Main news for 13 September 2022

So, the Lord says that His people have forgotten everything He did for them, forgotten all His wonders. And once again He performs wonders for His people. Why? After all, the people did not cry out to Him, did not offer sacrifices, did not ask for help... All the people did was hinder God from acting in their lives: burdening Him with sins and weighing Him down with iniquities, as the prophet Isaiah says. Why, then, does the Lord blot out all iniquities and agree not to remember sins?

And the answer He gives here is universal. He says: "For My own sake." He is ready to forget sins not because the people have corrected themselves or politely asked. He forgives because He is good and merciful, because He loves.

The Lord has redeemed us and called each of us by name. Redemption, that is, buying back, does not mean taking possession as property. If we continue to use the comparison from the realm of buying and selling, redemption is like buying birds in order to set them free. Nor does the fact that He calls each person by name speak of subjugation: this is not the name a master gives a slave, but the name that helps distinguish each one of us from all other people. This means that we are all dear to Him; each person is singled out without harm to those around him.

We are called witnesses, and here we encounter a new degree of His trust in us. In fact, the Lord does not need anyone's witness; His essence is above everything that can be said. Yet it turns out that we are important to Him not simply as creatures, but as those to whom great trust can be shown. All our sins and weaknesses are before His gaze, but they do not cancel the fact that we remain precious in His eyes.

Jacob, that is, the people of Israel who had fallen into sins and apostasy, is rebuked for not calling on the Lord. Nevertheless, He Himself, on His own initiative, blots out the people's sins. A question immediately comes to mind: why is there no mention here of repentance? Can one really do without it? No, of course repentance is necessary, but now the Lord lets us see that His forgiveness and mercy are higher than everything with which we are used to connecting them, and even higher than what we are able to imagine.

The prophets always called God's people to faithfulness to the covenant, to service of the Lord and to unwavering faith. Indeed, God created His people (and all human beings in general) so that we might love Him, serve Him and strive to know Him. But like the rays of dawn, a new gospel breaks through the prophets' calls to faithfulness and service, something that had not previously been revealed to people: the Lord created human beings not only so that they might love Him and do His will, but far more so that He might love them, care for them, serve them and lead them into His glory.

The world was created for love—not merely so that we could love one another, but so that we could receive God's love, which surpasses all our understanding. This is why it was so difficult to express this in words, and why it is so difficult for us to grasp and accept this News: that each of us is chosen, that each is God's most beloved. Today we see it in the muted light of Old Testament prophecy; tomorrow, God willing, we shall see its fulfillment with our own eyes.