The scriptures referred to are Hosea 5:15-6:6, Psalm 50:7-15, Romans 4:13-25 and Matthew 9:9-13. 18-26.
“You see but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.” It's one of the most famous quotations of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes pays close attention to things like the state of a person's hat or shoes to deduce less obvious things about people, like the state of their marriage or the clumsiness of their servant. One time Holmes watches Watson for a few minutes and tells him accurately what his friend's train of thought was. But Holmes cannot really read minds. Like all of us, he looks at external things and tries to work out what is going on inside the heads of others. He may be better at interpreting those clues than even a doctor like Watson but not always. He even tells Watson that if he ever gets over confident in his powers, to keep him humble Watson should whisper the word “Norbury” in his ear to remind him of a case where Holmes was completely wrong.
One of the problems with social media is that it is largely visual and people can mislead you on the real state of their lives by posting pictures of them having fun when they are actually depressed, or looking affectionate with their spouse when their relationship is in trouble, or seemingly living in luxury when they really aren't. Instagram influencers have been known to rent a fancy house for a weekend so they can take lots of pictures of them lounging at a pool, cooking in a dream kitchen or showing off an enormous and beautifully decorated living room or bedroom, to appear as if they are wealthy or are at an expensive resort. As any magician knows, it is very easy to fool the eyes.
But God is not fooled. He does not judge by appearance but looks at the heart of the person. (1 Samuel 16:7) As we see in our Old Testament readings, God is not impressed by empty acts of piety. In Hosea he says, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” In Psalm 50, he says, “Do you think I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and make good your vows to the Most High.” And yet even today people think that all they have to do is speak certain words and do certain rituals, and they can get God on their side. This allows them to justify doing terrible things in God's name and feel that they are doing his will. Or that they can willfully sin one day and go through some act of penance or mumble some prayer the next day and God will forgive them...until the next time they deliberately do something they know they shouldn't.
In the book of Hosea the prophet uses the example of his own marriage to a prostitute to illustrate how the people of Israel have been unfaithful to God. They go through the motions but they are careless as to whether they are sacrificing to God or to Baal, the Canaanite god. (Hosea 2:13; 8:11) They ignore God's law. (Hosea 8:12) The prophet says, “Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites! For the Lord has a covenant lawsuit against the people of Israel. For there is neither faithfulness nor loyalty in the land, nor do they acknowledge God. There is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery. They resort to violence and bloodshed.” (Hosea 4:1-2) As usual, ignoring the greatest commandment, to love God, leads to ignoring the second greatest, to love one's neighbor, who, after all, was created in God's image. (Matthew 22:36-40)
Rather than trusting in God and relying on him, the people were trusting in and relying on their godless rulers who made golden idols (Hosea 8:5-6; cf. 1 Kings 12:28-30), the advisers to the rulers who became drunk with wine and with power (Hosea 7:3-5), their military (Hosea 1:4-5) and alliances made through trade (Hosea 7:11). Spiritually, they trusted in false prophets and priests to guide them. (Hosea 4:4-10)
But as Hosea takes back his adulterous wife, God will take back his people if they truly repent and turn back to him and his ways. Hosea's final chapter says, “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sin has been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: 'Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria cannot save us; we will not ride warhorses. We will never again say, “our gods” to what our own hands have made. For in you the fatherless find compassion.'” And God replies, 'I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.'” (Hosea 14:1-4)
God is always willing to forgive us if we truly repent. Unlike what some think, God's desire is not for sinners to burn in hell but for sinners to turn to him. (Ezekiel 33:11) A doctor doesn't want the sick to die but to get better. But they can't do that if their patients don't change the unhealthy way they live and follow doctor's orders. And God can't save those who won't let him. God is love and love requires the consent of the beloved.
A word that pops up 6 times in Hosea and 248 times in the entire Old Testament is the Hebrew word khesed. It is variously translated as kindness, mercy, steadfast love, loyalty, faithfulness and goodness. It is what God pledges to show to his people and what he expects from them in return. (Hosea 2:19; 12:6) It is the word used in the last verse of our reading from Hosea: “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6) This steadfast love and knowledge of God are intimately connected. As it says in Jeremiah, “For my people are foolish. They do not know me. They are like children who have no sense. They have no understanding. They are skilled at doing evil. They do not know how to do good.” (Jeremiah 4:22) To know God is to know his goodness, his kindness, his mercy, his steadfast love and faithfulness and to reciprocate and mirror his nature, the way children imitate their parents.
