Sunday, September 5, 2010

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 5, 2010

Love Takes Time

Amazed at Christ’s Love—He Calls Me His Child!
1 John 3:1-2


Hosea's life was a picture of unfaithfulness. But not Hosea's unfaithfulness; the unfaithfulness pictured was of his nation—Israel. God told Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife named Gomer and when she had children, God told Hosea to give them special names.

After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah [Hebrew: “not My loved one”], Gomer had another son. Then the Lord said, "Call him Lo-Ammi [Hebrew: “not My people”], for you are not My people, and I am not your God. (Hosea 1:8-9)

Gomer was to Hosea what Israel was to God. Gomer and Israel were both unfaithful. Gomer slept with other men; Israel worshiped themselves and pagan statues and heathen rituals. Hosea's marriage to Gomer was a living and breathing visual aid to remind the Israelites of their unfaithfulness.

However, God still longed to call them His children, but they continued to be unfaithful. They ran away from their true love, just like the selfish son ran away from his father in Jesus' parable (cf. Luke 15).

So even among these damning words of the Law from the Lord—”not My loved one” and “not My people”—we hear words of promise:

"Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.' The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited. (Hosea 1:10-11)

Just like Jesus' parable, the son who had squandered his father's lavish inheritance was welcomed back by that very same father.

We are unfaithful people by nature. We love to run away from Jesus. We are not loving; we are selfish. Our thoughts are constantly on what we can get. Our minds are always frustrated that we don't have as much as we deserve. Our emotions are controlled by the desire to be in control, which is always just outside of our reach.

But Jesus changed all this. He showed us love and how to love. This month we'll learn that love takes time. We sing this truth in our worship and proclaim it in our sermons and study it in our Bible studies.

In order to benefit from this truth, we will need to keep first things first. The first thing is the love that Jesus showed to us. Our love that takes time is the result of Jesus' love and His activity on our behalf. With His death on the cross, He paid the price of sin for all sinners. With your Baptism, He made you His own dear child.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God. (1 John 3:1-2)

Amen.