"The Practice of Repentance" - Sermon, March 24, 2019
Community UMC, Quincy
“The Practice of Repentance”
Rev. Andrew Davis
March 24, 2019
Luke 13: 1-9
Now I admit that I’m not one who likes to admit when I’m wrong about something. I remember back as a child having to answer something I didn’t want to answer whenever I did something wrong because I knew it would get me in trouble, maybe even grounded. While telling the truth and confessing my wrongdoing might have gotten me in trouble in the short-run of things, it kept my parents or teachers’ faith in me in the long-run of things, which is an important lesson. When it comes to admitting wrong or having to fess up, it can be very painful to confess any wrongdoings, whether it’s before our family, our teachers, our bosses, our preachers, or even God.
Repentance is one of those words that has a lot of baggage, as we oftentimes associate it with judgment, self-righteousness, the preachers who scream ‘hellfire and damnation’ on the street corner, etc.. Yet as much baggage as the word ‘repent’ carries, it’s a necessary practice we need to do as followers of Christ as we try to live and love like Jesus did. As we just heard in Luke 13: 1-9, Jesus is pretty adamant about repentance, so much that he says it in verses 3 and 5. Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem, a place of power and commerce; the place where Jesus will triumphantly enter, only to have the crowd turn on him, then face his arrest, execution, and death. Yet, as Jesus and his disciples make their way towards Jerusalem, they stop and teach along the way while continuing to face great crowds.
All throughout his teaching, Jesus uses parables and hyperbole, which are exaggerated statements to make his point. As someone from the crowd mentions the Galileans that Pilate had killed, along with those killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed, Jesus has a rather pointed message: repent, or die like they did. Jesus is basically saying that we are all equally sinners who need to practice repentance and if we don’t repent our sins or wrongdoings, we will end up dying a harsh death. Such passages don’t exactly leave us with a good feeling or feeling too hopeful, except there is a lot more down below the surface as uncomfortable as this may be.
Instead of the hymn “softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling” this passage is more like “loudly and pointedly, Jesus is shouting.”[i]Some in the crowd who tell Jesus about the Galileans or those killed by the collapse of the Tower of Siloam believe that those people’s sin caused their deaths, which stems from the dominant worldview at that time (for instance, we see this in John 9, where the religious authorities insist a blind man’s family sinned that caused him to be blind). Instead, Jesu offers a rebuke in saying no, everyone sins and everyone will die if they don’t repent; those who died did not sin any more than the other.
To get a better understanding of what’s happening, our Gospel lesson this morning is an apocalyptic writing in Luke that talks about the end times, God’s judgment, and Christ’s second coming, which begins in Luke 12, which I’ll encourage you to read when you get home this afternoon. As New Testament scholar Ronald Allen explains,
For apocalyptic theologians, the present (old) age is so broken that God must replace it with a new age (the Realm of God) in order to be faithful to God’s promises. Apocalyptic thinkers expect God to end the old and begin the new with a dramatic apocalypse. Writers in the Jesus tradition modify this scheme by seeing Jesus announcing the coming of the Realm and realizing it in a partial way until God will finally and fully manifest it at the second coming.[ii]
Even if we are still waiting for the new age to come, the need to practice repentance is amplified here, as we could even see the present age as broken and awaiting God to replace it with a new age.
To look at another perspective of repentance, other translations have Jesus basically saying in verses 3 and 5 in the Common English Bible translation to “change your hearts and lives” or in The Message saying “unless you turn to God” as another way of looking at repentance. It’s not so much about hellfire and damnation, but instead more about changing our hearts, changing our lives, and turning our lives back to God. We talked about it during another preparation period, the season of Advent when we encountered John the Baptist exhorting the crowds to repent as he prepared the way for Jesus’ ministry. At the same time, it doesn’t mean that the idea of repentance is any less challenging or uncomfortable, though. Repentance is a heavy word because
Some Christians think of repentance as feeling sorry for one’s personal sin.
