Luke 15.11-32
Redemption involves a cost. Hosea loses face in a culture where purity and commitment in marriage are highly valued. He ends up literally buying back his wife who has spurned his love. She needs to see the price he pays to repent, recognize and accept his love.
The sacrifice of Hosea is a picture of what God sacrifices to gain back the love of Israel. The Israelites, taken into exile, also needed to recognize God’s love, repent and choose to come home to him.
Jesus tells a similar story in the Gospel of Luke about a Prodigal Son. To get his wayward son back, the father must pay the price of giving him an early inheritance, which the son squanders before realizing the love he had in his father’s house. The son returns home with a repentant heart to a waiting father who forgives him and restores their broken relationship.
Jesus makes the point our Father in heaven is willing to pay a price and is waiting for us to come home to him.
These stories foreshadow the ultimate price God will pay to buy back all mankind for a relationship with him. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3.16) As you listen to “Thank You Jesus” by Hillsong, join them in thanking Jesus for paying the price to restore our relationship with God.
