April 22nd:
Repent and Forgive April 22, 2012 Call: Acts 3: 12-19 Text: Luke 24: 36b - 48 Read: W&S #33 Repent and Forgive If you are like me, Then you will have to admit that the direction to "Repent" can be well... disconcerting even discomforting As Christians, we may then find that discomfort Discomforting in and of itself For not one of us is without sin Not one of us can say he/or she has never let God down. And that is what sin is: letting God down; Not one of us can claim perfection. Therefore, it seems like we should be more comfortable Perhaps even embracing - Of the concept of repentance. For it leads to needed forgiveness. But we are not. And I think that our problem comes Not from the true concept of repenting But from the distorted concept that way too many people profess. I believe that we find the word discomforting because too often it is couched in terms of a threatening God When I hear "Repent!" I think of Jonathan Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" Which I read some 50 years ago - and never forgot. Edwards presents the image of God dangling us by a thread directly over the pit of Hell. I picture that and it causes me to imagine God saying, "Repent, Jim! Repent, Jim or I'll cut this thread And I'll allow you to fall into the fire and brimstone of the pit below. What will it be, Jim? What will it be?" I don't like that picture. I don't like that picture because it scares me - and scares me a great deal! More importantly, though, I don't like that picture because I have a hard time reconciling that picture With the Good shepherd With the one who constantly teaches of love With the one who loved me enough that he went to the cross In short, I have a hard time reconciling the picture Edwards paints With the picture that Christ paints. and With the loving and merciful God about whom Christ taught The God revealed to us through that same Jesus Christ. And thus, although I would defend God's right to dangle me like that I cannot believe that that's the way God tries to bring us into a correct and closer relationship. I cannot accept that the God whom I serve is a God of punishment a God of retribution a God of vengeance My understanding of God Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ Is of a God who prefers love to punishment reconciliation to vengeance and retribution and a God who has chosen to sacrifice what God loves most God's own son to avoid cutting Jonathan Edwards' thread and allowing us to fall into the pit. That does not mean that God doesn't care what we do Of course, God cares That does not mean that God doesn't expect things from us Of course, God does That does not mean that God is weak or indifferent. Of course God isn't But I believe that God's approach to calling us closer is one of Demonstrating God' s love not God's anger Demonstrating God's mercy not God's thirst for retribution Demonstrating God's kindness not God's awesome power This is clear from Christ's statements to the disciples on Easter night Both in John's version which we heard last week And in Luke's version which I share now [24: 36b - 48] Look at the approach Jesus took - the very night of his resurrection The first thing he said was "Peace be with you." He came to them not angry about the cross and the nails not to upbraid them for fleeing, denying, and disbelieving But rather to share his peace and his love. Then he asked them "Why are you frightened?" And explained he was not a ghost - even eating to convince them. He did not want them terrified. He did not want them frightened He did not want them worried, apprehensive or nervous He wanted them reassured and comforted by the Good News After calming them down, He explained what had happened and why He explained that everything written about him In the law of Moses In the prophets In the psalms had to be fulfilled. Then at last he assures them that it was written That the Messiah was to suffer and was to rise on the third day And (and here we get to the words of our title) That repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed. Proclaimed by them! And now today by us. I can't help but think that if Luke was of the Jonathan Edwards' school, he would have written it differently Leaving out the reassurances with which Christ began Then explaining that he had risen on the third day to show God's power Not to demonstrate God's love and comfort And emphasizing that that power would be used against them If they didn't repent And that they were to go out and threaten people with what would happen If they didn't repent. When I read this Easter night passage from Luke's gospel I cannot see repentance as a demand or repentance as a threat When I read it, I see instead that repentance is an invitation An invited response coupled with forgiveness - not with the threat of punishment. I hear Christ telling the disciples to go out and proclaim his story I hear Christ telling them to let the people know That all God wants is a sincere apology and an effort to change And That God is prepared to - even desirous of - forgive them. When a child misbehaves or lets a parent down The parent wants the child to recognize his/her error The parent wants the child to understand why it was wrong The parent wants the child to learn not to do it again. The parent wants to continue a loving relationship with the child. That's what God wants from us as well. Edwards would have us believe that God as parent would say to us as disobeying or disappointing children "I am the boss. You have foolishly disobeyed me. If you ever do it again I'll punish you so hard that you'll feel it for eternity." I hear Christ, however, telling us that God is actually saying to us "I love you so much I have gone to extremes to do for you Beyond anything I had to do How hurt I am that you disobeyed me. Apologize and I will forgive you In both cases we respond, "I'm sorry" and "I won't do it again." But which apology and profession of future good behavior is more meaningful: "I'm sorry" and "I won't do it again. Don't punish me!" Or "I'm sorry" and "I won't do it again." "You have been so good to me and I have let you down?" Which parent should be able to put the disobedience behind and resume a loving, trusting relationship with the child? Which God/child relationship is transformed The one where the child responds out of fear? or The one where the child responds out of love and gratitude. The answers to all three questions are obvious. It makes sense, doesn't it? Just think of our own relationships. I feel much worse when I am hurt by people whom I love Than if I am hurt by a stranger In fact, the more I love them, the deeper the hurt All I want is an apology, a promise that they will try to do better, And a resumption of a loving relationship. Isn't that what God - whose capacity for love is even greater than ours - Wants as well? Isn't that why we have the cross and a gentle reassuring charge To proclaim repentance and forgiveness? With all that in mind, we can and we must understand that Repentance is a response to what God has already done for us Not an action designed to prevent what we fear God might do to us We repent because we are grateful for the love God has given to us Not because we are frightened by possible future punishment. Looked at this way, the word "Repent" Becomes a comforting word Rather than a discomforting one.