Scripture Readings: Hosea 11: 1-11 & Luke 12: 13-21
Have we ever looked back on our lives and recognized moments where God’s love or love through loved ones carried us, even when we didn’t realize it at the time? Today’s Scripture readings invite us into a powerful love of God. It is not a distant or rigid love, but one that is intimate, tender, and deeply compassionate. In today’s text, Hosea speaks on behalf of God to the people, recalling them of God’s compassion and persistent love for them. He tells them there is hope for the future.
In Hosea 11: 1-11, God speaks like a parent remembering the first steps of a beloved child even though the more they were called, the more they went away from Him. “I took them up in my arms… I led them with cords of kindness, with bands of love.” Our God stoops down to feed His people and carries them close to His heart, even when they wander far.
The main tone of Hosea is constant condemnation of Israel’s sin, and the message is consistently about punishment for wrongdoing. Hosea constantly pleads with Israel to ‘return to the Lord.’ However, chapter 11 is a song of God’s love and compassion. The meaning of Hosea’s name is ‘salvation,’ and instead of punishing rebellious Israel, God embraces them with His passionate compassion. In chapter 14, He says, ‘I will heal their disloyalty; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.’
Clearly, Israel repeatedly sinned, rebelled, and distanced themselves from God. Yet God loved them like a devoted parent. He called them (vv.1-2), embraced them in His arms (v.3), bent down to feed them (v.4), showed them warm and tender compassion (v.8), endured His anger (v.9), and welcomed them back when they returned from their wanderings (v.11). God is truly patient, loving, and caring with bands of love (v.4).
As I prepared this week’s sermon, verse 8 struck me most deeply. In Hosea 11:8, we hear the cry of a God whose heart is breaking, not from weakness, but from a love so deep, fierce, and faithful that no rebellion can sever it: “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?” These are not the words of a cold and distant judge, but of a grieving parent watching a beloved child run toward destruction. God’s justice burns, but so does His compassion, like a fire that cannot be extinguished.
When God speaks of Admah and Zeboyim – cities erased like Sodom – He is saying, “That’s not what I want for you. That’s not who I am toward you.” The cities, infamous for their extreme wickedness, injustice, and unrepentant rebellion against God, symbolizes destruction, abandonment, and the consequences of persistent sin. Even though Israel has been unfaithful, worshiped idols, broken covenant, and turned their hearts away from God, He cannot bring Himself to abandon them.
Instead of final judgment, His heart turns, and His compassion is aroused. God is not only just, but deeply merciful. He holds fierce love even for the rebellious and chooses restoration over ruin with His bands of love. His heart recoils from the thought. His compassion grows warm and tender.
This is the mystery of grace. God does not let us go. He weeps, He waits, and He whispers again, saying, “How can I give you up?” The holy fire of His compassion is not smothered by our sin. It is stirred, awakened, aroused. This is our God who loves us even when we turn away, and who never, ever gives up on His people.
The Korean Bible translates and expresses this part as, ‘My compassion for you burns strongly within me like a soaring fire.’ Sadly, there are times when we hurt God’s heart and behave in ways that are shameful in His eyes. How is it that God sees all of this and yet His compassion for us burns within Him like a soaring fire?
God acts not from anger but love. Let us remember God’s bands of love and recall that God promises restoration. As seen in verse 11, even the rebellious people will return, and God will roar like a lion of hope.
Yet, in contrast, Jesus tells a parable in Luke 12 of a man who builds bigger barns to store his riches. The man was completely absorbed in himself and unaware that life is more than possessions. His heart is not tied with cords of love, but with cords of greed and self-interest. Jesus calls him a fool – not for being rich, but for forgetting what really matters.
The rich man stores up treasures for himself, thinking he controls his future. However, Jesus calls him a fool because life is not about possessions. Here, God’s love invites us into a relationship, not hoarding. Compassionate living sees beyond self and manifests itself in sharing, caring, and generosity.
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus calls us to be rich toward God. Being “rich toward God” means living with open hands, loving God and others. May we be inspired by God’s compassion, showing generosity, humility, and faithful living.
Today’s Scripture readings hold up a mirror to our lives. Do we recognize the gentle, guiding hand of God in our lives? Are we living with open hearts, drawn by divine compassion? Or are we storing time and resources for ourselves, forgetting the One who gives us everything?
God draws us not by force, but by love – a love that binds us with grace, restores us in mercy, and calls us back when we stray. Our lives find true meaning not in storing up treasures, but in reflecting God’s compassionate love. To be “rich toward God” is to be shaped by God’s compassionate love to live not for self, but for the One who stooped down to lift us up.
God binds us not with chains of fear, but with “bands of love.” May we be rich toward God – drawn by love, lived with purpose. Let us be rich in relationship to God. May we be sure we are bound together in Christ with bands of love.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
(Ref. Bible, commentaries, theological books, UCA materials)