Scandalous Love

How is your Christmas preparation going?  Do you have plans for the holiday? Presents? Tree? Finishing up your Advent devotions?  Planning which worship service to attend?  Well, it's almost time once again to experience God's love for us - a love that was and is actually quite scandalous!

We often fail to understand just how scandalous God’s love for us is, and how radical it is that God would show that love by lowering himself to be born in human form. Using the story of Hosea, this week’s message emphasizes how doggedly God pursues us, in spite of our unfaithfulness. Christmas is the heralding of God who comes to be with us. God is the one who pursues. The Incarnation is the revelation of God’s scandalous love affair with humanity.

The story in Hosea is often hard to hear and understand in our modern times but it shows God's love through the image of Hosea and his wife.  Hosea 2:2-3 says "When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, marry a prostitute and have children of prostitution, for the people of the land commit great prostitution by deserting the LORD . ” So Hosea went and took Gomer, Diblaim’s daughter, and she became pregnant and bore him a son.”

Yikes!  Hosea's wife Gomer represents Israel and its unfaithfulness to God. In Hosea 3:1 The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."

And then there is the birth of Jesus - want to talk about scandalous? Mary pregnant before she and Joseph were married, Joseph being father to a baby clearly not his and standing by Mary!  Not something that happened all that often in Nazareth.  But out of that scandalous love came Jesus to show how God loves each and every one of us whether or not we are faithful followers, or questioners of all things religious, or believe in other things.  God continues to love us and call us into God's presence.


So, do you trust God’s promise to redeem your life? To love you and want your love in return, no matter what kind of mess your life has been? To whom or in what way can you show “scandalous” love this holiday season because of God’s great love shown to you?

I challenge you to think about what it means for us to love others “scandalously”, especially in the wake of the horror of Sandy Hook Elementary shootings? How would that be different from the safe, cautious ways we often show Christ’s love in the world?  How would it make our world better?

I hope that you will all take the time to worship on Christmas Eve/Day and that you continue to spread God's scandalous love to all you meet!