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THE
THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT MARCH 14, 2004 “Repent
or Perish” Mr. David Wagner A decision had to be made. Judah knew that now. Judah was a
shepherd living in Nazareth during the time of Jesus' ministry. He was named after
his ancestor, the fourth son of Jacob. Judah had been tossing and turning one night. He finally got up
and went to his window. In the moonlit night he could see some of the other
houses in the village and the fields where his flocks of sheep were resting. A gentle breeze was blowing. It wasn't exactly fear or panic that was keeping him awake - it
was more a feeling of excitement, almost a giddiness. It wasn't the first
time that something Jesus said had kept him awake. It had been more than two years now that Judah had been
following Jesus. He was there that day in the synagogue when Jesus read from Isaiah and
claimed that in him prophecy was fulfilled. But, like all the others there
that day, Judah was outraged at the other things Jesus said and they all
drove him out. They wanted to kill him. But Jesus went on his way. And he was
right: he was not welcome in that town, not after this. A month or so later, Jesus was preaching in another village.
Judah happened to be there at the time. Curious to see how the people of this
town would react to Jesus, Judah came closer and listened. Unexpectedly, this
time something about what Jesus was saying seemed right to Judah. The more he listened to Jesus, the more he wanted to follow
him. Judah had heard Jesus preach many times since then. Over the
months and years he had come to know Jesus and to believe in him and trust
him. It was a complete reversal from the time when he first heard Jesus in
the synagogue. But earlier that particular day Jesus said something that was
truly stirring. Jesus had laid down an ultimatum: Repent or perish. Jesus' words in today's
Gospel reading from Luke may seem blunt, even harsh. Jesus' warning is
indeed sobering, but his words fit the nature of the case. Jesus wants to be
crystal clear about this. He is absolutely dead serious. Jesus is preaching to the crowds once again as he often did
throughout his ministry. On this occasion, in the passage we heard from Luke,
Jesus tells his listeners twice that unless they repent, they will perish.
Jesus calls attention to two incidents in which people were suddenly killed.
The first involves a report others bring him about when Pilate massacred some
people while they were sacrificing animals. The other is about when the tower
of Siloam fell and killed eighteen people. In both cases, Jesus tells his
listeners that those who lost their lives were no worse sinners than anyone
else, and that without repenting, all will likewise perish. One initially striking thing about Jesus' remarks is that He
affirms the universality of sin. He doesn't say, "For those of you who
are sinners, you will perish unless you repent". Jesus knows that all
are sinners. Some people have other ways of dealing with sin. One is simply to reject the whole idea and deny that there even
is such a thing as sin. Some people feel that the concept of sin doesn't
apply to them. Another way to deal with sin is to rationalize. Someone might
say, "well, yeah I admit I've done some things in my life that are
wrong. But I'm only human. And I'm pretty sure that God's a good sport.
Right? I mean, He knows that boys will be boys. And besides, I may have
committed a sin here and there, but at least I'm not as bad as my neighbor
Smith. Now there goes a first class sinner. The entire third floor of the
sinner's hall of fame is devoted to Smith. With people like Smith around, I'm
starting to look pretty good. These two ways of dealing with sin enjoy a high level of
popularity. They always have. But they are at odds with what Jesus said. In
both cases, sin is retained. We can deny the reality of sin all we want but
that doesn't change anything. Nor does it do any good to play the comparison
card. Jesus waved off that idea. Sin is the worst thing there is. St. Anselm taught that the
magnitude of the severity of sin is proportional to the magnitude of the
greatness of God because ultimately all sin is against God. Sin is
essentially the rejection of God and His commandments. Instead of
orienting and directing our lives toward God and His kingdom, we as fallen
human beings look upon ourselves as sovereign. We set ourselves up as judges
of right and wrong. Nearly all of what drives us, the need for recognition,
fulfillment and security lies outside of God and His kingdom. It is our sinful
disposition that accounts for individual acts of sin. The effect of sin is
that it separates us from God and others. If we keep it, we perish. To perish
is to be finally separated from God. This passage from Luke show us two more things: that God respects
human free will and that we cannot expect Him always to interfere with the
laws of nature. It was Pilate who massacred those people and mingled their
blood with the sacrificial blood. As much as the evil choices that people
make grieve God's heart, He will not compromise free will. A tyrant can come
and kill you even while you are at worship. A tower can fall on you. And God has indeed done miracles in the world and in people's
lives. But we cannot expect Him always to suspend the laws of nature
in order to prevent deadly accidents from happening. Death can come and take
us by surprise. God leaves it to us to prepare for such a possibility. A
decision has to be made. If we indeed make the decision to repent, what happens next?
