Everlasting Love
Parashat Ki Tetze, Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19; Haftarah, Isaiah 54:1–10
Matthew Absolon, Beth T’filah, Miramar, FL
“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the Lord, who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10
This is week four of the seven weeks of consolation. We have traveled a spiritual roller-coaster ride as we are reminded of our transgressions, as we mourn our dead, as we remember the bitter cup of chastisement, and at the end we see the steadfast love of the Lord to bring us back to him. After the process of chastisement and discipline, we find our forefathers returning to the Lord with emotions of shame, fear and reproach.
How could we turn our backs to the Lord?
Why did we attach ourselves to worthless idols?
Why did we spend our money for that which is not bread? (Isa 55:2)
The beautiful poetry of the Prophet Isaiah brings into sharp focus the consequences of removing ourselves from the Lord, and simultaneously the faithfulness of the Lord to redeem his people. In today’s reading we have a double citation of that most precious of virtues, Chesed, otherwise translated as steadfast love or loving kindness.
“In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love (chesed) I will have compassion on you,”
says the Lord, your Redeemer.
“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love (chesed) shall not depart from you . . .” Isaiah 54:8, 10
The term chesed speaks of the special form of love that our God has for his people. It is the love that can never be broken, an everlasting love. God’s chesed is the ultimate source of hope for the Jewish people, because it speaks of a love that, despite all wrongs, despite all rejection, despite all rebellion, is a love that will never die. In the midst of our shame, fear, and reproach, the Lord reaches down and reminds the Jewish people, “My steadfast love shall not depart from you.”
That is a comforting meditation.
And inside of that meditation is the microcosmos of our individual lives. It is the realization that Israel is not a nameless, faceless conglomerate, but rather a living and vibrant community of sons and daughters of God. It is the realization that his everlasting love shall not depart from me or from you at an individual level.
That is also a comforting meditation.
Our rebellion, our sin, our foolishness and folly, in whatever form it takes, it results in the separation of our hearts and minds from our father above, separation from our maker, our God. Oftentimes in our walk of faith, we find ourselves enduring self-inflicted chastisement, long after the Lord has forgiven us and seeks to restore us. Those emotions of shame, fear and reproach can linger on as we wrestle with the guilt of our own rebellion. But the Lord offers to us words of healing and comfort.
“With everlasting love, I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer.
It is also comforting to know that we are not unique in our struggle to forgive ourselves. Our forefathers also struggled with self-abasement. The cure to these struggles is to be immersed in the chesed of our Lord and our God. We must let his loving-kindness seep in and permeate every crack and dry crevice of our hearts. There in the place of complete immersion into his love, there we find redemption and healing and restoration. This is the Lord’s desire for us; in fact it is bound up in his very nature.
In the great epiphany on Mount Sinai, the Lord proclaimed himself to Moses this way:
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Exod 34:6)
Abounding in chesed. And this chesed is inseparable from the nature of God. Just like all the great eternal virtues of Torah, such as truth, righteousness, mercy, and justice, chesed is inseparable from the very nature of God. As we draw close to God, these eternal virtues become manifest in our life. In this way we know that God desires for us to experience his love.
This week our spirits were pierced once again with a time of national mourning as we commemorated the tragedy of 9/11. Twenty-three years have passed and the national wounds still ache. As we look out across the social landscape of America we wonder if God is chastising this nation or if we are in some stage of rebellion. Perhaps both at the same time. In like mind we look over the landscape of our Eretz Israel and wonder if God is chastising us or if we are in some stage of rebellion. Perhaps both at the same time.
One thing we can be sure of. The only hope for our people is to experience the chesed of our Lord and to walk in his redemption. The only place of healing and restoration for this day lies in the same place of healing and restoration for our forefathers as the prophet Isaiah wrote for us some 2500 years ago. To find healing, we all must experience God’s steadfast love.
I encourage us all to find comfort in the chesed of the Lord. I encourage us all to immerse ourselves in his love, and there find redemption for our broken hearts. I encourage us all to share God’s love to a hurting Israel and a hurting America. May his redemption come soon and in our days!
Shabbat Shalom to all!