From the daily lectionary for Saturday in the third week of Lent
Hosea 6:1–6
“Come, let us return to the Lord;
for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
he has struck down, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
like the spring rains that water the earth.”
What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes away early.
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgement goes forth as the light.
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.
The vocation of the prophets in Hebrew scripture was to call the people of Israel to account. Mostly they followed in the tradition of the Deuteronomistic historian, the author(s) of the Pentateuch.The Deuteronomistic theology was this: Worship and obey the “one” God alone, and you will be blessed; turn from God and the ways of God and be cursed. Such theology made for a simple explanation of theodicy, which literally means, “God’s justice.” It is the term used by theologians asking the time immemorial question of, “If God is good and loving, then why is there suffering and evil in the world,” or to put a finer point on it, “Is God just?” It is a profound question, one that has kept theologians off the streets at night. The Deuteronomistic theology wasn’t without challenge in scripture, however. The Book of Job presents its protagonist as the most righteous of men, and yet he suffers all that the collusive godhead can muster, challenging the quid pro quo of blessing and curse.. Augustine of Hippo, and later Calvin reinforced this theology by propounding the doctrine of “original sin.” which basically held that it is the sin of humankind that has evoked suffering and evil in the world; that free will was ultimately our undoing.
I don’t buy that. Evil and suffering are simply a part of the created order… sometimes caused by human choices and decisions; sometimes by the random iterations of nature. But there is also the other side of the coin. We humans have the capacity to Love, and in choosing Love the powers of suffering and evil are undermined, even redeemed, because Love is stronger. Call it the saving grace of free will. In Love even the darkness of our world has meaning and purpose, or at least proportional context. I think that is what the prophet Hosea is grappling with. We are “torn,” as he puts it, in this life, but in God’s mysterious economy there is always new life, resurrection, in short. The renewal of the earth in her seasonal cycle is not just a metaphor, but a promise of regeneration and restoration. Just look out of the window.
We are indeed torn as a people during this time of plague, but we are people of a promise… and we also know by experience the mystery…. the promise and the expectation of new life. It comes as surely as the dawn. Remember, God shows up in the extremes of irony. How else can it be that we can stand at the very grave and make our song, Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Prayer from The Burial of the Dead (BCP p. 504)
O God, whose days are without end, and whose mercies cannot be numbered: Make us, we pray, deeply aware of the shortness and uncertainty of human life; and let your Holy Spirit lead us in holiness and justice all our days; that, when we shall have served you in our generation, we may be gathered to our ancestors, having the testimony of a good conscience, in communion with the Catholic Church, in the confidence of a certain faith, in the comfort of a religious and holy hope, in favor with you, our God, and in perfect charity with the world. All this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
