Hosea 11:1-9 Grace

The story of is a remarkable one. He was a prophet of the Northern

Kingdom of Israel perhaps two decades before the capital city, , fell in 721

BC. As he tells it, at some point during his ministry, the Lord commanded him to marry a woman who was a prostitute. We may think a good psychiatrist would have a field day with that one, but for now let‟s just accept what Hosea says, that this was the Lord‟s word to him, and let‟s also assume that Hosea didn‟t select the first woman he saw on the street corner, but chose a woman he loved or came to love. That‟s because Hosea and his unfaithful wife become a metaphor for the relationship between God and the nation of Israel, for neither did the people remain faithful to the Lord God but instead found other lovers, that is, continued to worship the local Canaanite gods, like . Still, all the while, Hosea writes, God loves the people of Israel, like either a generous and doting husband, or as in our passage, like a loving parent.

What do you have in mind when you think of the Old Testament prophets?

Or, what do you look for when you turn to the last third of the Old Testament? Do you expect to find all these words of judgment and condemnation- about how the people of Israel go after the other gods, even though they are reminded time and again that the True God is this God who delivered them out of slavery in Egypt and brought them into the Promised Land? But their memories fade, their faith wavers, and so we may read all kinds of harsh words from the Lord through the prophets that depict the end result of faithlessness and worship of idols, “their cities are tracked with blood, my anger burns against them; the days of punishment have come; because of their wickedness, I will drive them out”; these from the prophet

Hosea; and this one from our text today, “the sword shall rage against them and devour them.” So yes, there is much of what we expect in the pages of the prophets. But there may be some things that surprise us, as well.

On the front page of the Temple paper a few weeks ago was printed a human-interest story- with a big color picture and everything- about the Snow-

Cone man who travels around the area in his little wagon. Here is the headline,

“Snow-Cone Man Serves Up Smiles,” and the picture has him with two children waiting for their icy treats, but nobody is even close to smiling. So the picture isn‟t what we figure to see after reading the caption, nor do we expect, two kids frowning when they are seconds from wrapping their lips around a sweet and frozen concoction on a July day at the ballpark. I think it may be the same way for us when we open the first half of our

Bibles. We don‟t think there is much reason to smile as we are pretty sure we‟ll read a bunch of laws- many of which don‟t make sense to us these days, and page after page of people acting badly, and chapter after chapter of prophecies against the nations surrounding Israel and , and prophecies against the pride and idolatry of God‟s chosen people

But then we come across this astonishing scripture in which God says, “How can I give you up! My heart churns up and my sympathy is stirred!” Here we discover the passion of love and concern rather than the passion of anger and judgment. Here we see selfless love and forgiveness like that of a parent for a rebellious child, or a wife for her husband, or a husband for his wife- I can‟t help but think of Hosea never giving up loving his wife; or of God, endlessly loving people: they are determined to turn from God, they are a hopeless cause, and yet,

“How can I give you up!” God says. I hope you know the word for this. It is grace. That God continues to love and bless and welcome even when people reject the truth, or refuse to be merciful and practice justice, or even when they grow smug and selfish. God still loves. If you read the Torah- the first five books of the Old Testament- where all the rules are located, you may find much that could keep you from smiling. Let us think about our passage and the displeasure of God the parent with the wicked son,

Israel, in verses 5-7, and look back to a law written specifically for those children who seem unable to be good, “If a man has a son who is rebellious and stubborn, who will not obey his parents, they shall take him to the elders of the city and say,

„This is our rebellious and stubborn son; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.‟ Then the men of the city shall stone him to death; so you will purge the evil from your midst” (Deuteronomy 21:18-21). This is what should happen to the bad son, Israel. And yet here is the profundity of grace: that even confronted with the commandments, God says, “How can I give you up!”

Here is where love and mercy race ahead of the doctrine and rites of religion, where grace shows itself far advanced beyond mere acts of worship and piety. Here God is not demanding more sacrifices or purer morality, but rather love, and offering compassion even when God‟s own laws demand punishment.

This view simply doesn‟t match our usual picture of the vengeful God of the Old

Testament. Hosea was one of the earliest prophets to write down his prophecies, and it may be that right here in our passage is the first time ever an author or teacher had conceived of a god who was willing to bear the pain of his people’s rejection and disobedience instead of turning away or calling down destruction upon them. It is a great moment in the history of religion and in the literature of the , and a new and utterly surprising understanding of God. Our example is Hosea‟s love for his unfaithful wife, and our proof are the words of God in our passage, “I will not execute my fierce anger, for I am God and not man- the Holy One in your midst- and I will not come to destroy.” Thus we learn that being God means power and holiness for the sake of loving, not just ruling over; the “Holy One among you” means life and blessing.

Don‟t we see already in this theology of Hosea the kind of Messiah and Lord we understand Jesus to be? In his own words, who “came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life for others”? (Mark 10:45). It is the greatest insight we can be given into this God who “changeth not, but loveth forever.”

I know preachers and Ph.D.s who will not accept this understanding of a gracious

God in the books of the Old Testament. I think they, rightly, want to emphasize the uniqueness of Jesus as compared to all other men who ever lived. They may want to think the ministry of Jesus is a new beginning in the relationship between

God and the people of God. But rather than the beginning, perhaps we should think of Jesus as the completion, the perfection, of the relationship between God the Parent and us, his children; in Jesus, where we see perfectly what God will do- and has done- for us. And where we can see clearly what we must do: to show to one another “warm and tender compassion,” as Hosea has written; compassion, as the changeless God has shown to his people through the ages, and as God in Jesus has given to us.