Turn and Repent

Here's a pop quiz. How do we respond to the following question:

Q: "Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?"

A: "I will, with God's help."

This question and answer is part of our baptismal covenant. Repentance is part of our way of life as Christians. Any time is a good time to repent, but during Lent, we focus particularly on repenting as we prepare our hearts for Easter.

The Gospel lesson and the Old Testament lesson are both, in their different ways, teachings on repentance. The Gospel lesson starts off on a different topic. Evidently Jesus is talking with someone who has made a comment about the latest Roman atrocity: Pilate's slaughter of some Galileans who were offering sacrifices in the temple at Jerusalem. Parenthetically, though there is no record of this particular incident, scholars don't doubt its historicity because Pilate had such a terrible human rights record, and had no respect whatsoever for the Jews' religion.

Anyway, apparently the person speaking said something like, "What about those Galileans who were murdered by Pilate's men-I wonder what they did to deserve that?" The theology that tragedies and disasters occur as punishment for sin still persists. A national religious figure recently suggested that the earthquake in Haiti was sent by God to punish the Haitians for their sins.

Jesus roundly rejects that theology and adroitly changes the topic from a focus on THOSE people's sins to OUR sins and OUR need for repentance. "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did."

That's a pretty clear message. Repent or perish. What does repentance actually mean? The Latin root of the word means to turn again. In other words, to turn away from sin and self-centeredness and turn toward God. Repentance is the English translation of the Greek word "metanoia," which means a change of heart or mind. I think of the Prodigal son, who has a moment of realizing how far he has fallen, and literally turns around to head back to the father.

The baptismal covenant captures this spiritual movement-the promise is not only to repent, but also to return to the Lord. At its root, sin is alienation or separation from God. Bad action flows from that alienation. Adam and Eve committed the first sin of disobedience. But presumeably, they could have repented and returned to the Lord right then. Instead, they refused to accept responsibility for their actions. They blamed each other and the snake. Thus, they let the alienation from God widen. Then they were caught in a downward spiral-more and more evil followed as they refused to repent or return to God.

I think it is impossible for human beings not to sin. Notice that the baptismal covenant does not say, "if you sin, repent and return to the Lord." It says, "whenever you sin, repent and return to the Lord." In a sense the story of Adam and Eve conveys this inevitability. How could God tell two curious and willful creatures not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and expect them to obey?

The doctrine of original sin is very unpopular now because it has been so misused to manipulate people through guilt and fear. But knowing my own rebelliousness and observing that same rebelliousness in my children from their earliest days, I think there is some merit to the idea that we are born rebellious and willful.

But the part that is not inevitable is the downward spiral-the widening gulf between God and us as a result of our sin. It is God's nature to forgive. God's mercy is infinite. All we have to do is turn back toward God. All we have to do is shift our focus from ourselves-our wants, our desires, our will-to God and God's abundant mercy and love. St. Ignatius says that God does not show us our sin in order to shame us, but in order to give us grace. The focus on repentance during Lent is not for the sake of wallowing in guilt, but for the sake of receiving God's forgiveness and love on a deeper level.

Recently, I had a wonderful conversation with my mother about this. As most of you know, she is losing her memory and is confined to a wheelchair because of a stroke in October. But somehow, in the midst of physical deterioration, she has regained her faith. She was not on speaking terms with God for many years because she was angry and sad about some of the events of her life.

But God waited patiently for her to return, prodding her gently now and then. And she finally did. Here's what she said about it: "I realize that God would never, ever do anything to hurt us. I don't have to understand everything to have faith. When I went back to God, a great burden was lifted from me. God didn't even ask me to explain myself. I just said, 'I'm back,' and that was it.

So much for judgment and punishment. Just like the prodigal son, she was greeted with joy and love and acceptance. But what does Jesus mean when he says that we need to repent or perish? I think he is pointing to the fundamental truth that being in relationship with God leads to life, while separation from God is soul-destroying or deadly. God is the source of all life-God is life itself. To be separated from God is to be separated from the life force. When we are estranged from God, we are estranged from ourselves and other people as well. Our actions have consequences, not because God condemns us but because we condemn ourselves to the downward spiral of sin, alienation and despair.

Part of repentance is the simple act of opening our eyes to the presence of God all around us. In the Old Testament lesson, we read that Moses turned aside to see the bush that burned and was not consumed. There is that idea of turning toward God again. The background of this story is that Moses was in Midian because he had fled Egypt after getting so angry about the treatment of his fellow Israelites that he murdered an Egyptian overseer. He wound up in Midian and married the daughter of a Midianite priest and became a shepherd for his father-in-law's sheep. Moses' repentance and his restoration to relationship with God took place at this moment, when he turned and looked at the bush. It was only when Moses had focused his attention on the bush that he heard God's voice calling his name, and learned that God had a mission for him.

In the introduction to his book, Dirt, the Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, William Bryant Logan suggests that maybe the bush was burning all along, but Moses was suddenly able to see it as it really was. The burning, he suggests, is the life force that flows through all living things, miraculously converting elements into heat and movement and growth.

God is all around us, creating and renewing all things continuously. But God does not compel us to notice or draw near or even be in relationship with God. Instead, God waits in hope, and calls out to us in longing, and watches for the moment when we will turn aside to see God. God waits for us to return so that God can welcome us with open arms, with joy and celebration. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is also the God of each of us.

Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? Will you turn aside to see the Divine Flame in all things, the flame that burns and does not consume, the light that shines and cannot be extinguished?