Thank you for sharing about this bible text which helped me very much as I had never really thought about it before. There were many things in your sharing that helped me but especially to think about what is meant by, "They shall all know me from the least to the greatest," because I realised that I didn't know what this meant at all and so I went away wondering about it. A few minutes later, it came to me that God is expressing his hope and longing that, "They shall all know me from the least to the greatest," and that it wounds him when we reject him and go away from him because he loves us so much. He longs for us to return and he is so wounded by our rejection that he died on the Cross to make it possible for us to return. It also made me think of the Gospel text where Jesus says, "There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance." (Luke 15:7). I never used to believe this! It makes me laugh now to think that I once believed that Jesus didn't really mean it, he just said it to cheer us up so that we wouldn't be so downhearted when we commit sin! Later on something made me realise that he did really mean it and I see it now as part of God's longing for us to return that is so great, he rejoices more when we return to him than if we'd never strayed. This is what Jesus told us in the parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32). Also, I think that it shows how much God respects each person that he leaves us free to reject him and doesn't force us to stay or to return. He leaves this choice to us. He chooses to suffer this longing rather than give up respect for our freedom to force us. I was also struck by the word "know", "They shall all know me", and it made me thing of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9). In Eden the people were never separated from God by sin, not until they ate from that tree and then they knew evil as well as good. God says through Jeremiah that he will forgive their iniquity and then they will "know" him (Jeremiah 31:34) so I thought that perhaps this expresses God's longing for a restoration of Eden when people knew only good and were in perfect communion with him all the time. This intrigued me so I looked up both these words in Hebrew, the original language of the text, and found out that they have the same root (ידע) so perhaps it is the same kind of knowledge that is spoken about in both texts. "I will forgive their sin and remember their iniquity no more." (Jeremiah 31:34). It struck me that if someone sins against me and causes me to suffer and then they say sorry and don't do it again, it is good not only to forgive but also to forget. This is because to remember a sin that someone committed against me is also to remember the suffering that it caused. So if I am remembering suffering then I am suffering again for no reason. And why suffer for no reason?! This has never happened to me but I think that in the situation where someone sins against me, says sorry and I forgive them, it would cause me even more suffering if the person wouldn't accept my forgiveness and kept asking over and over again. This is because to keep asking is would be to keep reminding me of suffering. It would be better if we could both just forget about it and move on. Then we'd both be happy! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this bible text. It's really been such a good experience thinking about it. I never stop being amazed at what I find in God's word that I never saw before!
Wow! Thank you for your reflection! We are so happy to hear everything you found out in connection with this text. Have a blessed Holy Week and many greetings from Taizé!
Thank you for sharing about this bible text which helped me very much as I had never really thought about it before. There were many things in your sharing that helped me but especially to think about what is meant by, "They shall all know me from the least to the greatest," because I realised that I didn't know what this meant at all and so I went away wondering about it.
A few minutes later, it came to me that God is expressing his hope and longing that, "They shall all know me from the least to the greatest," and that it wounds him when we reject him and go away from him because he loves us so much. He longs for us to return and he is so wounded by our rejection that he died on the Cross to make it possible for us to return. It also made me think of the Gospel text where Jesus says, "There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance." (Luke 15:7). I never used to believe this! It makes me laugh now to think that I once believed that Jesus didn't really mean it, he just said it to cheer us up so that we wouldn't be so downhearted when we commit sin! Later on something made me realise that he did really mean it and I see it now as part of God's longing for us to return that is so great, he rejoices more when we return to him than if we'd never strayed. This is what Jesus told us in the parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32). Also, I think that it shows how much God respects each person that he leaves us free to reject him and doesn't force us to stay or to return. He leaves this choice to us. He chooses to suffer this longing rather than give up respect for our freedom to force us.
I was also struck by the word "know", "They shall all know me", and it made me thing of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9). In Eden the people were never separated from God by sin, not until they ate from that tree and then they knew evil as well as good. God says through Jeremiah that he will forgive their iniquity and then they will "know" him (Jeremiah 31:34) so I thought that perhaps this expresses God's longing for a restoration of Eden when people knew only good and were in perfect communion with him all the time. This intrigued me so I looked up both these words in Hebrew, the original language of the text, and found out that they have the same root (ידע) so perhaps it is the same kind of knowledge that is spoken about in both texts.
"I will forgive their sin and remember their iniquity no more." (Jeremiah 31:34). It struck me that if someone sins against me and causes me to suffer and then they say sorry and don't do it again, it is good not only to forgive but also to forget. This is because to remember a sin that someone committed against me is also to remember the suffering that it caused. So if I am remembering suffering then I am suffering again for no reason. And why suffer for no reason?! This has never happened to me but I think that in the situation where someone sins against me, says sorry and I forgive them, it would cause me even more suffering if the person wouldn't accept my forgiveness and kept asking over and over again. This is because to keep asking is would be to keep reminding me of suffering. It would be better if we could both just forget about it and move on. Then we'd both be happy!
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this bible text. It's really been such a good experience thinking about it. I never stop being amazed at what I find in God's word that I never saw before!
Wow! Thank you for your reflection! We are so happy to hear everything you found out in connection with this text. Have a blessed Holy Week and many greetings from Taizé!
@@taize Thank you! What a nice comment! I hope you have a blessed Holy Week too! :-)