Daily Prophets
Day 85
“You have played the prostitute with many lovers and would you return to me, says God? Return, you faithless Israel, I will not look at you in anger, for I am merciful. Only acknowledge your guilt that you have transgressed against the Lord, your God. Return faithless children and I will heal your faithlessness.”(Jeremiah 3:1,12,13,22).
Jeremiah’s words ring out in anger, frustration and deep concern and caring. This call to the people of and Judah is harsh and soul shaking. In the first sentence, the indictment of our wrongs are being read out loud so we can hear and so can everyone else. Much like a modern day courtroom. Yet, I also hear the call of God to the people to return, even after all of their whoring around.
I know you have been unfaithful, says God, and I still want to take you back in kindness and mercy. Can you imagine the drop in the divorce rate if people would be more God-like and believe in T’Shuvah, in return? Jeremiah is teaching us that the Covenant is more important than the whoring around. Rather than being angry, God wants reconciliation and connection, with a caveat. The people have to own up to their guilt in following other gods and nations. They have to do their Chesbon HaNefesh, an accounting of their soul, and confess their errors. This is not a whitewash by God, this is not “Oh, I am so glad to have you back, everything is forgiven”, rather it is own up to your errors and make amends and we can reconnect.
How important is the acknowledgement of guilt? Once we do this, according to the last verse above, God will heal our faithlessness! What a gift that most people do not avail themselves! Even the Rabbis made it too easy to acknowledge the guilt we need to own, confess and do a whole T’Shuvah for when they gave us a formula to ask people for forgiveness at Yom Kippur, “if I have done anything to harm you…”. Here, Jeremiah is telling us that God can only take us back, can only heal us when we confess and then rather than anger, there is mercy. Rather than punishment, there is healing. Rather than exile there is connection.
Rabbi Heschel teaches us: “God’s love of Israel is one of Israel’s sacred certainties which Jeremiah, like Hosea and Isaiah before him, tried to instill in the minds of the people.”(The Prophets pg. 135). Pondering these words fill me with awe, reverence and trembling. God’s love for us is a certainty! Yet, so often we question it, we cry out when things don’t go our way as if God has abandoned us, God is punishing us, etc. Rabbi Heschel is telling us to stop questioning God’s love, it is a “sacred”, an elevated, connected action that is continuously given to us by God. Remembering this truth can help us stay faithful to God. He goes on to say: “…Jeremiah did not think that evil was inevitable. Over and above man’s blindness stood the wonder of repentance, the open gateway through which man could enter if he would.” (Ibid, pg. 132). What an amazing statement, since the prophets are looked upon as angry men who only castigate the people. What most of us miss is the deep love and unwavering hope the prophets and God have for Israel, for Judah, for humankind! Evil is not inevitable, this phrase is so radical, so elevated, so hopeful and so true. It is going to take everything we have in our soul as individuals and collectively as a community to make this phrase a reality. It will take our walking through this open gateway individually and then bringing others with us. We can defeat evil, we need to acknowledge our errors, return to God and allow God to heal us, allow God to repair us and allow God to love us until we can love ourselves and another(s).
I am taking a break from naming the ways our political leader are bringing us down to destruction for a while.
In recovery, we know all about whoring around. Prior to recovery, we flitted and flirted, we prostituted and polluted, and we celebrated our faithlessness. In recovery, we heard the call to return from God and we followed the call this time. Our souls shook with fear, awe and relief to be welcomed back by God, family and community. Yet, we knew that we could not just show up and say ‘I’m back’. We had to acknowledge our faithlessness with the people in our lives as well as with God. We had to ask for forgiveness and then it could, and most often, would be granted. God’s mercy is greater than God’s anger and the same is true for most human beings. We allowed others and God to love us until we could love ourselves and we were specific and stood face to face with another(s) to make these amends. In recovery, we have been the recipients of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness and healing.
I have also received this grace, mercy, kindness, love, healing and forgiveness from God and so many others. I am blessed to be able to see, sometimes sooner sometimes later, my part in my interactions and ask for forgiveness and reconnection with another(s). I am blessed by the love God, my family, friends, etc. I realize from these words that people who need to punish me for my errors, who need to betray and sever the connections we had are to be pitied, not hated. How sad it is for them to live like this, when God is wants our return. The gateway of return is open 24 hours a day, each and every day. Will you walk through the gateway of return today? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark