March 20 – Repent

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he addresses Church members who are passing judgment on others. He tells them when they judge others they condemn themselves as well, because they are no different, no better. He feels that they, in judging others, are setting themselves apart.

Then Paul zeros right in on the problem: “Do you despise the riches of God’s kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4) By your hard hearts, he adds, you are storing up wrath for yourself.

He preaches a God of grace and mercy. Now, from a cursory read of the scriptures, it might not be easy to see, but truly, God is overflowing with forgiveness, compassion, and grace. The question is, are we?

The story of Jonah addresses this. God sends Jonah to the city of Nineveh to warn them. They must repent of their wickedness or the city will be destroyed. Jonah doesn’t want to go. That, in itself, is not uncommon among those called to prophesy. But Jonah actually turns in the opposite direction and hauls off away from Nineveh.

All kinds of things happen then because he is trying to thwart the will of God, including that well-known scene where he gets swallowed by a big fish. Eventually, Jonah is persuaded to go to do what he should have done in the beginning.

He is not the full-hearted, passionate prophet God might have liked, but he does the job. He walks through the city, makes his one-sentence warning, and that’s it. Jonah doesn’t want to think about Nineveh anymore. In fact, he despises Nineveh.

The city of Nineveh is in the kingdom of Assyria – archenemy of Israel. Assyria’s brutality is legendary in the region. Jonah has no love toward the people of Nineveh.

He is surprised when they take his warning seriously and repent. And they go all the way – sackcloth and ashes, fasting and prayer. So, Nineveh repents. And God relents.

And Jonah is pissed off. How dare they repent. How dare God forgive them. Jonah cannot forgive God for forgiving Ninevah.

Do you know any Jonahs?

Leading a Bible study one evening I turned to the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke. We read through it together. Then a woman looked up at me and said, “I hate this story. It’s just not fair.” And all those sitting at the table with her nodded in agreement.

I discovered that everyone there felt the same way. They all identified closely with the older son, the dutiful one who stayed behind and worked on the farm. The father’s actions seemed offensive to them, and the very idea that God would be like that father seemed wrong.

It made me wonder if I have been keeping a personal distance from the story so I don’t have to deal with the crux of the problem, which is this: We might not actually believe in repentance.

It’s like Paul said, if we don’t acknowledge that we need to repent, then we are also unlikely to feel happy about anyone else’s repentance. And we will certainly disapprove of God’s lavish forgiveness. It just doesn’t seem wise; it’s not prudent.

It seems to me that everyone – even people without faith – endorse the God of forgiveness in a theoretical way. God is love, God forgives and accepts – on an abstract level. But how many of us also believe in the forgiveness of those people we know who have done real harm? How many still agree about forgiveness when it comes to God forgiving someone who has hurt them?

Everyone likes the idea of grace, but the church is called to a higher demand: not just the warm and fuzzy abstract forgiveness, but the real, particular forgiveness of real, particular sins.

To pray for your enemies. And to rejoice when one bad guy repents – this is where Christ leads us. We must repent – and follow.