stage), the older ones have much to learn from the younger generation. Even fresh graduates may be better at doing certain tasks compared to those 5 years older, what more ancient people in their 50s! There is thus much we can learn from the younger ones and vice versa. Even in Christian worship music, the younger ones are more in touch with the contemporary scene, and if we embrace such diversity, we will not be only singing 30-year-old worship songs in church over and over again!
The message this morning is that as much as we have lots to teach and share as older ones, we have much to learn too from the younger ones, even our own children. That is the essence of intergenerational learning. Always remain humble as the LORD opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.
Ronnie's Thoughts 