Today’s readings fit together perfectly.
The first reading ends with an invitation:
“Come back to the Lord your God.”
The Gospel begins with a warning:
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.”
One sounds comforting.
The other sounds alarming.
Yet together they describe the whole Christian life.
First, we are converted.
Then, we are sent.
Hosea is one of the most moving prophets in the Old Testament because he reveals the heart of God.
Israel has wandered.
Israel has sinned.
Israel has repeatedly turned away.
Yet God does not say:
“You have had your chance.”
He says:
“Come back.”
That is one of the most beautiful truths of Christianity.
God never tires of calling us back.
We may grow tired of Him.
He never grows tired of us.
The reading is filled with tenderness.
“I will heal their disloyalty.”
“I will love them with all my heart.”
“I am like a cypress, ever green.”
This is not the language of a reluctant God.
It is the language of a Father eager to forgive.
Perhaps some people need to hear that.
Many people carry guilt.
Regrets.
Old sins.
Failures.
And sometimes they imagine that God must be weary of them.
The prophet says the opposite.
God delights in repentance because He delights in restoring His children.
But then we come to the Gospel and the tone changes dramatically.
Jesus says:
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.”
Not sheep among other sheep.
Not sheep among friendly neighbours.
Sheep among wolves.
Jesus is astonishingly realistic.
He never deceives His disciples.
He never says discipleship will be easy.
He never promises universal approval.
He never says the world will applaud them.
Instead He says:
You will be opposed.
You will be handed over.
You will be hated because of my name.
These are not exactly the slogans of a recruitment campaign.
Yet Jesus says them because they are true.
The world has always admired some parts of Christianity.
Kindness.
Compassion.
Care for the poor.
Forgiveness.
People often applaud those things.
But the moment Christianity challenges the world, opposition appears.
When Christians speak about truth.
About sin.
About conversion.
About marriage.
About the dignity of human life.
About Christ as the unique Saviour.
The wolves begin to show their teeth.
That was true in the first century.
It remains true today.
Yet notice what Jesus does not say.
He does not say:
Fight like wolves.
Become wolves yourselves.
Defeat hatred with hatred.
Instead He says:
“Be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves.”
In other words:
Be wise.
Be prudent.
But remain holy.
Remain charitable.
Remain Christ-like.
The saints understood this.
They were not naïve.
They knew the reality of opposition.
Yet they refused to become bitter.
They refused to become cynical.
They refused to become what they opposed.
And perhaps that is where the two readings meet.
Because the greatest danger is not persecution.
The greatest danger is losing our own hearts.
If we forget God’s mercy, we become harsh.
If we forget God’s patience, we become impatient.
If we forget that we ourselves have been forgiven, we become unforgiving.
Hosea reminds us where everything begins.
“Come back to the Lord.”
Before mission comes conversion.
Before preaching comes repentance.
Before changing the world comes allowing God to change us.
The saints always understood this order.
The most effective apostles were always first great penitents.
Peter wept over his denial.
Paul never forgot that he had persecuted the Church.
Augustine never forgot his years of wandering.
They could preach mercy because they had received mercy.
Perhaps that is the lesson for us today.
Some of us need Hosea’s message.
Come back.
Return to prayer.
Return to Confession.
Return to the Lord.
Others need the Gospel’s message.
Do not be surprised by opposition.
Do not be discouraged when faith costs something.
Do not imagine that faithfulness and popularity always go together.
Because the Christian life is both things at once.
A continual return to God.
And a continual mission into the world.
And in both tasks we are not alone.
The God who says:
“I will love them with all my heart”
is the same Christ who sends out His disciples.
The God who heals our disloyalty is the God who strengthens us in trial.
The God who forgives us is the God who sends us.
And therefore we need not be afraid.
We simply need to return to Him, remain close to Him, and follow wherever He leads.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 