Of course, children have to learn to trust their parents. Some human parents prove themselves to be untrustworthy and that can damage their kids' ability to trust others. If they have learned not to trust their parents or other authority figures, they will often have trouble trusting God. However, most people, if they have a bad experience with a doctor, will not give up on all doctors but seek out a good one. But all too often those who have a bad experience in a church or with church leaders will lose their faith in God. As Jesus said, “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6) That's why those who teach the gospel, and are seen as representatives of God, are held to a higher standard. (James 3:1) When they stumble, they can destroy the faith of others.
The foundation of any healthy relationship is trust. And I think “trust” is a better rendering of the Greek word pistis, which is translated “faith” in our passages from Romans and Matthew. The same is true of the Hebrew word aman in Genesis 15:6. When you use the word “trust” the question naturally arises “Trust in what or in whom?” And it is trust in God that is the channel through which we receive salvation. That is why God took Abraham's trust in him as righteousness. Because pistis means not only “faith” but “faithfulness.” It means not only trusting God to do his part but him being able to trust you to do yours. If you truly trust God, you will do as he says, in the same way that you do if you trust your doctor. As a nurse I have seen patients who put themselves in their doctor's care and then did things that went against their doctor's orders, like smoke when they were being treated for emphysema or drink when their doctor was treating them for cirrhosis of the liver. It looks like they didn't really believe their doctor. And you can't save someone who is working against you. Neither can God.
A healthy relationship with God begins with trust. Abraham trusted God and believed his promises. He believed God's promise to give him a son and heir, even though he and his wife were so old it seemed impossible. He believed God's promise to give him a multitude of descendants, though that did not happen in his lifetime. Abraham believed God's promise that through him all the families of earth would be blessed, though he didn't live to see that happen through his descendant Jesus Christ. (Genesis 12:3; John 8:56) Because he trusted God, God was able to work through him.
And it doesn't take an extraordinary amount of faith for God to work in and through you. A man who brought his son to Jesus to be healed says, “If you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Then Jesus said to him, “If you are able? All things are possible for the one who trusts.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do trust; help my lack of trust.” But that small amount of trust in Christ was enough for Jesus to work with and heal his son. (Mark 9:14-27) And in today's gospel, we see that once again, Jesus was able to revive a dead girl because of her father's trust in Jesus' ability to do so. (Matthew 9:18) Similarly, while disappointed that Jesus didn't come sooner, Martha trusts him to raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. (John 11:21-27)
Paul tells us that 500 people saw Jesus after his resurrection. (1 Corinthians 15:3-6) I imagine that, in addition to his family, the disciples, and the seventy he sent out to announce the good news to the towns he was about to visit, the crowd was also made up of those who were healed by him and who responded by trusting and following him. And we are here today because the witness of their faith and their faithfulness convinced others to trust in Jesus and follow him.
Unlike God, we cannot see into the hearts of others and see what they are really like. However Sherlock Holmes, and Dr. Joseph Bell, the medical instructor upon whom Arthur Conan Doyle based his detective, could figure out what a person did for a living by observing their hands, coat sleeves, shirt cuffs, the knees of their pants and their shoes. And we can get clues to what people are like by how they live. Jesus said, “For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murders, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness.” (Mark 7:21-22) These actions are the symptoms of a spiritually sick human heart.
Fortunately, God wants to heal us, as it says in Hosea 6:1. As Jesus says in today's gospel, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” Then he quotes Hosea “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Finally, he identifies himself as the Great Physician, stating, “For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.” That includes all of us, a fact that, ironically, the Pharisees did not see in themselves. As Paul said, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24)
There is hope for us because of what God has done for us through Jesus. Because of his great self-sacrificial love for us demonstrated by his death on the cross, we can trust him. And if we trust him, we will let him work on us and through us by his Spirit, who heals us. It can take time, like someone recovering from surgery and taking physical therapy in order to learn to walk again. Our goal is to learn to walk with God. It won't be easy. Jesus said, “If anyone wants to be my follower, they must deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) Remember, Jesus' cross wasn't the weight of his own everyday problems. He carried that cross for us. And our cross is the burden of helping others by doing good and spreading the good news. As Paul said, “Carry one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)
Appearances can be deceiving but what a person is will eventually and inevitably come out in how they think, speak and act. If we trust in the God who is revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and give control of our life to his Holy Spirit, it will be reflected in our lives. But because we do not know the seriousness of the spiritual sickness each person is battling with, we cannot pass judgment on their salvation. (Matthew 7:1-5) But we can judge whether certain actions and words build up or tear down those who are trying to follow Jesus. (Romans 14:19; Ephesians 4:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:11) And we need to see that our words and actions are consistent with our professed trust in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. Because it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to spot hypocrisy. And you can be sure that the world will judge us on what they observe in our lives. And what they see can attract them to trust and follow Jesus or repel them from him. So when you look at your life, ask yourself this: if being a Christian was made illegal, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
