Sermon -- 14th Sunday after Pentecost (September 14, 2025)

HOSEA 3:1-5

 A SPURNED LOVER REDEEMS HIS UNFAITHFUL BRIDE.

In the name + of Jesus.

    Even if you are unfamiliar with them, you probably have great respect for the prophets.  There have been many preachers throughout the history of the world.  Very few have had their words inspired by our Lord and preserved for God’s people until Judgment Day.  You may know next to nothing about the prophet Hosea.  Maybe you have never read the book of the Bible which bears his name.  Nevertheless, it is right to have respect for Hosea, but you probably would not envy him. 

     Consider what Hosea recorded: “When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go.  Take for yourself an immoral wife and children produced by sexual immorality, because the land has been committing flagrant immorality, turning away from the Lord.’  So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim” (Hosea 1:2-3).  How would you like that?  “Go and find a floozy.  Marry her.  She will continually cheat on you.  She will have children, but they will not be yours.  They will be children of infidelity.  Love her anyway.”  That is what God commanded Hosea to do.

     It is not the only time our Lord gave his prophets bizarre commands.  While the prophets spoke for the Lord, the Lord occasionally had the prophets’ lives be the sermon.  This was the case with Hosea.  He was the faithful and loving husband whose wife was unfaithful to him.  Hosea was an image of the Lord.  Gomer was an image of the northern tribes of Israel who turned away from the Lord, again and again, to chase after other sources of truth and pleasure.  Israel fell in love with whatever promised prosperity, pleasure, and power.  They pursued other lovers and spurned the Lord.

     What should a spurned lover do?  How should a faithful husband respond to a bride who cheats on him repeatedly?  I can’t think of anyone who would argue, “Well, he should put up with that and accept that this is who she is.”  No, we would expect the husband to divorce his wife and to send her away, perhaps with a few choice words.

     At first, the Lord’s words were calls to return.  The Lord sent prophets like Hosea to his beloved again and again.  Again and again, he called them back to him, wooing them and pleading with them to turn away from their false gods and their perverse worship.  Again and again, Israel spurned the Lord’s overtures.  The Lord cannot be faulted for his efforts.  He was, indeed, slow to anger.  He was most patient for a favorable response.  He did not get it; and finally, judgment came upon Israel in harsh and cruel ways. 

     The nation of Assyria came and ravaged God’s people.  Those who survived the sword, starvation, and disease were carried off into captivity where they died.  It happened just as the Lord had warned through Hosea: “The people of Israel will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred memorial stones, and without the special vest or family idols.” (Hosea 3:4).  The kingdom and the worship ceased during years of captivity.  The Lord had warned such judgment would come upon those who spurned him.  Perhaps the people did not think the Lord would follow through.  Many still don’t.  Don’t dismiss God’s warnings, and don’t confuse God’s patience with indifference.  The judgment he had warned about came at last—with crushing violence and banishment.  And it was deserved.

     There are many today who reject the notion that the Lord would send people to hell despite all his warnings.  They argue that a loving God would never do that.  Or if he would, they argue that he is not a loving God.  Perhaps you have kicked around those thoughts yourself.  “What kind of God is this who demands love and obedience under the threat of eternal damnation if he doesn’t get it?”  When the argument is set up that way, it surely makes our Lord look petty.  Do not be deceived by people who present God this way.  It is like the people who ask, “So, have you stopped beating your wife?”  A “Yes” means you admit that you have beaten your wife.  A “No” means you still are beating your wife.  The word of the Lord is most certainly not, “Love me or I’ll damn you.”

     Many people fail to understand this: No one begins his life in the kingdom of God.  No one is even neutral, as if God decides to toss some aside because he can.  All are sinners.  All stand outside of God’s love because of this sinful condition.  The Scriptures testify: “The mind-set of the sinful flesh is hostile to God” (Romans 8:7).  God is regarded as the enemy.  So, if anyone enters in the kingdom of God, it is because the Lord has brought him in.  If anyone loves God, it is God who has produced that love in him.  The Bible teaches, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).  He demonstrates a love that is unexpected and unearned.  He woos those who are unfaithful to be his very own.  He shows himself a faithful lover, not plotting to take, but seeking to give.

