Lenten Repentance

The first command of Jesus, in the first chapter of the first Gospel written was “Repent, and believe in the Good News.” This imperative to “change one’s mind” (metanoia) or “change one’s thinking” is especially necessary for any who would consider living God’s Kingdom values of Agape Love and Grace that Jesus taught and modeled in His ministry, according to the Gospels. We must change our way of thinking in order to be people of Agape Love and Grace, for then we will be able to change our way of living Agape Love and Grace. But of what must we repent? I believe that Greed, Lust for Power and Self-Indulgence are preclusive of living the Good News of Jesus in the world. Agape Love is active commitment on behalf of the other, and these “values” are centered in self and not “other”. If these are core values in one’s life, then living Agape Love will be difficult at best. Despite our best efforts, we cannot truly be duplicitous in our values and faithful to Jesus’ teachings and examples of Agape Love. I believe that Apathy, Complacency and Hatred are also preclusive of living Jesus’ Good News in the world. Apathy, being the opposite of loving, does not allow for concern or commitment on behalf of the other. Complacency, being focused on one’s own satisfactory situation in life, does not often allow for the dissatisfaction necessary in order for us to be actively committed to another’s plight in life. Hatred leads one to anything but active commitment on behalf of the other, and may indeed lead to our commitment to actively hurt the other. Agape Love is rendered impossible from any of those orientations to the world. If we learn anything from the Gospels regarding Jesus’ teachings and examples around Agape Love, we learn that we must think differently in order to live it. The Rich Fool of Luke 12:13-21 faced grave consequences for living his greed in utter complacency. The Rich Young Man of Luke 18:18-30 willingly chose to hold onto his established value for greed and the consequent sadness, rather than repent, live Kingdom Values and ultimately be happy. The unnamed rich man of Luke 16:19-31 was slow to learn even while facing the fruits of his apathetic greed and self-indulgence. But the lesson of repentance in Zacchaeus’ story was different, as we find it in Luke 19:1-10. Zacchaeus changed his thinking and embraced a different value than the greed, power lust and self-indulgence he once held as his core values. His encounter with Jesus replaced the complacency of his station in life with Agape Love, actively lived in the lives of those who were once exploited in order for him to have what he had. Zacchaeus was transformed. And we find that the greed and hatred of the robbers, apathy and/or complacency of the priest and Levite are countered by the Agape Love of the “Good” Samaritan in Jesus’ teaching of Luke 10:25-37, changing the life of the stranger/enemy who was healed, and perhaps the life of the Samaritan and of listeners to the story. Repentance leads to transformation. When we embrace the Kingdom Values of the Good News of Jesus, we necessarily change how we think about things in this part of the Kingdom and how we live in it. Then the Good News of Agape Love and Grace come out from within us and into the world around us, also then transforming other individuals and whole communities. When we think differently than the normalized ways of greed, lust for power and self-indulgence, it makes us better within and has a positive effect on the world around us. When we leave apathy, complacency and hatred behind us in order to live active commitment on behalf of the other, we find within us a deep, abiding love for others that transforms us and them. The poverty, hunger, violence, injustice, inequity, inequality, discrimination and exploitation that are now commonplace in the world, could be things of a dark past if we could bring ourselves to shed our values for wealth, power and self-indulgence, leave behind our complacency, apathy and hatred and live the Kingdom Values Jesus taught and modeled of Agape Love and Grace. A world of well-being, peace, justice, equitable treatment and equality, adequate sustenance, mutual respect, acceptance and benefit is possible with different thinking. It starts with one heart and mind at a time. As you encounter Jesus this Lenten season, consider how repentance (changing your thinking) may bring about transformation that starts from within you and is manifested in the world around you. Pastor Jamie