Hosea is a tough book. It really is. Every time I read it or hear a sermon on it, it reminds me of my wandering heart. I have a wandering heart. I have wanderlust. I go after other gods. To be reminded that God calls me, calls you, calls us His spouse, and that we have chased other lovers…we put on the wedding dress and we run down the aisle…but we do it not just with God. We do it with countless other things…we run down the aisle of sex, power, money, prestige, position, approval. Calvin reminds us that our hearts are idol-making factories. We never run out of gas for other lovers.

Reading Hosea, reminds me that I am Gomer. Gomer. We don’t name our daughters Gomer or Jezebel for a reason. They are not characters of great repute. But you and I are Gomer. So whats good about being Gomer? That’s my question for us. What’s good about being the wayward bride?

Well, first, as brides in need of cleansing and healing and reorientation, being Gomer means we can’t do this ourselves. We can’t buy ourselves back when we are stripped naked and being auctioned off to the highest bidder. We can’t pay down our debt and walk away free. We need a redeemer. We need one who will step onto the floor of the auction and shout out I’ll buy him…I’ll buy her. You see Hosea reminds us that the end of our chasing after other loves always ends in slavery. It always ends in massive debt. It always ends with lovers who are hellbent on our destruction. So being Gomer, means, we have come to the end of self. It means that we really are on the auction block. And we have no means to save ourselves.

Second, being Gomer, means we need a redeemer, and thankfully, it means we have a redeemer. Hosea speaks for Gomer in the marketplace. Hosea shouts out 15 shekels. Hosea pays the price. The economic price, the social price, the emotional price. Hosea sacrificially substitutes her pain and shame for his. Hosea swallows up Gomer’s debt. Hosea will experience loss to bring Hosea freedom and healing. Being Gomer, means we need a redeemer. Being Gomer means we have a redeemer. His name is Jesus. Jesus took our place on the gallows.

In the classic story, A Tale of Two Cities characters are recalled to life, in other words, they are redeemed. Bought back to life. My son Jed wrote an essay about this. He writes, “Another man who is recalled to life multiple times in a Tale of Two cities is Charles Darnay. The first time as I mentioned before is when he is wrongfully accused and is about to be sentenced to prison. But thankfully Sydney Carton who happens to look a lot like Charles, points out that it could’ve been him who committed treason and not Charles, and because of that Charles is then released and recalled to life for his first time. Charles then returns to Paris to save his tax collector cause Charles is a noble guy, and it was the noble thing to do even if he forgot to mention to his wife that he had to go save some lives. But on his quest to save his friend/tax collector he was imprisoned, but he is freed because of his father-in-law's intercession, however the vengeful madam Defarge wouldn’t have it, and condemns him again, because he was an Evermonde. But Sydney comes to the rescue yet again with a couple of parlor tricks, and in disguise, he stealthily sneaks into the prison where Charles was being held and takes his place as the prisoner, and Charles and Lucie live happily ever after… unfortunately Sydney dies in the process but hey what are friends for.” Dickens powerfully portrays this notion of redemption and sacrifice. Sydney taking the place of Charles. This is what it took for Charles to be free. This is what it took for Gomer to be set free. This is what it takes for us to be set free. We need a husband who will pay the price, who takes on flesh, who will be veiled in our humanity, who will go to the gallows for us. We need a husband who will take us back. Jesus is this substitute. Jesus is this husband. Jesus makes a way for us to be set free.

The rest of Hosea then is the battle for Gomer to learn to live as a spouse and not a slave. Identity. What is our identity? We are Gomer. But Gomer has been transformed from slave to spouse. Justin Holcomb says the following about this battle: “Though much of who we are will change, one thing that will not is the abiding acceptance of God—God will never let you go, even when you’re sure He’s unimpressed with you. Martin Luther gave us a helpful phrase to understand this phenomenon: simul justus et peccator—simultaneously justified and sinful. This is a realistic identity: according to your desires and actions, you are a sinner deserving judgment; however, because of God’s mercy on the cross, you are covered. (God’s grace changes our identity problems as Gomers.) If you’ve seen Fight Club you’ll remember Tyler Durden’s powerful diatribe against the false identities we assume, he says, “you're not how much money you’ve got in the bank. You’re not your job. You’re not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your family. You're not your age. You're not your hopes. You’re not you khakis.”

In the spirit of Durden (and Luther), you are not your real or perceived set of identifiers. You are not your divorce. You are not your parent’s divorce. You are not your addiction. You are not your disorder. You’re not your age. You’re not your mistakes. You are not your wallet or your wit. You’re not your anger. You’re not your adultery. Isaiah tells us that our righteousness is as filthy rags, but it is Jesus robe of righteousness draped over us that God sees. We need a God before whom we can put aside our disguise—trusting that when He sees us He won’t turn away (or make us pay) or smite us in anger. With this possible, for just a moment, the vicious habits of identity maintenance can stop, (and we can step down from the scaffold of buying and selling, into the arms our true lover Jesus and His firm ground of acceptance and love.)” In this moment, being Gomer isn’t so bad. In this moment, being Gomer means freedom, life, redemption, acceptance, healing.

~ Justin Edgar