Tuesday 27 May 2008

Background

We may find it very difficult to take these words seriously,just like the people to whom Hosea's text was addressed because Godis so often made in our image and burdened with our dispositiontowards retribution and violence.

In this passage we find the prophet wrestling with the question ofhow God should treat those who turn away from, ignore ordeliberately go against God. God's habitually wayward people areonce again caught up in the familiar dramatic cycle of brokennessand restoration which is the hallmark of the prophetic books.

The imagery here is tender and intimate, as we would expect fromHosea. His experience of being on the receiving end ofunfaithfulness (he was commanded by God to marry a woman who was aprostitute - Hosea 1:2) gives anespecially poignant tone to his words and reflection. He likens Godto a loving parent who cares passionately for their child, eventhough the child has spurned their love. The picture is of aprofound and abiding refusal to give up on the beloved, or to treatthem with anything less than kindness and compassion.

Woven through this conviction however, is the all too humantemptation to get our own back. Over and against this tendencytowards retaliation God poses the question "How can I?" In otherwords, how can I behave like you? God's heart is pictured asrecoiling at the very thought of acting in this way. Instead, whenfaced with the worst that humanity can do, God's compassion growsyet more warm and tender. But God does not let us off the hook. Godconfronts us with the truth of what we have done. How else canthere be hope of reconciliation?

So God is like no mortal. God refuses to come in wrath. The cycleof violence and retaliation which so bedevils our world is notGod's way, nor should it be invoked in the name of God. Here weglimpse a very different vision of truth-telling, peacemaking andof conflict transformation. When the Holy One is in our midst,legitimate grievances and anger are acknowledged, hurt is sharedand owned, and all these are resolved with compassion andunderstanding.

To Ponder

How can truth-telling and the sharing oflegitimate grievances be best achieved?

In what ways do you think we make God in ourimage?

If the crucifixion of Jesus was humanity'sviolent rejection of such holiness in our midst, what value isthere in seeing the Resurrection as God's compassionate,non-violent response?