Jeremiah 31:15-22: a reflection

15The LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.” 16The LORD says: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” says the LORD. “They will come again from the land of the enemy. 17There is hope for your latter end,” says the LORD. “Your children will come again to their own territory. 18“I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned, for you are the LORD my God. 19Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’ 20Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,” says the LORD. 21“Set up road signs. Make guideposts. Set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went. Turn again, virgin of Israel. Turn again to these your cities. 22How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth: a woman will encompass a man.”

This tender passage moves from grief to hope. It begins with Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they are no more, the voice of a mother's inconsolable grief. But God answers even that: Keep your voice from weeping, for there is hope for your future; your children shall come back. And then, as Ephraim, the wayward child, repents, God's heart is laid bare: Is Ephraim my dear son, my darling child? As often as I speak against him, I still remember him; therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him.

Notice the astonishing tenderness of God's words about his wayward child. Even after speaking against Ephraim, even after the discipline and the distance, God says his heart yearns for him. The word pictures a deep, aching, visceral longing, a parent's heart that cannot stop loving the child who has strayed, that yearns for him and will surely have mercy. This is not grudging forgiveness; it is a father whose deepest heart aches with love for the child who is coming home.

That is the heart of God toward the returning sinner, and toward every wayward child who turns back. However far you have strayed, however much your waywardness has grieved him, God's heart yearns for you. He does not receive the returning one with cold, reluctant pardon, but with an aching, yearning love that will surely have mercy. If you have wandered and fear that God is done with you, hear his heart: my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy. Turn back, and be met not by a grudging judge but by a Father whose heart aches with love for you.

Lord, of your wayward child you said, my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him. Thank you for that glimpse of your aching, yearning love for the one who strays. When I have wandered and fear you are done with me, remind me that you do not receive the returning one with cold, reluctant pardon, but with a heart that yearns and mercy that is sure. I turn back to you; meet me as the Father whose heart aches with love for me.