Is there a Cure for Spiritual Sickness?
The term prophet usually invokes images of seers like the 16th century prophet Nostradamus, who reputedly had the ability to predict the future. The biblical prophets, on the other hand, were more concerned with the spiritual, moral and ethical attitudes of their contemporaries than they were predicting the future. Although the prophets were not primarily foretellers, their messages have a way of speaking to every generation, including people of today. Their words have a timeless quality about them because they expose the weaknesses of human nature that we pretend not to have. In addition, the prophets have a way of seeing right through feel-good religions, and calling us on the carpet for our propensity to cover selfish behavior with thin layers of polite piety, or what the prophets call hypocrisy.
The Jewish scholar, Abraham Heschel, called the prophets of Israel “some of the most disturbing people who have ever lived.” Even when their words were out-of-step with their contemporaries, these fearless men of faith provoked the religious establishment by speaking truth to power, risking their lives in the process.
While modern day people of faith tend to romanticize the prophets, the truth of the matter is, they were scorned during their lifetime and did not enjoy the acclaim and respect of their audiences, and even today are only selectively listened to. Sure, we derive comfort from passages that ostensibly tell about the coming of the messiah or the love that God has for his children, but how often do we ignore their more specific condemnations that challenge our comfortable religious prejudices, or call us out for our dereliction in fulfilling our social and ethical obligations to the vulnerable among us?
Hosea is one such prophet who does not let his people or us off the hook. He lived over 2700 years ago, but his messages are as relevant today as they were during his time and, unfortunately, go just as unheeded.
It’s not hard to understand why he was ignored. We seldom notice the weather when the sun shines warmly and gentle breezes caress our face. Hosea’s prophetic activity began during the bright and fair weather days when life was good for the elite of Israel’s society. There was tremendous optimism for the future as the country enjoyed peace and prosperity. Even the old-timers could not remember a time when Israel had it so good.
Hosea, however, had a completely different point of view. He did his level best to disturb his country’s national tranquility, for he could see what others could not, storm clouds on the horizon. He saw a nation in severe spiritual, moral, and ethical decline, and he knew that a day of reckoning was just around the corner. Hosea had a passionate love for right and a burning hatred for wrong that was not shared by his fellow citizens. For the prophet, there could be no compromises with God. Either you were all in or you were out. The people of Israel were not so singularly focused, however, having made allowances for the cultural influences of their day. They thought nothing of mixing the worship of the one true God with the latest popular religious fad. To Hosea this was an outrage.
Outwardly, religious devotion appeared healthy and robust. The places of worship were overflowing with people, offerings were at an all-time high, and religious fervor had never been so exuberant. And the preaching, well, the preaching had never been so inspirational. The people felt smug and confident that their religious spark plugs were hitting on all cylinders.
Hosea saw through all that. The prophet knew people well enough to know that too much comfort in spiritual matters could turn into a deadly sickness. God had singled Israel out to be a blessing to the world, to model how God’s people are to live and treat one another, especially the weaker and poorer among them. Generations earlier Israel had made a covenant or promise with God, specifying that they would worship God and God alone. They would be his people and God would be their God. Over time, their covenant with God had been taken for granted to the point where Israel prioritized their comfort over their responsibility.
Hosea was alarmed that Israel had compromised and even abandoned the path of God alone. Worship, while enthusiastic, mimicked the popular culture, with other gods occupying the holy space that rightfully belonged exclusively to God (see especially Hosea 8). In addition to being heavily influenced by the surrounding culture, the rich were exploiting the poor and even trying to pull the wool over God’s eyes by feigning righteousness in the process (12:7-8). Wow! Talk about unabashed arrogance!
What word would Hosea say to his people who had corrupted the worship of God by paying homage to the popular gods of the day?
Interestingly, Hosea doesn’t say a word, at least not in the first chapter of his book. What he does do is perform a symbolic act that must have created quite a stir—he marries a woman of ill repute, a prostitute! His action speaks far louder than any sermon he could have preached. Hosea’s symbolic action was a sure fire way to catch people’s attention. While his action may seem a bit bazaar to us in the modern world, the people of his day were well aware that the prophet was signaling something.
But what was the something? The people had become addicted to greed and were paying lip service to God. They were so spiritually sick they could no longer remember what their purpose was. But Hosea knew. He knew that their spiritual sickness was due to “a lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4: 6), for Israel had forgotten the ways of God. And through their lack of knowledge, they had prostituted themselves by dividing their loyalties between the one true God and the crowd pleasing attractions of the day.
God was not untouched by their lack of knowledge. He experiences emotional distress over the unfaithfulness of the very people he had freed from slavery, nurtured, cared for, and continues to love. This divine anguish is expressed through the prophet Hosea almost as if he can feel what God is feeling—utter rejection by his children. It seemed that the more God opened his arms to his people, the faster they turned away from him (Hosea 11:3-4; 2:8). Hosea diagnosis Israel’s abandonment of God as a severe spiritual sickness, and the only remedy was for the nation of Israel to make God their one priority. Even though the people had prostituted themselves, God would restore their relationship, if only they would turn toward him.
When I study the religious landscape today, I wonder if there is a sickness in the American religious culture. Churches, synagogues, and other places of worship are no longer valued by large segments of our population, and there is good reason why. Too many people of faith have made too many compromises with the popular currents of the day. There is little distinction between the values of those who claim to be devoted to God and the secular culture. Pastors and priests are not perceived as holy but as corporate executives. We have built our houses of worship on the capitalistic model of success, valuing wealth and power over the Jesus model of humility and servanthood. We take pride in the numbers that crowd into our sanctuaries but show little concern for the weak and vulnerable among us. We spend more time and money trying to influence elections, than helping the homeless to find shelter or feeding the hungry or caring for the sick and forgotten. Ask yourself, Is our religious culture sick?
We look down our noses at those who are different. We are intolerant of those whose weaknesses are not like our own, and we have failed miserably to speak truth to power, to stand against those who would have us ignore the least of these—the clearest sign that we are on God’s path. Apparently, our faith has lost confidence in God and now trusts the political powers that be. Our religious culture is indeed sick!
Hosea would tell us that there is hope. There is a cure. His action of marrying a prostitute reminds us that God is merciful beyond comprehension, especially to the unworthy—and we are all unworthy! The first step is to recognize our sickness, to understand that just because we are God’s people does not mean that we are without failure. We must remember that we are simply beggars who lovingly share with other beggars where the bread is—the bread is found in God alone.
Secondly, only God can heal the sickness so prevalent in our religious culture. Israel falsely believed that the answer to their problems could be found in the political realm. When Israel finally realized, too late, I might add, that sickness had taken hold of the country, they “sent to the great [Assyrian] king” for help (Hosea 5:13), believing that he could heal their land. But the great king could not assuage their distress. In fact, he only made things worse by taking advantage of their weakness and enslaving them. Israel’s failure to listen to the prophet Hosea led to their country’s collapse in 722 BCE. Just as in Hosea’s day, trusting the political realm to do what only God can do will result in the ruin and enslavement for the community of faith as well.
Only when people of faith turn back to God alone and turn away from self-serving expressions of religion will our spiritual sickness be healed. The recovery period will be long and difficult, but God stands ready to forgive and heal. God’s arms are always open to those who turn toward him. Once again, Hosea speaks across the centuries and pleads with people of faith to place their trust in God alone.
