You Are What You Love

Hosea 9:10-17
Luke 8:1-15
It is difficult to imagine harsher language than that contained in our reading from Hosea today. For their idolatry and disobedience to God the people will suffer greatly, says the prophet, and in profoundly disturbing ways. But there is one phrase in particular that intersects with the gospel reading from Luke. The people, says Hosea, “became detestable like the thing they loved” (Hosea 9:10). The “thing” is this case is the fertility god Baal, which is “shameful” in the eyes of God (v. 10).

Our reading from Luke is the familiar parable of the sower and the seeds, which compares different types of faith with the ways in which seeds either grow or die. “As for what fell among the thorns,” says Jesus, “these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14). Jesus does not make the connection explicit, but he might as well have added, “they became detestable like the thing they loved.” God’s desire for God’s people, in the words of Jesus, is to “hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance” (v. 15). But all too often God’s people show no patience, no endurance, and therefore produce no good fruit. Instead they are attracted by “shameful things”, or by “the cares and riches and pleasures of life.”

We are familiar with the expression “you are what you eat.” Both Hosea and Jesus remind us that, likewise, we are (or we are like) what we love. So where is our attention? What are we attracted to? And what motivates our actions in the world? Are we drawn to the things of God and God’s will to bear good fruit with patient endurance? Or do we prefer the cares and riches and pleasures of life? This really is a serious concern because it demonstrates who we are as well as whose we are. If “we are (or are like) what we love” then certainly our focus should be on God.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we are distracted by the things of this world and fail to respond to your word and your will. Amen.

Accusations All Around

Hosea 9:1-9
Acts 24:1-23
Luke 7:36-50
In each of our readings today someone is being accused of something by someone else. In Hosea, Israel is accused by the prophet of “playing the whore, departing from (their) God” (Hosea 9:1), and of being deeply corrupted (v. 9). In response, the people find fault with God’s messenger. “The prophet is a fool,” they say, “the man of the spirit is mad” (v. 7). In Acts, Paul stands accused of being “a pestilent fellow, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5). Paul, of course, denies any of this to be true (vv. 18-21). And finally in Luke, Simon the Pharisee is convinced that Jesus must not be a prophet or else he would have known the nature of the woman who was anointing his feet with ointment and tears (Luke 7:39). Jesus, for his part, points out Simon’s inhospitality and relative lack of faith (v. 41ff).

What are we to make of all these charges and countercharges? Is the Christian faith really all about arguments, litigation, and controversy? As often as it may seem so, the Christian faith is not about such divisive activities. Indeed, the call of Christ is to become a part of the community, his body at work in the world. The fact is that human sin makes this call far more challenging than it ought to be. As a result contentiousness arises, accusations are made, tempers flare. But notice that in each case God’s word is active, providing an alternative to human wrangling. In Hosea, God judges the people but continues to offer direction and hope. Paul is able to make a defense because, as we’ve seen earlier in Acts, he has the courage of conviction (Acts 23:11; see the previous entry, “Courage!”). Jesus offers forgiveness of sins to those who accept him and his message of salvation.

This does not mean that it is easy to follow the path of discipleship, nor will this eliminate all conflict from our lives. But if we are willing to listen for God’s word, to pray for guidance, to open our hearts to God and to each other, we will find—in time—that God offers us a new way to think and to understand our circumstances. Then we, like the woman with the ointment, may go in peace, (Luke 7:50) for our sins and our inhospitality will be forgiven and we will have another opportunity to live to God’s glory.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see past our conflicts and our controversies to the peace that you alone offer in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.