Return, rebellious children…for I am your Master. God’s plea with Israel (and indirectly with humanity) has always been consistent: “ turn away from your evil ways and come back to me; return to me and let me shepherd you for I know all your needs.” For God knows that the longer Israel stays estranged from the Lord, the more difficult it becomes for the Lord to shepherd her. The Lord promises Israel a new beginning, a new relationship. It will be a new relationship not externally represented with the ark or anything like it. The Lord himself will be enthroned in Jerusalem and will thus be present to Israel. Moreover, the statutes of the Lord will be within the people’s reach, and Israel will lead the nations in walking rightly with the Lord (cf. Jeremiah 3:17). Jerusalem will become the Lord’s throne because of its inhabitants: they will be a people who walk with God.
The Lord God is a gatherer and a redeemer (Responsorial Psalm). The Lord is never happy or contented when our sinful actions keep us away from him and from our brothers and sisters. As a redeemer, the Lord will do whatever it takes to bring the scattered children back “home,” for the Lord takes no pleasure in the death of a sinner (cf. Ezekiel 33:11). The Lord deals with us thus because the Lord’s name is mercy.