Christ, who led his people with cords of love, breathed through an umbilical cord. Christ, who led his people with bonds of love, was bound to be bound to be lashed by a nine-tailed cord. Christ who called his people out of Egypt became a child hiding in Egypt himself. He who couldn’t give us up willingly gave himself for us.

God as Parent

This week during my Sabbath, as I spent time studying Hosea 11, I found myself blown away by the reality that the One who was our Divine Parent became a human child on our behalf.

Listen to the way God describes his care for his people whom he pictures as a child:

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more they were called, the more they went away, they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them…. How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel?” (Hosea 11: 1–4; 8a).

This passage reads like a loving parent looking with nostalgia over his early years with his beloved child. God fondly remembers teaching his people to walk and lifting them up to hold them close to him. He expresses the agony of the waywardness of his child. This, in and of itself, should astound us. The God of the universe identifying himself as our doted and devoted parent. But the Scriptures go even further: God not only speaks tenderly to us (and of us) as a Parent to a child, but he became a child on our behalf.

God as Child

It blew me away to think of Hosea 11 in light of the birth narratives of Jesus. Christ who led us with cords of love was literally dependent upon Mary’s umbilical cord. He stepped into the incredible human reproductive system which was his doing. He who leads stars and lassoes the solar system was led by a human mother’s hands as a toddler. Later, his love for us would lead him on the way to Calvary where he would be beaten by cords of hatred held by the hands of those he came to save.

If this gospel story does not shock us and cause us to tremble, we aren’t hearing it correctly. I know I need to look a little longer and listen a little closer to this Christ and his cords.

The Cords of Christ

He who led His people with cords of love,
Breathing through the cord His creation,
He who lifted Israel in his arms as a child,
Lifted as babe and again as oblation.

He who led His people with bonds of love,
Bound as a babe in swaddling clothes. 
He who lifted the yoke from their jaw,
Willingly lifted for the sins we chose.

He who out of Egypt called His son
Became a Son called from Egypt himself,
Bound and buried in a borrowed tomb,
Though He deserved a Pharaoh’s wealth. 

He who led us His people with cords of love,
Led by the hand of a human mother.
His cords of love were bound about Him
As He willingly chose the death of another.

He who bent down to feed His flock
Had a mother bend down to feed Him.
He who stretched out the skies,
Stretched on a cross for our freedom.

He who couldn’t give up the sons of Joseph
Gave himself up as Joseph’s son.
He who couldn’t surrender Israel
Surrendered until death was done.