Jeremiah 3:11-18: a reflection

11The LORD said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not look in anger on you, for I am merciful,’ says the LORD. ‘I will not keep anger forever. 13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’” says the LORD. 14“Return, backsliding children,” says the LORD, “for I am a husband to you. I will take one of you from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16It will come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days,” says the LORD, “they will no longer say, ‘the ark of the LORD’s covenant!’ It will not come to mind. They won’t remember it. They won’t miss it, nor will another be made. 17At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The LORD’s Throne;’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the LORD’s name, to Jerusalem. They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.

In the middle of hard words about his people's unfaithfulness, God's voice turns unexpectedly tender: Return, backsliding Israel, I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful; I will not stay angry forever. To a people who had wandered far, God does not slam the door; he holds it open. His invitation is not first to fix themselves but simply to come back, on the strength of his mercy.

And what does he ask of them? Only acknowledge your iniquity, he says, that you have transgressed against the Lord. The way home is not a long list of achievements but honest confession. God asks his wandering children only to admit the truth about their straying and return to him. And he promises what awaits them: he will be a husband to them, gather them to himself, and give them shepherds after his own heart who will feed them with knowledge and understanding.

However far you may have wandered, this is God's word to you: return, for I am merciful. He is not waiting with folded arms for you to earn your way back; he is holding the door open, asking only that you come home and honestly acknowledge your straying. Do not let shame keep you at a distance, imagining you must first make yourself acceptable. Come as you are, admit the truth, and return to the God whose anger does not last forever and whose mercy is ready to receive you.

Lord, to your wandering people you said, return, for I am merciful, asking only that they acknowledge their straying. However far I have wandered, do not let shame keep me at a distance. I come home to you and admit the truth of my sin. Thank you that your anger does not last forever and your mercy is ready to receive me. Take me back, and be my shepherd. Amen.