Elizabeth Achtemeier - "A Shocking Command" (July 26, 1998)
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Transcript
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- | Before I read the Old Testament lesson | 0:13 |
just let me say that it is always a pleasure and an | 0:16 | |
honor for me to worship with you in this holy place. | 0:19 | |
Our Old Testament lesson comes from the prophecies of Hosea. | 0:25 | |
The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri | 0:32 | |
in the days of Uzziah Jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah | 0:36 | |
kings of Judah. | 0:40 | |
And in the days of Jeroboam the son of Jehoash | 0:42 | |
king of Israel. | 0:44 | |
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea the Lord said | 0:47 | |
to Hosea go take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have | 0:50 | |
children of harlotry for the land commits great harlotry | 0:56 | |
by forsaking the Lord. | 1:00 | |
So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim | 1:02 | |
and she conceived and bore him a son. | 1:07 | |
And the Lord said to him call his name Jezreel | 1:11 | |
for yet a little while and I will punish the house of | 1:14 | |
Jehu for the blood of Jezreel and I will put an end | 1:17 | |
to the kingdom of the house of Israel. | 1:19 | |
And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in | 1:22 | |
the Valley of Jezreel. | 1:25 | |
She conceived again and bore a daughter. | 1:28 | |
And the Lord said to him call her name Not Pitied. | 1:31 | |
For I will no more have pity on the house of Israel | 1:34 | |
to forgive them at all. | 1:37 | |
But I will have pity on the house of Judah. | 1:40 | |
And I will deliver them by the Lord their God. | 1:44 | |
I will not deliver them by bow | 1:47 | |
Nor by sword nor by war | 1:49 | |
nor by horses nor by horsemen. | 1:51 | |
When she had weaned Not Pitied she conceived and bore a son. | 1:55 | |
And the Lord said call his name Not My People. | 2:01 | |
For you are not my people and I am not your God. | 2:06 | |
Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like | 2:11 | |
the sand of the sea which can be neither measured | 2:14 | |
nor numbered. | 2:17 | |
And in the place where it was said unto them you are | 2:18 | |
not my people, | 2:21 | |
it shall be said to them sons and daughters of the | 2:22 | |
living God. | 2:26 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 2:28 | |
(audience respond) | 2:30 | |
A couple of years ago | 2:37 | |
A publisher asked me to write a book on preaching from | 2:40 | |
the hard passages in the Old Testament. | 2:43 | |
I agreed to do so but the publisher left it up to me | 2:46 | |
to pick out the passages. | 2:50 | |
As a result I went around asking various clergy and friends | 2:53 | |
what texts in the Old Testament give you difficulty. | 2:57 | |
And one women replied God's call to the prophet Hosea. | 3:02 | |
And that just happens to be our stated Old Testament lesson | 3:07 | |
for the morning. | 3:10 | |
God commands Hosea in our text to go take to yourself | 3:13 | |
a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry. | 3:17 | |
And says our text Hosea went and took. | 3:22 | |
Now what that means is that God commanded his prophet | 3:27 | |
to marry a women named Gomer who had given herself | 3:31 | |
to prostitution in the fertility cult of the God Baal. | 3:35 | |
The Israelites in the eight century BC northern kingdom | 3:41 | |
of Israel had adopted the religion of their Canaanite | 3:44 | |
surroundings. | 3:47 | |
They believed that by practicing sexual intercourse at | 3:49 | |
their cult sites they could coerce the Canaanite god Baal | 3:52 | |
by sympathetic magic to give them fertility for their crops | 3:57 | |
and in their families. | 4:01 | |
In short they sought abundance of life from pagan gods. | 4:03 | |
And Hosea's wife Gomer had participated in that paganism. | 4:09 | |
Nevertheless God commanded Hosea marry her. | 4:15 | |
Marry Gomer. | 4:19 | |
Marry a harlot. | 4:21 | |
And that is indeed a shocking command. | 4:23 | |
Can you imagine what the neighbors said when Hosea brought | 4:27 | |
that woman into his house? | 4:30 | |
And how about the reaction of his mother and father? | 4:33 | |
Gomer was going to make them the grandparents of | 4:38 | |
a harlot's children. | 4:40 | |
Only one of the three children she bears is said to | 4:42 | |
be Hosea's. | 4:44 | |
So would you as a grandmother or grandfather welcome such | 4:46 | |
a prospect? | 4:49 | |
