Strong Compassion
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 36:45
0 ratings
· 20 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
8 …My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.
In Hebrew, the phrase "my heart recoils" suggests a kind of divine heartburn. Not indigestion, but heartbreak.
The image is visceral—God's innermost being twisted in pain, not from betrayal alone, but from the intensity of love that refuses to give up.
I think we have all felt that at some point - heart break / anguish - struggle.
A moment of divine agony. The God we meet in Hosea 11 is not a far off judge tallying infractions, saying to himself - they got what they deserve…
But a parent weeping over a child who has run too far for too long.
The voice is not angry but anguished:
8 How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel?
Hosea’s life is the painful parable of his marriage to Gomer.
if Hosea were my friend, I would have told him to walk away. I would have said, "She's too far gone. She's broken your trust. Let her go."
But Hosea doesn’t walk away. His love is stubborn, even irrational. And that's the point.
Hosea's love becomes a window into the heart of God.
Such love is unhealthy in humans - but God’s heart of love - combined with his majesty is so powerful it is most beautifully revealed in Christ on the cross.
What caused all the pain?
Causes of Indigestion
Causes of Indigestion
Why is God's heart breaking?
Because Israel has not just failed — they have deeply betrayed the relationship. Four major charges are laid out throughout Hosea's message from chapter 1-10 that leads to these words of grace and mercy:
Idolatry
Morality
Political Alliances
Ingratitude
Idolatry & Empty Ritual
Idolatry & Empty Ritual
Israel's primary sin was abandoning Yahweh to worship Canaanite gods, chiefly Baal. They wrongly attributed their prosperity to these idols instead of to God.
The Charge: God laments,
8 She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished upon her silver and gold that they used for Baal.
Khesed
6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Empty Rituals: Their worship, even when directed at God, was seen as hypocritical and meaningless because their hearts were corrupt. God declares, "I desire steadfast love (khesed) and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings"
6 The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria as tribute to the great king. Ephraim shall be put to shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.
Man-Made Gods: They created their own idols, like the golden calf in Samaria, which Hosea mocks as powerless: "We have no king, for we do not fear the LORD... What can a king do for us?" (Hosea 10:3).
Morality
Morality
1 …There is no faithfulness or loyalty, and no knowledge of God in the land. 2 Swearing, lying, and murder, and stealing and adultery break out; bloodshed follows bloodshed.
The nation's spiritual decay led directly to a corrupt and violent society. The very fabric of the community was torn apart by sin.
5 You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night__ 6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. __ 7 The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; they changed their glory into shame.
Corrupt Leadership: The prophets, who should have been moral guides, were condemned for their failure. God says to the priests, "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you from being my priest. Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children" (Hosea 4:6).
Politics
Politics
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound.
Instead of relying on God for national security, Israel's leaders sought protection from powerful, pagan empires
running between superpowers. "When Ephraim saw his sickness... he went to Assyria... But he is not able to cure you" (Hosea 5:13).
11 Ephraim has become like a dove, silly and without sense; they call upon Egypt, they go to Assyria.
A Foolish Betrayal: Hosea uses a vivid metaphor for this political disloyalty: "Ephraim is like a silly dove, without sense, calling to Egypt, turning to Assyria" (Hosea 7:11).
Ingratitude
Ingratitude
14 Israel has forgotten his Maker, and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his strongholds.
At the root of all these sins was a willful amnesia. The people had forgotten their own history and the God who had redeemed them.
The Charge: Their prosperity led to pride and forgetfulness.
13 I will punish her for the festival days of the Baals, when she offered incense to them and decked herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the Lord.
Forgetting Their Redeemer: They forgot the foundational act of God's love—the Exodus. God indicts them for forgetting their history of salvation: "I will punish her for the festival days of the Baals, when she... went after her lovers and forgot me, says the LORD" (Hosea 2:13).
3 They shall not remain in the land of the Lord; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and in Assyria they shall eat unclean food.
Because of this comprehensive betrayal, the judgment is severe and clear: the blessings of the covenant will be revoked, and the nation will face destruction and exile, a terrible reversal of their liberation from Egypt…
Just as it was promised in Deut 8:19
19 If you do forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord is destroying before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
Indigestion
Indigestion
So God names the betrayal. Pronounces the judgment. And then…
“My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.” (Hosea 11:8)
Remembering the Child
Remembering the Child
1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
I hope you wonder to yourselves - where have I heard this before?
And then remembered the reference in Matthew…
13 …an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt… 15 …This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
The whole story of Jesus - in Matthew’s telling is framed by this passage of God’s deep compassion - in the time of Matthew they didn’t put the verse numbers in.
They would reference old testament passages with a phrase - a memory - and the memory would go back to Hosea 11:1…
1 When Israel was a child, I loved him…
God looks back not with anger but with longing. The Exodus is remembered not as a geopolitical act of liberation, but as a moment of intimate affection.
This fledgling nation - rescued from slavery in Egypt - the anawim - the ‘nothings’ the downcast - the rabble slaves…
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them.
All of the Old Testament is framed with that word of God’s action - God’s liberating love…
I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt out of the house of slavery…
As God declares his identity as a liberator.
Israel at the passover declares their identity as the rescued…
A wondering Aramean was my ancestor, he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien…
So we are reminded of the story of God’s liberating love… setting his people free from slavery.
***
But God - just like any parent - is taken for granted. “They did not know that I healed them…”
4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.
God stooping to feed a child, guiding them step by step. But it’s also heart-wrenching:
“They did not know that I healed them.” (v. 3)
God’s love has gone unrecognized. The child has turned away. And now, Israel faces consequences—judgment, exile, the sword.
Choices have consequences. But punishment is not God’s final word.
Instead of allowing his children to perish under the consequences - God rescues them. And rescues them again.
Compassion Stronger Than Judgment
Compassion Stronger Than Judgment
I hold on to that line in the communion liturgy…
In the prayer of humble access. It is moulded into my brain:
We are not worthy even to gather up the crumbs under your table, but it is your nature always to have mercy.
Just when we expect wrath, God turns inward.
God speaks his thoughts - sacred wrestling…
8 How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.
Admah and Zeboiim—cities wiped out like Sodom and Gomorrah—are invoked as possible fates for Israel. But God recoils. God cannot - will not do it.
9 I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.
God's holiness does not demand destruction.
It demands restoration.
Divine compassion is not a soft-hearted exception to the rules; it is the very nature of God's being.
God is not like us. Where we might cut ties, protect our pride, get offended declare "enough is enough" – God chooses to stay.
God pushes through the heart burn.
Stays up all night - sitting in vigil by his child’s bedside until the fever subsides.
Because God’s nature is love.
God’s nature is mercy.
1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Communion: Love Made Visible
Communion: Love Made Visible
And now, we come to this table. Not because we have earned our place, but because God’s love will not let us go.
The bread and wine are reminders of a love that absorbs betrayal and breaks itself open to feed us.
At this table, we remember Jesus—the One who, like Hosea, stayed.
Who loved beyond reason.
Who looked at those who betrayed him and said, "This is my body, given for you."
Communion is God's Hosea-like love made visible.
Love that does not give up. Love that does not retaliate.
Love that forgives, restores, and feeds.
As you receive the bread and cup today, hear again the words of Hosea as if spoken to you:
8 How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? …My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.
Let these words nourish your soul. Let them re-clothe your heart. And let them shape your living, so that you, too, may become a reflection of the God whose love will not let go.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
