Rev. George Miller
Nov 12, 2023
Hosea 11: 1-12
Jesus was pretty much a small-town boy living in a rural
community. Like those born and raised in
small towns, there were certain things Jesus liked.
He cared about his Momma.
He didn’t mind talking about God.
He loved a good meal. He hung out
with folks who worked the land. He could
tell a good story.
Storytelling is currency in small towns- the ability to
spin a yarn, give the right amount of detail, talk about things people knew and
did on a daily basis.
One day, Jesus told a story that was just 2 sentences
long- A woman loses a coin. So she lights
a lamp, sweeps the house and searches carefully until she finds it. Then, she calls her friends and over and says
“Let’s celebrate for what was lost is found.”
This parable shows how God will search us out when we are
lost. So simple, so sleek, so relatable.
Who hasn’t lost a $20 bill and searched high and low for
it?
Who hasn’t lost something at home and you’re moving
around furniture, reaching under the couch, lifting up cushions?
Who here hasn’t been at a point in their life in which you
needed to gather all your coins if you wanted to put gas in your car?
So we understand this woman’s plight, we appreciate her
search.
But there’s more going on here. Jesus is telling this story at a time in
which people do not have a tiled floor or white linoleum.
Wood was expensive so floors were made from pounded down dirt
or it thatch-style flooring, made of straw, water reed, etc.
So this woman isn’t just looking for a lost coin, she’s putting
in the work. She’s getting dirty. She’s having to look between the crevices and
hiding places the straw and reeds can create.
And she does not stop, she does not quit. She keeps lighting the way, sweeping the
path, seeking through the earth, peering in the palms until she finds that most
valuable, exquisite, one-of-a-kind, important coin- YOU!
And then she celebrates with joy.
Do you notice the radicalness of this narrative- Jesus
dares to portray God as a woman, and not just any woman, but a salt-of-the-earth
kind of woman who does housework and uses a broom!
Think of how amazing this is. At a time in history in which women were not
valued, or seen as trustworthy witnesses in a court of law, a time in which
daughters could be sold off as things…
Jesus dares to compare the God of All Creation as a
woman, a She, a Her.
For weeks now we’ve been asking “Why Jesus?” We have another answer- because Jesus’ faith
and understanding of God was so great that he could see God as a woman and not be
all upset.
We share this parable from Luke 15:8-10 because it gives
us one of the few times the Bible portrays God as the Sacred Feminine…but it’s
not the only time.
Proverbs portrays Wisdom as a woman. Isaiah shows God as a mother offering
comfort.
Today’s reading from the Book of Hosea is pure Sacred Feminine
as we have God the parent who teaches the people how to walk, lifts them up,
and bends down to feed them- a reference to breast feeding.
Imagine that- within our holy text is an image of God
breast-feeding the lost people of Israel, providing them with sacred milk.
This whole passage is like an oasis. The words appear like green grass in the
middle of a spiritual dessert in which the prophet Hosea is going on and on
about the sins of the people, the many, many tragic mistakes they have made.
This passage takes place after God goes on a rant about
just how disappointed, how hurt God is by the actions of the people.
This is God, the Heavenly Matriarch of the Family saying
to all the sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, cousins
and grandparents-
“What’s happened to our family? This isn’t how it was supposed to be! When you were a baby, I called you for my own,
but you kept running away.”
This is God, heartbroken saying “You were raised better
than this, but you keep going against all that you were taught so now the whole
place is in chaos.”
This is God, the fed-up head of the household saying “Day
after day I watch you hurting yourself, hurting others, and hurting me. Maybe I should just give up on you…forever.”
This is God, the Heavenly Mother who says “But how can I
turn my back on you? My womb that
carried you is filled with love. I
remember your first steps.”
“I remember when I held you to my face. I remember when I held you to my heart and
you suckled from my breasts.”
This is God saying “No matter what you have done, no
matter what hurt you have caused, no matter what horrible experiences you have
endured, you are still my child, and I will always, always love you.”
This is God, as the Mother who waits up all night for her
child to come back from the prom. This
is God, the parent who waits for their child to come back from war.
This is God, as parent who keeps the light on and a plate
of food in the fridge.
This is God, who like the woman in Jesus’ parable, does
not stop, does not quit, who is willing to dig in the dirt or look through the
thatch if that’s what it takes.
The Good News for us, for all of us, is knowing that no
matter what mistakes we make, no matter what sins we have committed, we can
always turn back to God, we can always return to Home.
For that, let us say “Amen.”
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