Love Story

I love you, says the Lord. I have loved you from the beginning. This whole journey of ours has been a love story. Even when I had to punish you, I still loved you. This exile you have been through is evidence of my love.

It doesn't feel much like love, God. From our vantage point, we've done all we can to please you and it's never enough.

That's the problem, says the Lord. It was never about just "pleasing" me. It was always about you loving me and me loving you. It was never about the offerings or the sacrifices or the priests or the altars. It was meant to be about you learning how to love, how to live faithful lives—whether that's about faithfulness to each other or to me.

I guess we didn't get that. The ram's blood, the sacrificed sheep, the Temple, the exile—that we got. That we understood. But it seems like it's just been a waste of our time. What do we have to show for it?

I want to bless you, says the Lord. I want to open up heaven's floodgates and pour out on you so much blessing you couldn't imagine it all.

I don't know. We can imagine quite a bit.

All it takes, says the Lord, is for you to learn how to love me and love others. Practice justice. That's a loving thing to do. Love the stranger in your midst. Stop worshipping things you can see so that you can worship the unseen, so that you can worship me.

It sounds easy, God, when you describe it like that. But you haven't lived down here. You don't know what it's like, how hard it is.

God, are you still there?

Yes, I am here, says the Lord. I know it's hard, and I will soon be sending my messenger to live among you, to teach you the way to live. Before he comes, another one will come who will announce the messenger's coming. The forerunner will cause parents and children to love each other again. Their hearts will be changed.

And if they don't?

Then I will come and strike the land with destruction.

Is this that "Day of the Lord" we've been hearing about?

Not exactly, but it's the beginning of it. It's a new beginning. There will be some silent years, but for those who endure through all of that, a new and brighter hope will dawn. Keep your eyes on the heavens. I am coming to you. And I will bless you in ways you wouldn't believe if I told you. Remember: it's all because I love you.

An image of the prophet Malachi