Your son claiming as his wife a godless prostitute. | 4:51 | |
And yet when I meditated on Hosea's story I could not help | 4:57 | |
wander just why some of us at least are shocked by it. | 5:01 | |
After all we are a whoring nation are we not? | 5:08 | |
Indulging in all sorts of sexual sins. | 5:12 | |
Some of our presidents and national leaders have been | 5:17 | |
shown to be wildly promiscuous. | 5:19 | |
And yet we have elected them and honored them as | 5:21 | |
our leaders. | 5:24 | |
Repeatedly some stars of screen and stage tell us that | 5:26 | |
they have had children out of wedlock. | 5:30 | |
But that does not deter our fascination with them. | 5:33 | |
Night after night we watch TV shows in which it is | 5:36 | |
automatically assumed that every romantic encounter leads | 5:40 | |
to bed. | 5:44 | |
And the first question on every date these days is | 5:47 | |
apparently not should we kiss. | 5:49 | |
But rather should we have sex. | 5:51 | |
Now as for university campuses I think our daughter's | 5:56 | |
experience was typical. | 5:59 | |
Some years ago when she entered the freshman class of an | 6:02 | |
ivy league school, | 6:05 | |
her problem was not adjusting to life away from home no. | 6:06 | |
It was what to do with a roommate who insisted on having | 6:11 | |
her boyfriend sleep in the room with her every weekend. | 6:14 | |
Well that's just something you have to get used to in | 6:19 | |
College remarked a friend. | 6:21 | |
And when our daughter sought out the college chaplin for | 6:24 | |
help he told her don't worry about it. | 6:26 | |
Well our daughter did worry about it and quickly found | 6:31 | |
herself another roommate but it was not an untypical | 6:33 | |
scenario on our campuses throughout the nation. | 6:37 | |
We are indeed a whoring nation simply saturated with sex. | 6:41 | |
And many persons think that in sexual gratification lies | 6:47 | |
the key to the good life. | 6:50 | |
In fact many believe that they cannot be whole persons | 6:53 | |
unless they engage in sexual intercourse. | 6:56 | |
Thereby implying of course that Jesus of Nazareth was | 6:59 | |
not whole. | 7:02 | |
So why we could as should we be shocked by Hosea's marriage | 7:05 | |
to a prostitute. | 7:09 | |
Well the stickler in the prophet story of course is that | 7:12 | |
God commands him to marry that harlot and we really don't | 7:14 | |
think that God should do such a thing. | 7:18 | |
Sure there are some misguided souls wandering around who | 7:22 | |
think that unbridled passion is the way to the divine. | 7:25 | |
They would make very good Canaanites. | 7:29 | |
But for most of us it is disturbing that God issues such | 7:32 | |
a command and maybe that gives a glimmer of hope when we | 7:35 | |
approach this text. | 7:40 | |
That there is still some strain of decency in our sin | 7:41 | |
pocked lives. | 7:45 | |
That we still have some vision of what human life and love | 7:48 | |
are meant to be. | 7:51 | |
And that such a vision is rooted in our understanding | 7:53 | |
of God. | 7:56 | |
Deep down in the innermost recesses of our hearts we know | 7:59 | |
that God is righteous and pure. | 8:03 | |
That He is nothing to do with unbridled lusts and | 8:07 | |
selfish gratification. | 8:10 | |
That He manipulates no trusting human being and takes | 8:12 | |
selfish advantage of no weak soul. | 8:15 | |
He loves us with a heart that wants only our good and | 8:19 | |
constantly gives of Himself in patience and compassion. | 8:22 | |
And in our whoring society we secretly cling to that | 8:28 | |
knowledge because we have the fearful apprehension | 8:31 | |
that we are being overwhelmed by evil. | 8:35 | |
All the barriers of decency have broken down in our times | 8:39 | |
haven't they. | 8:43 | |
Right and wrong are up for grabs and everyone makes up his | 8:45 | |
own rules. | 8:48 | |
There's no authority. | 8:50 | |
No truth. | 8:51 | |
No good. | 8:52 | |
No asking what is this that I have done. | 8:53 | |
And we are disquieted and distressed about the disordered | 8:58 | |
future into which we plunging head long. | 9:01 | |
But as Karl Barth once wrote, | 9:05 | |
There is above this warped and weakened will of yours | 9:09 | |
and mine above this absurd and senseless will of the world | 9:12 | |
another that is straight and pure. | 9:17 | |
And to that will that God of straight pure upright goodness | 9:21 | |
we cling in our corrupted society because He is our only | 9:26 | |
hope that human life can be good and decent and upright | 9:30 | |
