In that day,” says the Lord, “I shall gather her who has been broken, and I will welcome her who has been exiled, even those whom I have rejected.
Much like Christ’s “My God, My God! Why have your forsaken Me!?,” being rejected and exiled from Society, for no fault of your own, can cause you to feel rejected by God.
Children from broken homes know this experience all too well. And like a child rejected by father or mother, we eventually find joy elsewhere. We no longer expect or even hope for our parent to show up…even on those occasions when you’d normally expect them to make an appearance.
It all hurts tremendously. Some would say there’s no pain like it…no pain like feeling abandoned by a parent.
Yet the Lord wants us to experience that pain as if it were birth pangs! I know it sounds crazy…because some others would say there’s no pain like a mother in labor! And that’s perfect…because whether it’s being abandoned by a parent or a mother in labor: there’s no pain like it.
But there’s hope in the experience of labor pains! And a mother is willing to suffer those pains because she knows that those pains will bring forth something immensely beautiful – i.e. new life!
And that’s God’s point. If as St. Paul says, “all things work together for good for those who love the Lord…” we know that so long as we remain faithful till the end, the pain of being rejected and exiled from Society will give life to something immensely beautiful.
That’s comforting, especially in these times when appealing to good and civility will cause you to be rejected. Appealing to love and reconciliation can cause you to be exiled in today’s Society. And that’s a painful experience: to feel as though there’s no place for you unless you capitulate to the ugliness around you.
Yet the Lord has said: “I shall make her who has been broken into a remnant, and her that was rejected into a strong nation.”
So amidst the exile and rejection: stand firm, the Lord is coming!
