Broken relationships affect all those around us, but God holds out the divine possibility of healing that brokenness. Relationships can be mended, intimacy restored. “The number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it shall be said to them, ‘Children of the living God.’”
The parable Jesus tells years later of the son who leaves his father’s house and squanders his inheritance echoes Hosea’s lived-out parable. Upon the young man’s return, he does not count on the intimacy he knew as son. But his father welcomes him back into the family with an intimate embrace. (See Luke 15:11-32.)
In Jesus’ parable the elder brother resents the sinner’s welcome and embrace. We too may believe that some people lie beyond God’s intimate embrace that offers healing and wholeness. We may believe, like the elder brother, that the sinner does not deserve mercy and grace. But through Hosea’s life, through Jesus’ love, God shows us that nothing lies outside the scope of God’s redemptive love.
Like the prodigal son, we may feel unworthy of restoration to that place of intimacy. But God is calling us, like God called the people of Israel through Hosea, to return to that place of intimacy. God never gives up on us but will embrace us each time we fail and will work with us to rebuild what was broken.
Sin has consequences, some far-reaching, but not as far-reaching as God’s redemptive love. We cannot escape the consequences of our actions; but when we open ourselves to God’s redemptive love, the result may surprise us.