Do you find, as I do, that the closer we get to God, the more we recognize how flawed we are? Approaching God reveals the extent of our sins. No matter how close we come to God, there is always room for repentance.
Today’s lectionary passages address fasting and repentance: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031225.cfm.
These practices are human efforts to restore our relationship with God. They are spiritual disciplines, among others, that represent our response to God’s righteousness, justice, and grace.
Reading 1 – Jonah 3:1-10
Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.
The king of Nineveh proclaimed a fast and reasoned: “Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish” (Jonah 3:4, 5, 9).
Fasting and repentance involve a genuine desire to turn to God and follow His direction for life. When we turn to God, He will turn to us, forgive our sins, and restore what we have broken.
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it (Jonah 3:10).
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19
Repentance must touch the heart, the seat of human thought and decision-making.
You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:6, 10, 12)
Forgiveness is far more than simply wiping the slate clean, so we can have a fresh beginning. Forgiveness involves:
- Having God’s wisdom in our inner selves.
- Having God’s right S/spirit within us.
Note, Gordon Fee spells “spirit, “S/spirit.” He does so to emphasize that our human spirit cooperates with God’s Spirit.
- Correct behavior is sustained by a willing S/spirit.
True repentance occurs when our thoughts and decisions are submitted to the direction of God’s Spirit. God asks this of us because He knows this is the way to the best life possible.
Verse Before the Gospel – Joel 2:12-13
Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,
and relenting from punishment. (Joel 2:12-13)
Gospel – Luke 11:29-32
When the Gospels refer to “this generation,” they refer to humans who have adopted values from the surrounding culture.
In response to Jonah’s preaching, the people of Nineveh turned from accepted cultural norms and embraced God’s way of life. In response to Jesus, the people remained true to their culture and rejected Jesus’ message.
The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and indeed, something greater than Jonah is here! (Luke 11:32).
In writing about Jeremiah, the Hebrew scholar, Abraham Heschel, noted: “Jeremiah could deliver God’s word, but he couldn’t change the hearts of the people. Only God could do that.”
As we pray today, let’s ask God to change our hearts and the hearts of the people of our generation.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discuss the time Isaac spent among the Philistines in Genesis 26.
Real Voices 