A Failed Marriage

Homily for Friday of the Third Week in Lent

The Prophet Hosea experienced a traumatic episode that many have also gone through. He had fallen in love with a woman whom he then married. His description of the early years of his relationship speaks of love and devotion. However, one day he learned that his wife had run away with another man. In a culture that tries to avoid shame at any cost, Hosea was devastated by his wife’s betrayal. Then it came to pass that his wife returned, and he took her back and restored their marriage covenant.

God chose Hosea to be a prophet in the northern kingdom which he refers to as Israel or Jacob and sometimes as Ephraim. Jacob, the second son of Isaac, had received the new name of Israel from God. Ephraim was the grandchild of Jacob and split the territory that had been apportioned to his father Joseph with his brother, .

Hosea used his experience as a way to describe the experience of Israel with God. Israel had struck a covenant with God at Mount Sinai. However, as Israel grew in fame and power throughout the world, the people began to forget that their fame and power came from God. Thinking that their power in the world was something of their own doing, they separated themselves from God just as Hosea’s wife had run away with another man.

Today the first reading comes from the fourteenth chapter of this book, and it speaks of the restoration of Israel in terms of the restoration of a marriage covenant. As Hosea had taken his wife back into his house, God promises to restore Israel and once again bless his people.

Today the church uses the imagery of a marriage covenant in its description of how the church relates to Jesus, the Bridegroom. This imagery comes directly from the Hebrew Scriptures and, in particular, from the Book of the Prophet Hosea. We returned to the Season of Lent each year and through fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, seek to return to the Lord. We use the forty-day fast of Jesus in the desert as a model for this period of restoration. We are almost exactly halfway through Lent. We would not go amiss if we used this time to examine how well we are doing in our quest for reconciliation and repentance as we return to the Lord.