after all. | 9:34 | |
But nevertheless we still have the problem of our text. | 9:37 | |
Because that God that righteous God tells Hosea marry | 9:41 | |
a harlot. | 9:45 | |
And as a result we have to ask why. | 9:47 | |
Well the reason is given in our passage immediately after | 9:52 | |
the command, | 9:54 | |
Go take to yourself a wife of harlotry | 9:56 | |
and have children of harlotry for the land commits | 9:58 | |
great harlotry by forsaking the Lord. | 10:01 | |
The Lord want's Hosea's marriage to be a living beathing | 10:06 | |
Walking symbol of God's relation to Israel. | 10:09 | |
The Lord is married in a covenant relation to a people | 10:14 | |
that has become harlotrous. | 10:17 | |
A people that has forgotten God's love for it and given | 10:19 | |
her heart to other gods. | 10:22 | |
And Hosea's marriage to a harlot is the living | 10:25 | |
symbol of that. | 10:28 | |
You know we sometimes have strange notions about the God | 10:31 | |
of the Old Testament. | 10:34 | |
And of course the reason for that is | 10:36 | |
that we have not read and studied that holy book. | 10:38 | |
But so many people think that the God of the Old Testament | 10:42 | |
Israel is a stern judge full of wrath demanding legalistic | 10:44 | |
conformity from his subject people. | 10:49 | |
And punishing them in anger when they do not obey His | 10:52 | |
autocratic rule. | 10:55 | |
But Hosea gives the lie to such stereotypical errors. | 10:57 | |
Because who is God according to this profit? | 11:02 | |
Well Hosea uses two metaphors. | 11:05 | |
God he proclaims is the divine husband | 11:09 | |
of His beloved people. | 11:12 | |
The husband who wooed Israel and spoke tenderly to her heart | 11:15 | |
and made her His own in the wilderness. | 11:18 | |
And of course Jesus uses the same figure when He speaks | 11:22 | |
of His relation to us. | 11:25 | |
Our Lord calls himself the bridegroom of the church. | 11:28 | |
One who loves us and is faithful to us and gives Himself | 11:32 | |
for our sake. | 11:35 | |
But says Hosea using the other metaphor God is also the | 11:38 | |
father of Israel. | 11:41 | |
Who created them a people when He delivered them out | 11:44 | |
of slavery. | 11:46 | |
An Israel therefore is His adopted son. | 11:48 | |
So it was God the father who taught Israel how to walk | 11:53 | |
we read in Hosea. | 11:56 | |
Supporting the toddling infant with a finger. | 11:58 | |
Sweeping them up in His arms when He fell. | 12:01 | |
Holding him lovingly against His cheek. | 12:03 | |
And God is our father too of course. | 12:08 | |
A father who is guided and trained and supported us all | 12:11 | |
our lifelong according to Jesus. | 12:15 | |
The father who has repeatedly forgiven us when we have gone | 12:18 | |
off on our own to some far country. | 12:21 | |
That God. | 12:24 | |
That divine husband and father Hosea preaches now finds | 12:25 | |
himself bound in a covenant to a people who spurn His | 12:29 | |
care for them through the centuries and who give their | 12:32 | |
love to other gods. | 12:36 | |
Just as we give our devotion to all other things besides | 12:39 | |
the God who loves us and that's very evident in our | 12:42 | |
promiscuous society isn't it. | 12:46 | |
You know what our God wanted only good for us when He | 12:49 | |
gave us His commands about marriage and sex and love. | 12:53 | |
Do not commit adultery He said. | 12:57 | |
And that was all pure love. | 12:59 | |
Because God knows that no marriage can be joyful and | 13:02 | |
trusting and survive abundantly when adultery is present | 13:05 | |
and God wants it to go well with us. | 13:09 | |
Indeed God added to His loving instructions. | 13:13 | |
Make your marriages the reflection of Christ's love for | 13:18 | |
His church He teaches in the New Testament | 13:20 | |
love one another with the faithfulness the sacrifice | 13:23 | |
the self-giving that Christ has for His church. | 13:26 | |
Christ does not say I love you until someone better | 13:32 | |
comes along. | 13:34 | |
No. | 13:35 | |
Christ vows to be our companion to the end of the age. | 13:37 | |
Constantly forgiving. | 13:41 | |
Constantly sacrificng. | 13:43 | |
Constantly cherishing us despite our undeserving. | 13:44 | |
And such faithful committment is what God wants for our | 13:49 | |
wedded unions. | 13:52 | |
Because He knows that is the way to joy and abundant life. | 13:55 | |
And He wants so very much for us to have those goods. | 14:00 | |
But Hosea is wedded to a whoring life | 14:06 | |
