Elizabeth Achtemeier - "A Shocking Command" (July 26, 1998)

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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

Item Info

Title:

Elizabeth Achtemeier - "A Shocking Command" (July 26, 1998)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 2:37. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 19:12.
Achtemeier parallels Gomer/Israel, the harlot wife of Hosea, to modern-day whoring America, wherein promiscuity, adultery, presidential scandals, abortion, and single-parent households as evidence of turning away from a God who – despite it all – still poured out love on the cross and offers new life in Jesus; by shaming the congregation for lust and sexuality, she pushes the congregation to turn to righteous Jesus. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r45x25t0h

Date:

July 26, 1998

Speaker:

Achtemeier, Elizabeth, 1926-2002

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0916
ref9981_tei
uachapelsermaud
duke:320631
dcrau001560
ark:/87924/r45x25t0h
e7995539-d8ef-4d70-a980-0a304831e7fb

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Durham (N.C.)

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The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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CC BY-NC 4.0

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This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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