We’re very used to
making deals, we’ve probably been doing it since we were kids. “So, if I were to eat two of my brussel
sprouts, what would the chances be of some ice cream?”
It’s very
easy to see our first reading from Hosea as just such a deal, offered by an
Israelite prophet to God: “So, if I get rid of these idols, and make some burnt
offerings, how about making us prosper and bear fruit like a mighty tree?” It sounds almost ridiculous, but I think
that’s often how we think about our relationship with God. If I work hard, offer enough up, eat enough
brussel sprouts, God will have to repay me somehow.
God never
has to. You can’t buy healing. You can’t bargain with Love. All is grace.
We can
recognize our sin; we can lament our sin; we can dream of life without it. We can’t turn from it under our own
steam. “‘I will heal their
defection,’ says the Lord, ‘I will
love them freely.’”
As God’s
healing rains down on us, we’ll look at our idols, the work of our hands, and
say, “Why did I ever call this ‘god’?” All that I’ve ‘done,’ this is God’s
fruit blossoming through me as a branch.
I can’t but lift up to Him, an offering of what He gave through my
hands.”
Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation,
for through
your goodness we have received
the bread we offer you: fruit
of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us
the bread of life.
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