Above: Hosea
Image in the Public Domain
Forgiveness and Restoration
MAY 27, 2024
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The Collect:
Loving God, by tender words and covenant promise
you have joined us to yourself forever,
and you invite us to respond to your love with faithfulness.
By your Spirit may we live with you and with one another
in justice, mercy, and joy,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 37
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The Assigned Readings:
Hosea 3:1-5
Psalm 45:6-17
2 Corinthians 1:23-2:11
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Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever,
a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your reign;
you love righteousness and hate iniquity.
–Psalm 45:6-7a, Book of Common Worship (1993)
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St. Paul the Apostle had visited Corinth and had a difficult experience with the church there–or rather, with certain members of the church there. Then he wrote a scolding letter (Chapters 10-13 of 2 Corinthians, a book with a non-chronological organization). Afterward, to avoid causing more pain, the Apostle stayed away. His absence was, according to some, evidence of the Apostle’s vacillating nature. (Some people seem to thrive on criticizing others!) St. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1 and 2, explaining his rationale for staying away and announcing that he had forgiven the ringleader of the critics. The Apostle also encouraged his allies to forgive that person. The dispute had injured the body (to use a Pauline metaphor for the church), so continuing the unhappiness would make a bad situation worse.
Forgiveness is a difficult grace to bestow on the offender and on oneself much of the time. I know this difficulty firsthand and wonder why letting go of a burden as great as a grudge is frequently so hard. I have arrived at no satisfactory answer, but I do know that a grudge hurts the person who holds it.
The reading from Hosea is ambiguous regarding the identity of Hosea’s platonic female friend yet the metaphor is clear: that human relationship is like God’s relationship with Israel. Difficult times will occur, but restoration will become the new reality. Israel will
thrill over the LORD and over His bounty in the days to come.
–Hosea 3:5b, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
The restoration of offenders can be a sensitive subject, for forgiveness seems to deny justice. Sometimes, I agree, offenders must face the consequences of their actions. Yet, much of the time, radical forgiveness is the best way into the future for the community, the society, the nation-state, and the individual. (I think especially of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the Republic of South Africa.) Taking an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth might curtail otherwise unrestrained vengeance, but should anyone seek revenge? Does not the quest for vengeance reveal the seeker’s protestation of righteousness to be a lie?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 1, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF DANIEL MARCH, SR., U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST AND PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, POET, HYMN WRITER, AND LITURGIST
THE FEAST OF SAINT MAXIMILLIAN OF TREVESTE, ROMAN CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT THEOPHANES THE CHRONICLER, DEFENDER OF ICONS
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This is post #650 of ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS.
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/forgiveness-and-restoration/
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ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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