20240221 SIGN OF REPENTANCE IS TO BELIEVE
21 February 2024, Wednesday, 1st Week of Lent
First reading | Jonah 3:1-10 © |
The Ninevites repent, and God spares them
The word of the Lord was addressed to Jonah: ‘Up!’ he said ‘Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach to them as I told you to.’ Jonah set out and went to Nineveh in obedience to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was a city great beyond compare: it took three days to cross it. Jonah went on into the city, making a day’s journey. He preached in these words, ‘Only forty days more and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.’ And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. The news reached the king of Nineveh, who rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes. A proclamation was then promulgated throughout Nineveh, by decree of the king and his ministers, as follows: ‘Men and beasts, herds and flocks, are to taste nothing; they must not eat, they must not drink water. All are to put on sackcloth and call on God with all their might; and let everyone renounce his evil behaviour and the wicked things he has done. Who knows if God will not change his mind and relent, if he will not renounce his burning wrath, so that we do not perish?’ God saw their efforts to renounce their evil behaviour, and God relented: he did not inflict on them the disaster which he had threatened.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 50(51):3-4,12-13,18-19 © |
A humbled, contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out my offence.
O wash me more and more from my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
A humbled, contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.
A humbled, contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
For in sacrifice you take no delight,
burnt offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a contrite spirit.
A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
A humbled, contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
Gospel Acclamation | Ezk33:11 |
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
I take pleasure, not in the death of a wicked man
– it is the Lord who speaks –
but in the turning back of a wicked man
who changes his ways to win life.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
Or: | Joel2:12-13 |
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with all your heart,
for I am all tenderness and compassion.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
Gospel | Luke 11:29-32 © |
As Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be a sign
The crowds got even bigger, and Jesus addressed them:
‘This is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. On Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.’
SIGN OF REPENTANCE IS TO BELIEVE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Jonah 3:1-10; Ps 51:3-4,12-13,18-19; Luke 11:29-32]
The centrality of the message of Lent is the call to repentance. But very often, we put the cart before the horse. In other words, we underscore the signs of repentance. We think that penitential acts are at the heart of repentance. This is the standard way of speaking about repentance. In today’s first reading, the King of Nineveh and the people demonstrated their repentance by putting on sackcloth and ashes. “And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least.” What is even more dramatic was the way the King led the people in repentance. He “rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes.” He emptied himself of his glory and power and hid himself in sackcloth and ashes. It was an act of submission to the power and majesty of a higher supreme being, God. This was then followed by the promulgation throughout Nineveh, “Men and beasts, herds and flocks, are to taste nothing; they must not eat, they must not drink water.”
Secondly, repentance, more importantly, is associated with the giving up of a sinful life. The pagan king knew that fasting and putting on sackcloth were merely outward signs. They are important insofar as these express the sentiments of regret and their dependence on God. But these are means to an end, which is a change of heart. It calls for a turning away from sin and self to God and our fellowmen. The king knew that repentance requires them to break away from evil, violence and killing. He urged the people, “let everyone renounce his evil behaviour and the wicked things he has done.” Indeed, as the responsorial psalm affirms, “For in sacrifice you take no delight, burnt offering from me you would refuse, my sacrifice, a contrite spirit. A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.” This same message was also proclaimed by Isaiah when God said to the people, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice; to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” (Isa 58:6f)
But the heart of repentance is not the demonstration of penitence, or even giving up a sinful life. These of course are important in the act of repentance. But we must not forget that these actions are the consequence of the most important kind of repentance, which is to repent from unbelief. To repent is to believe in God and the Good News. This was why Jesus at the very outset of His ministry went about proclaiming, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mk 1:15)
This is the gist of today’s gospel. It is a call to believe in Him. The repentance that is needed is to believe in the Good News. Faith in Jesus is central to repentance and the beginning of the road to repentance. Repentance is not yet from sin but from unbelief. Repentance from sin will come later when one believes in Jesus. Indeed, this is the context of today’s gospel when the crowds asked for a sign. Jesus had just cast out a demon that was mute. Instead of recognizing that He acted in the power of God, some people in the crowd ascribed His power to the work of Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. “Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven.” (Lk 11:14-16) The Lord reprimanded them saying, “This is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. On Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
Jonah is that sign, not so much because he was rescued by the whale and stayed there for three days as a reference to His death and resurrection, although this significance could also be implied, but when Jesus posited Jonah as a sign, He was referring to the repentance of the Ninevites. Jonah was a sign from God. He had been sent by God to preach the message of repentance to the Ninevites. When the people and the king heard the message, they believed in him and immediately repented. They accepted the preaching of Jonah as truly the words of God. This was why Jesus told the people, “On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.” The irony is that the Ninevites, although they were not the chosen people of God, were more receptive to the call to repentance by the prophet Jonah than the Jews themselves.
In fact, Jonah was a reluctant prophet. He did not want to go to Nineveh. He did not think the Ninevites deserved to live because of the atrocities they had committed, especially against Israel. They were their enemies and therefore did not deserve to be saved. Even when he was compelled by God to preach repentance to the Ninevites, he went reluctantly. Still, he was hoping and thinking the people would not respond to his message of repentance anyway. But to his surprise, they did. “This was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.'” (Jonah 4:1f)
But the irony about human repentance is that it brings about divine repentance. “God saw their efforts to renounce their evil behaviour. And God relented: he did not inflict on them the disaster which he threatened.” God’s readiness to relent is the consequence of His compassion. Divine repentance, just like human repentance, is to “turn away”. When God saw that the Ninevites were willing to turn away from evil, He responded in the same way by turning away from the evil He intended on them. Instead, He turned towards them in compassion in response to their repentance and remorse. By changing their ways, God was relieved from the necessity of putting moral justice in place by punishing them. Instead, God could now bless them, for that is the heart of God’s love and mercy, His desire to bless us all is seen in the sending of Jonah to call them to repentance. Repentance, therefore, means a change of heart. In the case of man, it is turning to God and grace. In the case of God, it is turning to men by showing His mercy and forgiveness. God takes our repentance seriously. God, as our Lord, tells us He came for the sick not the healthy. “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Mk 2:17)
But this presupposes belief in God’s mercy and forgiveness. But what kind of believing is needed? It is not a question of accepting some credal statements about God. It is not just reciting the creed blindly. Rather, the belief that is required for us to make a real repentance is a belief that comes from the heart. This was the belief of Abraham. “He believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (Gn 15:6) Belief in this instance is not an intellectual assent or confession but an action of trusting in God that comes from an experience of God’s deliverance. So, too, the belief of the Ninevites in God’s mercy was confirmed by their entrusting themselves to His mercy. Their faith in God was proven right as God turns towards those who turn to Him with confidence. In turn, we walk by His truth.
So this belief is a personal faith which results in a fundamental life commitment arising from something which they know is true. It shapes their life and attitudes, vision, and values. Of course, such experiences of God in a community are then formulated in doctrinal terms. The danger is that when the creed is detached from the religious experience, those who confess it empty the creed of its content and so it does not impact their lives. We must therefore rediscover the importance of making a personal belief in God, that is, trusting in His love and mercy. For it is only in the process of taking the leap of faith that we can see God’s power and mercy at work in our lives. Thus, the fundamental repentance is faith in Him.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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