What does it mean to repent? Repentance involves, but is not limited to, sacrifice on our
part. It begins with humble acceptance of the truth about ourselves as
sinners. While it is essential to leave behind sinful lifestyles or
practices, this alone does not amount to repentance. We should give up these
things, but that alone will not save our souls. Jesus saves our souls. There
is sacrifice in repentance, certainly. But there is much more than that. We
don't repent only to dodge a bullet, only to avoid perishing. True repentance
means simply that we come to Christ, receive forgiveness for our sins and
live in fellowship with God. In repentance, we hand over all our sins to
Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. We come to Him
to have our sins included with those that He takes away. Repentance is a complete reorientation of our lives. We might
think of repentance as a "Copernican Revolution" in the soul.
Copernicus was the 16th century astronomer who discovered that the earth, and
all the other planets revolve around the sun, and not the other way around as
had been believed previously. Likewise, in repentance God becomes the center
of our lives. The ego stands down and lets Christ be our center. Reversal is one of the themes in Luke's Gospel. In the Magnificat Mary tells how the Lord has brought down the
powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; John the Baptist quotes from Isaiah proclaiming that the
Lord will make the crooked straight and the rough smooth; Jesus tells how the first will be last and the last will
be first; the exalted will be humbled and the humble will be exalted.
Repentance involves a reversal of centrality in the soul, a reversal of
direction with respect to God. Repentance also involves a commitment. It begins with leaving
behind a sinful lifestyle, a life without God, a life directed elsewhere than
to God. But repentance must be sustained. Again and again we must repent for
individual acts of sin which we still commit daily. In the first letter of John we are told that if we say we have
no sin, the truth is not in us. We still need a savior. And so we must
continually repent. Repentance is how we first come to Christ and it is how we
continue to come before Him every day of our lives. Our liturgies reflect this reality. In the Baptismal Covenant
the Bishop asks the people if they will persevere in resting evil and
whenever they fall into sin repent and return to the Lord. It's not a matter
of if we fall into sin, it's whenever. In the Holy Eucharist, we confess that
we have sinned against God in thought, word and deed, and have failed to love
God and our neighbor. We say we are truly sorry and we humbly repent. We say
this before we approach the altar to receive the sacrament of Christ's body
and blood. Repentance is how we approach God in the first place and how we
continue to approach Him thereafter. And the amazing thing about this is that God most definitely
longs for us to approach him. In the second letter of Peter we're told that God is patient
with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but that everyone would come to
repentance. It was never part of God's design for us, never on His heart that
any of His beloved children should perish. He didn't create us for that. He
created us so that we might have fellowship with Him. God's patience toward us in coming to repentance is illustrated
in the parable in today's Gospel reading. The landowner wants to have the
fruitless fig tree cut down immediately. But the gardener instead wants to
give the fig tree more time to grow and bear fruit. Out of His mercy and
grace, God likewise gives us an opportunity to come to repentance. We repent of our sins in order to reestablish and maintain a
right relationship with God through Christ. St. Augustine said that our
hearts are restless - like Judah the shepherd - until we find rest in God.
Sin has separated us from God and has left within us an infinite void. We try
in vain to fill this void with anything and everything other than God. Mel
Gibson testified to this in his interview with Diane Sawyer recently. He said
that in his earlier years he had it all. He had money, women, fame and all
the rest of it. But it was never enough. And he had left God out of his life.
He only found peace when he came to repentance. Jesus had a decision to make. In the Garden of Gethsemane it
occurred to him that he could just walk away. Instead he made the conscious
decision to suffer for our sake. His decision made our returning to God a
real possibility. But He leaves the decision to do that very thing to us. Our relationship with Christ is begun by, characterized by and
sustained by our moment to moment decision to repent. By continuously
repenting of our sinfulness, we are able to approach God through Christ. In a posture of repentance, we come to Christ and receive the
forgiveness and renewal His sacrifice provides for us. Jesus laid down an ultimatum: either we repent, or we perish. God very much
desires that we make the decision to repent and return to Him. The alternative, perishing, is a thing we just couldn't live
with. Judah slept well after that night.
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