Hosea is applealing to the people of Israel to return to Yahweh who is their great lover. Matthew is warning the disciples that they will have to face persecution in their work of spreading the Gospel. While, however Hosea and Matthew are writing of extreme situations in which most of us are unlikely to find ourselves, they do have something to say to us.

Hosea was making an impassioned appeal to his people to return to their covenant with their living God. He compared their infidelity to that of an adulterous spouse. Most of us may not have been flagrantly unfaithful to our heavenly Father but, nevertheless which of us do not have small infidelities, small disloyalties in our spiritual lives? Hosea is speaking quietly to us but he does have something to say to us all.

Because we have been baptized we have been commissioned to be disciples. Probably most of us will not end up in prison as a result fo our efforts to be disciples. That does not mean, though, that, even in the most ordinary of lives, Christians who try to be Christians will not suffer inconvenience or some real loss. At work we may have to take a stand against some dishonest practice or, at least, opt out of it. We may lose friends by refusing to indulge in gossip or discrimination against unpopular colleagues. Matthew has something to say to us, too, latter day disciples.