as God is wedded to us in our whoring society. | 14:11 | |
And Hosea suffers the torture for that as God also suffers | 14:16 | |
over us. | 14:20 | |
The prophet sits in the courtyard of his house and watches | 14:22 | |
his three children at play knowing that two if those little | 14:24 | |
ones have not been fathered by Him | 14:28 | |
and God watches us too in our promiscuous play. | 14:31 | |
As some run from bed to bed | 14:36 | |
breaking vows, | 14:40 | |
destroying relationships, | 14:41 | |
doing violence to human hearts that were supposed to know | 14:43 | |
the joyful one that comes only from a faithful wedded union. | 14:46 | |
But Israel suffers the result of her harlotry in the book | 14:52 | |
of Hosea. | 14:55 | |
God gives her over to her infidelity and withdraws His | 14:58 | |
mercy from her. | 15:02 | |
And once again Hosea symbolizes that. | 15:06 | |
He names his last two children Not My People | 15:09 | |
and Not Pitied. | 15:13 | |
And finally He turns Gomer out on the street | 15:16 | |
and I wonder if that is ultimately the fate | 15:20 | |
that God will leave us to. | 15:23 | |
Loosing us from His loving hand and turning us over to the | 15:26 | |
evil results of our own infidelities. | 15:29 | |
Or is our society already suffering the consequences of | 15:33 | |
it's promiscuity. | 15:37 | |
In broken homes venereal disease children without a parent | 15:39 | |
and an abortion rate that has now become an epidemic. | 15:43 | |
Yet this God of Hosea and father of Jesus Christ is a | 15:49 | |
God of love beyond all human measure. | 15:52 | |
And so we find Him weeping in Hosea's book over a people | 15:57 | |
He cannot abandon. | 16:00 | |
How can I give you up Oh Ephraim. | 16:03 | |
How can I hand you over Oh Israel. | 16:06 | |
My heart recoils within me. | 16:08 | |
My compassion grows warm and tender. | 16:11 | |
For I am God and not human. | 16:14 | |
The Holy One in your midst. | 16:17 | |
And I will not come to destroy. | 16:20 | |
God cannot bear to give up His wife Israel and | 16:24 | |
He promised He would not destroy her. | 16:27 | |
But the fulfillment of that promise was postponed | 16:31 | |
for Israel. | 16:33 | |
She was in fact sent into exile in Assyria for her | 16:35 | |
faithlessness to her divine husband. | 16:39 | |
The fulfillment of the promise was postponed for Israel | 16:42 | |
until we too could participate in it. | 16:45 | |
But the God of Hosea did not give up Israel forever. | 16:50 | |
She too shall be saved says Paul. | 16:54 | |
Just as the last part of our Old Testament lesson promises | 16:58 | |
that future salvation when God will say to Israel once | 17:01 | |
again you are my people. | 17:04 | |
Well the amazing good news from our New Testament lesson | 17:09 | |
then is that God does not give up on us either. | 17:12 | |
Instead He gives up His son. | 17:16 | |
When Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross on Golgotha | 17:21 | |
he held out forgiveness for all our harlotry. | 17:23 | |
For our wanton and promiscuous sexual adventures that | 17:29 | |
have only led to misery. | 17:31 | |
For our broken marriages and deserted children and | 17:34 | |
infidelity to God and to each other. | 17:37 | |
Let no one here this morning think that they have sealed | 17:41 | |
their fate forever by what they have done in the past. | 17:44 | |
And that they are now abandoned to their evil unloosed | 17:49 | |
from the hand of their God. | 17:52 | |
There is no sin and no unfaithfulness that cannot be | 17:56 | |
overcome by the cross of Christ. | 17:59 | |
And there is no wanton soul who cannot turn around | 18:03 | |
and find a new life in the power of Christ. | 18:08 | |
He has disarmed all the powers of harlotry that so hold | 18:11 | |
our society captive says Colossians. | 18:15 | |
And in Him we can indeed have a new life of joy and | 18:18 | |
fidelity and pure love. | 18:22 | |
So our New Testament lesson puts it to us good christians | 18:26 | |
live in Jesus Christ. | 18:32 | |
Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith. | 18:35 | |
This morning now you see the invitation is there. | 18:42 | |
We can turn ourselves over to Christ with all our heart | 18:47 | |
and body | 18:50 | |
our soul and might. | 18:52 | |
And then we can go out from this church to have a life that | 18:56 | |
God so much wants for us. | 18:58 | |
A good life. | 19:02 | |
A decent life. | 19:03 | |
And yes | 19:06 | |
abundant life to all eternity. | 19:08 | |
Amen. | 19:12 | |
(organ plays) | 19:17 |