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Kirk of St James
Sunday July 31, 2016
Sermon “Being Made Whole Through Brokenness”
Rev. Amanda Henderson-Bolton
One day the prophet Nathan approached King David and told him a story that went like this
“There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. 2 The rich man owned a great
many sheep and cattle. 3 The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that
little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup.
He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. 4 One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man.
But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it
and prepared it for his guest.” 5 David was furious. “As surely as the LORD lives,” he vowed, “any man
who would do such a thing deserves to die! 6 He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he
stole and for having no pity.” That is when Nathan delivered the most shocking line of all “You are
that man!”
King David was so used to getting his own way and doing what he wanted that when he hears
his story retold through an unexpected lens he is shocked. He cannot comprehend the message he has
been told. While today the message in our Bible passage in Hosea is not scandalous in the same way
Nathan’s message was for David, it is one we can become so attuned to it no longer shocks us—God
loves us unconditionally. We hear this so often it begins to lose its power, and it is difficult to hear this
story in a way that speaks to us meaningfully. Hearing it told through the prophet Hosea however,
presents us a new lens to hear our story through.
Hosea is one of the earliest writing prophets and also has one of the longest books out of the
twelve minor prophets. We know absolutely nothing about him other than the story of his tragic
marriage. While many of the books of the prophets are about pronouncing judgement or calling people
back into relationship with God, Hosea is a prophet overwhelmed by God’s boundless love for His
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people, and he in turn reaches out in love to his fellow countrymen. Hosea understands something of
God’s own heartbreak and he in turn is stamped with an imprint of divine compassion. While we may
question Hosea’s wisdom he was actually very astute. He was aware of the political tensions of his
own day, and appears through his writing to have given deep thought to what was going on around him.
Hosea was commanded to take a wife and it is this experience that becomes the foundation of
his ministry. There is a lot of discomfort around the command for Hosea to take a wife “of whoredom”
within scholarly literature. Different readings have developed to try and soften it, such as perhaps it
actually means religious idolatry which is a possibility in the northern kingdom of Israel. Perhaps
Gomar was not evil when Hosea married her and he discovered it later after their marriage. Some have
also tried to read it as allegory to avoid the harsh reality of this account. Despite all of these
suggestions and all of the discomfort, there are many who say we must read this account as history.
Ignoring an uncomfortable truth does not make it any less true, and to do so would also be to take the
heart wrenching story of Hosea and remove all the heart.
Hosea pursues Gomar and never gives up. Even when she leaves him and cheats on him he
faithfully takes her back time and again. His story of marriage and infidelity describe the covenantal
intimacy of God with His people. Even though Israel walks away from Him time and again, even
though they turn to other gods and abandon Him, God loves them so much he will not let them go.
Often within the New Testament the question “what is God like?” is asked. Jesus responded with
stories about a shepherd who relentlessly searches until the one lost sheep is found, the woman who
seeks until she finds her one lost coin, and the father who waits until the lost son comes home. God is
like that.
When we look at the names bestowed upon the children of Hosea we see the difficulty and the
struggle. The name Jezreel means “God sows.” Looking at Israel it can have a double meaning. In
Hosea it is judgement upon the house of Jehu who committed vicious acts and reverts the people to
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Baal worship. It also hints at future restoration as God may have sown judgement but he can also sow
life. The second child is named Lo-ruhamah which means not pitied. God is reversing his attitude
toward Israel who constantly spurns Him, so he leaves them to face the consequences of their own
actions. The third child is Lo-ami which means “not my people.” It would seem that for both Hosea
and for God their relationships have come to a broken end and there is not much more to do other than
close this chapter.
Yet even in the end with the named children of Hosea who represent God’s shamed
remembering, his burning anger, and resigned abandonment there is more to be written. Even though
Gomar runs off and abandons Hosea and takes up with other men, Hosea pursues her, pays off her debt
and takes her back home. Just as God even in his anger and resignation turns to restore his people.
The good news for us today “in a religious culture that often becomes confused into thinking that our
relationship to God is dependent on us, is that it absolutely isn’t.” “Hosea—through vivid, striking,
even offensive metaphor—reveals the heart of a God who passionately loves, forgives, seeks, finds,
waits, pleads and saves. Time and again this God forgives. Relentlessly this God does not sit back just
waiting for us to come to our senses and return to relationship. This God is the long suffering spouse
who is willing to be in pain for the sake of us. This God hounds us until we turn, return, repent,
relinquish, and come back. How on earth can we ever understand this much love? I don’t know that
we ever can.
Hosea does his best to explain it to us through his own marriage and struggle but, it is still hard
to imagine. In this story we are not Hosea we are Gomar and that can be difficult to recognize. When
someone loves us unconditionally it is almost impossible for us to understand the cost. God
relentlessly loves and pursues us, even when he wants to throw his hands up in the air and walk away.
That kind of love is earth shattering.
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The other day I was carrying one of my favorite pottery cups when it slipped from my hands and
shattered across the entire kitchen floor. As I stood there looking at it I thought “there is nothing more
I can do with this. The best I can do is sweep it up, throw it out, and buy a new one.” Sometimes when
I consider the brokenness in my own life it is difficult to grasp the concept of God’s love. My mistakes,
my problems feel much like the treasured glass I broke, there is no coming back from them. Perhaps
there is nothing I can do but, Hosea reminds us there is always more God is willing to do. One of the
neatest art forms I have ever witnessed is called Kintsugi. It is a Japanese art where broken pottery is
mended with lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum. As an art form it does not seek to hide that
which has been broken, but rather to embrace it, reforging it into something even greater than it was.
In fact this art form became so treasured some were accused of deliberately breaking invaluable pottery
simply to have it repaired in this manner.
We may not be able to fix the cup on our own. Israel may not have been able to fix their own
brokenness but, through the unconditional love of God the brokenness of a nation, of a life, can be
reforged into something greater and even better. Hosea reminds us of what is possible even through
the most difficult of circumstances.
Today’s text from Hosea is more than a little shocking. It is a scandal. To compare our
relationship with God to a messed up marriage in which a sexually promiscuous, repeatedly unfaithful
souse is repeatedly forgiven, taken back, excused, and loved is a scandalous idea, not often thought of
in polite proper religious circles. ..Thus Paul says that a God who loves so much that God is willing to
be crucified for the unfaithful beloved is a scandal for the world. Yet to those of us who are being
saved, this scandal is our salvation. Only a passionate, unseemly God who is willing to risk scandal
could possibly save a bunch of adulterers like us. Thanks be to God.