Trusting a babysitter with your children requires trust in the babysitter’s faithfulness to do what is best for your child. A trusted babysitter has more freedom with the children to do more activities and may even be trusted leave the house with the kids to go to something like a movie. If a babysitter does take the children to a movie, and one of the children turns to run back inside after leaving the theater, then the babysitter will have to pay for another ticket and even offer proof that the child can go even though the babysitter is not the parent and could be misidentified as someone attempting to abduct the child. A child that puts the babysitter through that kind of ordeal has much to be thankful for in the babysitter’s faithfulness to get the child back and safely home.
A child’s behavior does not determine a babysitter’s faithfulness. A child might eat dinner, play nice, clean up the toys, take a bath, put on pajamas, brush teeth, listen to the devotion, say prayers and stay in bed or not do any of those things. In either case or a combination, the babysitter is still to care for the child or children, and when a babysitter does continue to care for the child through any situation, the babysitter is good and faithful. Jesus made similar points to a mixed crowd of those who knew they were naughty and those who thought they were the chosen child who could do no wrong in our Gospel reading from Luke 15. We hear that the tax collectors and sinners gathered around Jesus, and we presume they did to hear about his mercy and forgiveness, while the Pharisees and teachers of the law criticized Jesus for allowing the naughty children to gather around him. Understanding his audience, Jesus then told a series of parables, two of which are in our Gospel reading for today. First, Jesus told a parable about a shepherd leaving his ninety-nine sheep to go after the one lost sheep. Second, about a woman who lost one of her ten silver coins and carefully searched her home until she found it. In both cases, when what was lost is found, the friends and neighbors are called together to rejoice. Jesus then taught that 10 … “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents,” not over one who remains lost. This was a call for all his audience to repent to God who faithfully welcomes us back with his gracious forgiveness and saving love.
God used the prophet Hosea to highlight the great length of his faithfulness. In Hosea 1, we hear what God called him to do, 2 When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the LORD.” Hosea was to marry a prostitute as that best captured the unfaithfulness of Israel. And Hosea did what God asked him to do. Then, not surprisingly, Hosea’s wife, Gomer, returned to her unfaithful ways. Later in our Old Testament reading from Hosea 3, the surprise comes when Hosea receives the command from God to buy her back, and he does, as we read, 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Hosea bought his unfaithful wife back. Her unfaithful actions did not stop his faithfulness. Price, convenience, reputation, social norms, practicality, worry, pride, further and future unfaithfulness etc. also did not stop Hosea from going after his wife.
Gomer was bought by Hosea. It is good to pause to consider the depravity of a husband buying his wife back. And understand this was not a hostage situation or kidnapping. This was an unfaithful wife choosing to leave and then going back only because a payment was made. This means we are Gomer. When we were baptized and given the gift of faith, we were joined to God like a husband and wife as we read in Ephesians 5, 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Christ paid with his life to make us whole again and wholly his, but the honeymoon phase did not last for us. We have been quick to wrinkle, stain, rip and stink up the bridal gown. We have turned away from God and loved others. We all have our lists of obvious and secret sins, and we will not list them out now, but we will instead focus on our mindset that we deserve to be bought back. We may not realize it, but we sit comfortably and bargain with God when we sin and chase after other loves above God. We effective think things like, “I might take your offer of forgiveness and grace, but this other thing seems better.” Or “I liked your offer, but now I have changed my mind for something else.” Or “I will take your offer, but I also want to keep my options open to accept some other offers as they present themselves.” Our unfaithfulness goes beyond reality tv couples, but our lives are not a tv show. When we wander away from God, there is a real danger of staying lost.
We were not found by chance, but by the faithful love of God. We all wander like sheep, run for it like a toddler and get lost like coins, but God pursues us. The price God paid to get us back does not reflect our worth, but God’s love. The good news of Scripture, the Gospel truth, is that we will only ever be saved and assured of our home in heaven by God’s grace, not by how we live our life. God asked the prophet Hosea to pay the price to get his adulterous wife back after she went back to prostitution. The perverse situation Hosea was in pales in comparison to our turning from God. When we love another more than God, he loved us so much that he gave up his one and only Son as payment to get us, his own creation, back to give us eternal life with him in heaven. You may not have thought about it before, but we can consider the words of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed, which is a summary of what Jesus did to save us, as wedding vows. Jesus faithfully sacrificed his innocent life on the cross to save us. When we are overwhelmed by our sins and see them as if boxes stacked up around us, or thoughts so constant and intense that nothing could break through to give us peace, the Jesus’ blood covers over all our sins as we read in Hebrews 10, 10 … we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Our forgiveness, home in heaven, peace and security have all been bought and fully paid for by our Savior Jesus. His sacrifice is the enduring proof of the Lord’s great love for you.
When we are tempted to chase after another, God’s love keeps us faithful to him. As our hearts are pulled in so many directions with temptations always before us and in our minds, our weapon against them is God’s Word. After he had purchased his wife back, we hear these words in Hosea 3, 3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.” For Gomer to remain faithful to Hosea, she would need love in her heart. That love would remain and grow with the reminder of the price Hosea paid and his continuing love. For us, we need to read, hear and meditate on the Word of God for the assurance of his love and to keep us faithful to him or we will be lost. We are called to repentance and assured of God’s forgiveness throughout all of Scripture. One example of the faithful love and forgiveness among Christians is given in our New Testament reading from 2 Corinthians 2. A man who had confessed his past sin, we presume this was the man who had committed adultery with his stepmother, was not being welcomed back into the congregation. This man’s sins were equally forgiven by God, so Paul calls the congregation to not only forgive, but welcome this man back so that he is not lost as we read in 2 Corinthians 2, 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. This is the kind love we share with one another. The depth of God’s priceless love keeps us from being lost to our past and future sins. We gather around Jesus like the sinners and tax collectors did as we gather around the Word of God and the sacraments because through them the same words of forgiveness, mercy, grace and peace are given and keep us in love with God.
A child’s behavior does not determine a babysitter’s faithfulness. When a babysitter has to run back into the movie theater to chase a child and has to explain that it is not an abduction, it puts the faithfulness of the babysitter to the test. God asked the prophet Hosea to pay the price to get his adulterous wife back after she went back to prostitution. This perverse situation pales in comparison to our turning from God. He loved us so much that he gave up his one and only Son as payment to get us, his own creation, back to give us eternal life with him in heaven. We live with love for God turning from that which would pull us away from him because when I loved another, the Lord loved me. Amen.
Gunnar Ledermann, Pastor Divine Peace Church
Gunnar Ledermann
I’m passionate about Rockwall’s vibrant community and actively engage with local non-profits and community organizations, including the Rockwall Chamber of Commerce, the City of Rockwall, and the Downtown Rockwall Association. My background includes a bachelor’s degree in Classical Languages and a master’s degree in divinity. Currently serving as a pastor at Divine Peace Church in Rockwall, I also enjoy spending time with my wife, Marinda, and our five children.
