Reflections on Hosea 5:15-6:6
I don’t know about you, but sometimes the language of the Old Testament can seem a bit … brutal? “God has torn us,” the people say, “he has struck us down.” And God agrees: “ I have hewn them,” “I have killed them.” It all sounds very Old-Testament-Angry-God, doesn’t it?
Part of the problem … no, thinking about it, probably ALL of the problem, is our cultural glasses. I am white, Western, post-enlightenment and a native English-speaker. None of those were true of the writers or original readers of the Hebrew Scriptures, so they and I interpret Scripture differently.
“But I don’t interpret Scripture,” I hear someone shout from the back of the room, “I just read what it says.” Yeeeaaaah, no. We all interpret. We can’t help it.
If you and I look at a valley, we each see it from a particular viewpoint, and yours is different from mine. Even if you and I stand in the same place we will notice different things and have different reactions to them depending on our previous experiences. If you have seen that view a thousand times before and it’s my first time, we will react differently. It is impossible to view the valley from a neutral position. We all stand somewhere to view it.
And that’s OK. Every view is from a viewpoint, no problem. The problems arise when we think we have a neutral viewpoint, independent of our cultural and experiential baggage. That’s when we get branches of the church claiming Absolute Truth and The Only Way To Salvation. In reality, most of us get most of it right most of the time (I hope), but all of us are wrong somewhere. I think heaven is going to have a lot of, “Oh I SEE! You mean it’s like THAT. Oh, that makes so much more sense.”
It’s hard for me to recognise the interpretive glasses that I wear when I read the Hebrew Scripture in the same way that it’s hard for a fish to notice the water it swims in.
So what’s that got to do with today’s passage and all those threats of hewing and tearing that seem so un-British in their vehemence? The full verse is “Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have killed them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.”
We’re not talking literal hewing and tearing. Like a lot of poetic language, it’s hyperbole (remember that from GCSE English?) Purposeful overstatement. There’s a lot of it in the Bible because that’s the culture, and because that’s what humans do. All of us. Oh, there’s an example.
The hewing and the tearing is how they felt when God’s searchlight showed up their lives for what they were, revealing all those bits they were kinda hoping no one would notice. Like when you pull out the fridge and let some light down there – yuk! Quite a lot of gungy stuff that needs cleaning out. God’s words, through the prophets, were how God was shining his spotlight on Israel, and boy, was there a lot of cleaning to do!
God still works in the same way with us, shining light on bits that need cleaning and saying, “Shall we get this swept out? I think it needs it.” And we meekly nod and fetch the brush and wish we’d done something about it sooner.
I wonder which part I’m working on today.
Liturgy for Proper 5
Genesis 12:1-9, Hosea 5:15-6:6
Confession and Absolution
“What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?” says the Lord.
“What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes away early.”
Come, let us return to the Lord.
He will heal us;
he will bind us up,
that we may live before him.
Come, let us return to the Lord.
He will revive us;
he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
Come, let us return to the Lord.
Let us know;
let us press on to know the Lord,
that we may live before him.
May God, heals us and bind our wounds.
May God revive and restores us.
May God grant us to know him and live before him
with steadfast love.
Amen.
Blessing and Dismissal
May God bless you and all your house.
May God make you a blessing to those you meet.
May God be with you as you set out
and with you as you arrive,
with you at home and with you abroad,
with you in plenty and with you in scarcity,
with you alone and with you in company,
with you now and with you always,
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
one God, good and mighty.
Go with the faith and obedience of Abraham,
to take God’s blessing to the world.
Amen.
The Reflectionary 