This week’s reading starts with a feeling of the Creator’s agitation and the image of creation being dismantled. The disappointment with human beings and our unfaithfulness reaches the point of an utterance of nothingness, “no light,” on God’s part. It almost sounds like a deconstruction of what God did in the beginning. Is God regretting the act of Creation?

It seems like all hope is lost in Israel. However, Jeremiah reminds us that “[God] will not make a full end.” God still calls Israel “my poor people.” God cannot stop being a loving parent. In spite of our abominations, God declares that we are God’s own. God never gives up on us even when we want to give up on ourselves; God waits and hopes for us.

We learn two lessons from Jeremiah’s prophecy. First, God is the God of compassion. The heart of God is always open regardless of our circumstance. A mother of a missing child left her front door unlocked for nineteen years just in case her daughter returned. The fear of a stranger entering the house could not overcome the love she had for her child. Likewise, God waits for us to return just as the father of the prodigal son waited. (See Luke 15:11-32.)

Second, God intends not only individual salvation but also creation’s salvation. Sinfulness impacts the entire creation. The earth “was waste,” “the birds of the air had fled,” and “the fruitful land was a desert” all because of “foolish” people who did not have any understanding of doing good.

The love of God stands alone. Return to God, return to home, and respond to God’s love.