Day 25: Love...and Saturday Night Live?
March 14
by Beth Carvajal
Readings:
Reflection:
To watch the video after reading the scriptures, click HERE
I remember when Chris Farley was in his heyday (yes, I am starting a Lenten devotional talking about Chris Farley). There is a well-known Saturday Night Live skit called “The Gap Girls” where he is eating French fries with Adam Sandler and David Spade. He says, “I love these fries,” and then one of the other actors says, “If you love them so much, why don’t you marry them?” And they all laugh…and so do I, every time I watch it.
We all made the same joke when we were little. As English speakers, our use of the word “love” is extremely overused. Any fullness of the meaning of the word was doomed from an early age for each of us. We talk about loving baseball, roller coasters, or the beach. We also love our dogs, our spouses, and our children. In so doing, we’ve stripped the word love of its beauty, depth, and life. Actually loving each of those things, whether it is baseball or your spouse, means something really different, but we only have that one word.
In other languages, there are many more words for love, and that can help to tease out exactly what emotion is being expressed. In Hebrew, for instance, there are six words for love. In Greek, there are eight! In Hosea 6, our passage for today, we see the prophet use one of those six Hebrew words: hesed (חֶסֶד). Many Biblical words like mercy, compassion, love, grace, and faithfulness are related to hesed, but none of these completely encompass all of its nuance. Hesed is not just an emotion or feeling, but it involves an action on behalf of someone in need. It describes a sense of love and loyalty that inspires compassionate behavior toward another person. Certainly, having more words for love could help us clear up how Chris Farley felt about French fries, and these words also give us a clearer glimpse into the heart of God.
Hosea 6:3 says “Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know Him.” God desires our devotion. He desires more than just loyalty. And it is clear here that God desires more than tithes, offerings or expected behaviors. He desires to be known by us. Hosea implores the Israelites to pursue true and genuine worship, to love him and truly know him. It seems that Jesus’ example of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18, he is trying to show us what true worship is… or maybe show us more pointedly what it is not. True worship is not self-segregation; it is not showing contempt for other people, nor is it a show of “devotion” that is more for the people watching than it is for our own hearts.
In this Lenten season, let us ponder what love really means. Love (but I mean hesed) runs deeper than social expectations, fluctuating emotions, or empty rituals. God shows us this amazing hesed by sending us incredible hope of a restored relationship with Jesus. In the same way, hesed can find a
home in our hearts as we ponder what joy there is pressing on to know Him!
Song:
Again and Again, Jonathan Ogden
Content for wisdom and contentment at: urenuf.life
Lent 2026 | urenuf.life podcast on Spotify
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