While such perception can be a part of repentance, in the Bible repentance is much larger and often contains a corporate element. Indeed, repentance refers to individuals and communities turning away from things that violate God’s purposes (such as idolatry, injustice, and exploitation) and turning towards faithful living centered in worship of the most-high God and in the practice of justice, mutual commitment, and other values of living in covenant.
By using John the Baptist to introduce the ministry of Jesus, Luke signals that repentance is an essential step in the journey of the community towards the Realm of God.[iii]
In the second part of our text this morning in verses 6-9, Jesus is speaking in a parable of a fig tree that hasn’t produced any fruit, which is key to how we understand that we get multiple opportunities to repent, change our hearts, and turn our lives to God. In the parable of the fig tree in verses 6-9, the gardener pleads with the person who intends to cut the fig tree down to give it another chance to bear fruit and that if it doesn’t in a year, it can be cut down. As much as we may screw up, hurt someone’s feelings or upset someone from something we said or posted on social media, forgot to do something or failed to follow through, or anything that may have caused harm, or may have turned us away from God, we have an opportunity to make it right. Just like the fig tree getting another chance to produce fruit, we get another chance with God and get another chance to practice repentance and change our hearts. That’s God’s grace at work.
Repentance is a part of our salvation, or the way that we are saved by God and come to live fully as Christ. We need to continually practice repentance of the places we fall short, not just one time. In his sermon, “In Working Out Our Own Salvation,” John Wesley says that
Salvation is carried on by convincing grace, usually in Scripture termed repentance; which brings a larger measure of self-knowledge, and a farther deliverance from the heart of stone. Afterwards we experience the proper Christian salvation; whereby, ‘through grace,’ we ‘are saved by faith;’ consisting of those two grand branches, justification and sanctification.
By justification we are saved from the guilt of sin, and restored to the favor of God; by sanctification we are saved from the power and root of sin, and restored to the image of God. All experience, as well as Scripture, shows this salvation to be both instantaneous and gradual. It begins the moment we are justified, in the holy, humble, gentle, patient love of God and [humankind].
It gradually increases from that moment, as ‘a grain of mustard-seed, which, at first, is the least of all seeds,’ but afterwards puts forth large branches, and becomes a great tree; till, in another instant, the heart is cleansed, from all sin, and filled with pure love to God and man. But even that love increases more and more, till we ‘grow up in all things into him that is our Head;’ till we attain the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.’[iv]
It is through the continual practice of repentance that we are liberated from sin and achieve the mind of Christ through God’s grace and sanctification, which we will be discussing a little more in-depth on Wednesday afternoon at our Lenten Discussion. Repentance can turn our hearts from stone to something like what happened when Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch’s heart turned three sizes big on Christmas morning when he heard the Who’s singing in The Grinch Steals Christmas.
Repentance is one of the spiritual practices that is amplified during the season of Lent as we prepare for Easter, since Lent is the time of looking inside of us and inside of our souls, examining ourselves from the inside out. As Jesus points out in chapter 13, none of these people died because they were any worse sinners, which is why we need to practice repentance, because we never know what tomorrow brings. Think about this, what would happen if you only had a year to live, or a short time to make up for any wrongs, or opportunities missed?[v] It’s something I think about on a daily basis and like I end my day with a daily examen from the Franciscan tradition, I encourage all of you to give it a try as you look back at your day. Think about places where you saw God and think about places you fell short. And ask God for forgiveness as you work towards changing your heart, changing your life, and return to God. The good news is that like the fruitless fig tree, we too are given another chance by God and we are given another day to change our hearts, even when it may be challenging to do. Just as repentance is important, along with forgiveness that Pastor Ray talked about last week, repentance can help us towards leading to reconciliation and restored relationships. As we continue our Lenten journey, let us continue practicing fighting temptations, forgiveness, and repentance as we put our trust in God and continue following Jesus each step of the way.
IN the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, let the Church Say, AMEN!!
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