     If a woman has racked up some significant debt—credit cards, school loans, car payments, what have you—the man who marries her assumes those debts as his own.  Even though he did not accumulate them, he becomes responsible for them.  This is what Jesus has done for his bride, the Church.  In fact, for more than the Church, but for the world.  All people are accountable to God for their lives.  Sins deserve to be judged.  The guilty are held accountable.  They must pay the price.  But Jesus assumed the guilt for all.  He made himself accountable for the sins of the world.  He submitted himself to divine judgment, and he paid the price.  Although perfectly faithful to his heavenly Father, Jesus died as an adulterer, a cheater, a manipulator, and a liar; for the obscene, the impure, and the perverse. 

     Jesus covers sinners with his own innocence.  He opens the kingdom of heaven to those who were destined for hell.  If people go to hell, it is not because God failed them.  God has loved them with a selfless love.  The Lord does not thunder, “Love me or go to hell.”  He pleads, “To escape hell, come to me.  Don’t love the things that result in death.  Love me, for I will give you life and peace and hope.”  The spurned lover continues to reach out to those who have been unfaithful to him.

     Sadly, Israel did not listen or care.  They spurned the Lord for other gods.  They devoted their love to others.  Like Gomer, Hosea’s wife, they prostituted themselves to whoever made promises, even though those promises were empty.  They were willingly deceived, to their own destruction.

     Now, this is where God’s instructions to Hosea are incredible.  This is where Hosea’s life became the second part of the sermon he was preaching.  “The LORD said to me, ‘Go again.  Show love to a woman who is loved by another man, a woman who keeps committing adultery.  Show love just as the LORD loves the people of Israel, even though they keep turning to other gods and loving the raisin cakes.’ (Note: used in pagan worship.)  So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and nine bushels of barley.  I said to her, ‘You will stay with me for many days.  You must not be promiscuous.  You must not be with any other man, and I will also be for you’” (Hosea 3:1-3).  The Lord sent the spurned lover to redeem his unfaithful bride. 

     Hosea is an image of Jesus Christ.  He is the Groom, and the Church is his Bride.  Even though each of us has been unfaithful and have sinned against him, the spurned lover redeemed his unfaithful bride.  St. Paul wrote, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, by cleansing her with the washing of water in connection with the Word.  He did this so that he could present her to himself as a glorious church, having no stain or wrinkle or any such thing, but so that she would be holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:25-27).  The price Jesus paid to redeem us was himself.  He spared nothing, but gave himself completely into a cursed death to rescue us from dying the death we have earned.  In love for us, Jesus cleansed us of every blemish and stain from sin. 

     A bride on her wedding day wants to be as beautiful as possible.  But if a bride wakes up on her wedding day to discover a blemish on her face, she panics.  She fears that her groom will focus on her blemish rather than her beauty.  (News flash, ladies: He won’t.)  The Lord Jesus, however, removes every blemish from us.  Rather than leaving us in rags, he has clothed us with garments of salvation.  He presents us to himself in radiance and beauty and purity.  How great is his forgiveness!  He does not scowl at us, reminding us again and again of how we turned our wandering eyes to sin.  He does not threaten or manipulate us.  Rather, he speaks tenderly to his Bride, continually professing his faithful love to his Church.

     This is one reason why our Lord calls for chastity among people and why he holds up marriage in such high regard.  Those who are single are to reserve themselves for the one person to whom he or she will be united in marriage.  Marital relations are to be reserved for married couples.  And married couples are to be exclusive to one another.  Each is to be devoted to the other, love each other, and exalt each other.  For every marriage is the image of Jesus Christ to his Church.  Everything outside of the union of one man and one woman in a life-long union perverts the image of Christ and his Church.  The Lord calls the perversion of his image an abomination.  On the other hand, the union of Christ and his Church is glorious.  That is why God’s establishment of the union between one man and one woman in marriage is glorious as well.

     Even though Israel was unfaithful to the Lord, the Lord remained faithful to his bride.  The Lord would not forget or forsake his covenant promise.  The spurned lover redeemed his unfaithful bride.  The unfaithful bride repented and was restored to him again.  Hosea had foretold it: “Afterward the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king.  They will come trembling to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days” (Hosea 3:5). 

     We come trembling before our God, not because he will damn us if we don’t.  Rather, it is because we know that we are not worthy of his love.  And yet, we marvel.  For, the Son of David loves us faithfully and fervently.  Therefore, we pledge ourselves to be his exclusively.  For, he is the only one whose love is truly pure and selfless, and he is the only one who saves.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.