Proper 13 / Pentecost 11 / Ordinary Time 18
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
-- Hosea 11:1
Hosea continued to use the various images of a family to envision God's relationship with Israel. As God was preparing Moses to return to Egypt to lead the children of Israel out of slavery, he told Moses to tell Pharaoh, "Israel is my firstborn son... Let my son go that he may worship me." Now Hosea, drawing on that image, had God recall, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son." With a pain that only a parent fully understands, God agonized over the fact that this child of God had gone astray after idols. Like many a parent who reflects on a child's rebellious ways, God began to recall the tender moments when the child was but an infant.
To emphasize the tenderness of God, the imagery used is that of God as a mother caring for her infant. "Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them." You can picture a mother who once nursed her child reflecting back on those moments of infinite tenderness. "I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them." There is that moment of despair when a parent considers the necessity of giving up on their rebellious child. "They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me." But even as God considered releasing the child, Israel, to the consequences of their rebellious ways, the heart of a parent recoiled within God. "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? ... My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger...." And God began to plan for the return of his child.
"They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria; and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord." Whether Jesus recalled this passage from Hosea as he formed the story of the prodigal son or not, both the parable and this passage reveal the agonized pain as well as the forgiving compassion of God.
-- Hosea 11:1
Hosea continued to use the various images of a family to envision God's relationship with Israel. As God was preparing Moses to return to Egypt to lead the children of Israel out of slavery, he told Moses to tell Pharaoh, "Israel is my firstborn son... Let my son go that he may worship me." Now Hosea, drawing on that image, had God recall, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son." With a pain that only a parent fully understands, God agonized over the fact that this child of God had gone astray after idols. Like many a parent who reflects on a child's rebellious ways, God began to recall the tender moments when the child was but an infant.
To emphasize the tenderness of God, the imagery used is that of God as a mother caring for her infant. "Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them." You can picture a mother who once nursed her child reflecting back on those moments of infinite tenderness. "I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them." There is that moment of despair when a parent considers the necessity of giving up on their rebellious child. "They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me." But even as God considered releasing the child, Israel, to the consequences of their rebellious ways, the heart of a parent recoiled within God. "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? ... My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger...." And God began to plan for the return of his child.
"They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria; and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord." Whether Jesus recalled this passage from Hosea as he formed the story of the prodigal son or not, both the parable and this passage reveal the agonized pain as well as the forgiving compassion of God.
