Reflection - Knowing

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/070716.cfm

Hosea 11:1-4, 8-9
Matthew 10:7-15

The fourteen chapters of the book of the prophet Hosea are among the most heart-breaking in all of Scripture. The short passage read today is a summary example of the painful complexion of the whole. Hosea gives a human voice to the anguish of God; he describes in personal terms the intimate betrayal by God's Chosen People. The narrative of infidelity is told through the experience of a parent whose child has gone astray. It is imaged in the story of a man whose wife has become an adulteress. It is envisioned in the trials of the family burdened with the repetitive addict. It is related through the circumstances of trying to uphold someone who is emotionally distraught. We know these experiences and many more like them. They are all too common in the human community and we struggle when we ourselves are involved and must determine how to respond. God has no such hesitation. His words are given us by Isaiah. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you, O Israel" (Isaiah 49:50)

Hosea picks up the tale of God and his people from the time when God first called the Hebrews out of Egypt. "When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son." says Hosea. Before this time they were not a people; they were not a nation. But they are called forth from Egypt to become "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people"  (1 Peter 2:9) But in spite of this special favor, in spite of this remarkable blessing, the more God called them the farther they moved away. 

God was with them in their infancy, teaching them the fundamentals of being a nation. As a father is with His child He provided what was needed for His people to survive and flourish. He gave them a land of their own; and the land he bestowed was not just any land, but one flowing with milk and honey. He cared for them. He comforted them. And, when necessary, which, unfortunately was all too often, He corrected them. They were like a child and he taught them to walk. He took them in His arms. He held them in his love. He fed them as you would a child. And He raised them high to the level of his cheek. He loved them. But "they did not know that [He] was their healer," their provider, their comforter, their protector.

We consider the marvelous things that the Lord had done, and then we read the text and express surprise at the tendency of these people to stray. Plagues in Egypt, sudden freedom from their enslavement, a pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night, the parting of the reed sea, water that flows from a rock, food that falls from he sky --- how many more of God's wonders have I missed? But it was never enough to keep them steadfast in faith. My curiosity is aroused; and I seek to understand. Why did they abandon God so often? How could they so easily vacillate? What was missing in their lives? Hosea's text tells me, though I had to wait for the Spirit to open my heart to the meaning of his words.

When the Hebrews were brought out of Egypt to be formed into the nation of Israel, they were still spiritual infants, the children that the text speaks of. They had their own 'Baltimore Catechism' --- it just had fewer questions and answers than ours. And their first question paralleled the one we had when we were young: "Who is our God?" The answer they were to memorize, however, was slightly different. Instead of the dictum: "God is the Supreme Being who made all things and keeps them in existence." They were taught to respond: "Our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." But their specified response was almost as abstract as ours. They were still children, and their answer reflected little understanding. In time they began to acknowledge the great things God had done for his people; but I wonder if that acknowledgement was more than just cerebral.

Slowly and steadily throughout the following centuries God tried to teach them that he was more than just "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." He was protector and defender. He was their strength in battle. He was their very definition of true justice and authority. He was the source of all they needed. He was their comforter in sorrow and their promise of joy. The lessons were poorly learned. 

Given what we know of human behavior and our skepticism with the abstract, the mysterious and the unknown, the failure of the Israelites is not hard to understand. Every monotheistic religion that has survived through the ages has concluded that God is the Supreme Being. Among the attributes ascribed to him are omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and divine simplicity. Not one of these concepts lies within my conceptual grasp. So, when I think about God primarily in these terms, the image comes up fuzzy. Consequently, it's no surprise that the Israelites were, from the time of Moses, forbidden to make an image of God. But it's also no surprise that God was so totally 'other' to them, just as he will be to us if we don't know him personally. If our image of God and potential relationship with him remains in the realm of philosophy or even theology, then the probability of truly acknowledging God as ever present with us will remain remote.

God knew that.

That's why he sent his Son. 

Jesus brings God out of the dimension of the notional and places him squarely in our midst. God is, in a new and concrete sense, exactly as he says he is in Hosea: "I am God and not man, the Holy One present among you." The world changed. God became man. Knowing him was no longer a task limited by our ability to comprehend the incomprehensible. That's why Jesus could respond as he did to the statement of Phillip. 

"Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied."

"Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:8-9)

The words spoken by Jeremiah centuries before finally reached the fullness of their meaning. "No longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD" (Jeremiah 31:34) 

We can know God!

We can personally know God.

He sent his Son.

Through Him we can know the Father.

No longer are we confined by the notional, the theoretical, the philosophical or the abstract. No wonder Jesus would send his disciples out, as he did in this morning's text, to tell the people: "The Kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 10:7) "It has come near to you." (Luke 10:9)  "Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Behold, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst." (Luke 17:20-21)

It is at hand.

It is near to you.

It is in your midst.

Say "hello" to the one who is the Kingdom.