Repentance: The Message of John the Baptist

Last week we spoke about the opportunity that the season of Advent presents to us: we recognise the coming of Christ as Christmastide and we prepare ourselves to receive him in the best way that we can. I focussed upon the theme of devotion and love for Christ. But this week’s readings remind us that there is a fundamental work that must go alongside such devotion and indeed must precede it in many ways. And that fundamental work is repentance.

John the Baptist proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Luke the writer of the Gospel reminds us of the words of Isaiah, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.’” How might we prepare the way of the Lord? The first thing we must do is repent.

This might sound unappealing and negative at first hearing, but today I want to extol the glories of repentance. Repentance is the key to the spiritual life, the precious jewel that we carry on our journey, the doorway through which we enter more deeply into our relationship with God. Without repentance we cannot grow as Christians. But, with it, we can not only grow but we can continue to do so and to be made more and more into the image of Christ.

What is repentance? It is quite simple and is captured in the image given to us by the Greek New Testament word: Metanoia. Metanoia literally means to have another mind. To change one’s mind from one way of thinking and behaving to another one. In the case of the Gospel, it means changing from our way of doing things and thinking about them to the way that God wants things to be which he has shown us through the teaching and example of Jesus Christ. This involves saying “sorry”, of course, but it is a much greater work than that: a fundamental shift of worldview.

And repentance is not just something that marks the beginning of the Christian life – the way in, as it were – but it is the way on. We sin, we fail, we fall, and God brings us back time and time again through the precious gift of repentance and forgiveness. It doesn’t matter if you have been a Christian for five minutes or for fifty years: repentance remains the lifeline back to God when we have lost sight of him, as we so frequently do.

The Purifying Power of Repentance

But repentance is not for the faint-hearted and this is because it involves honesty about ourselves. And being honest about ourselves – our own failures, our downfalls, the pain we have caused and are causing – can be extremely painful. Indeed, many people never even begin. Again, if you believe you are a Christian and have not repented and do not practice repentance, think again. There is no true Christianity without repentance.

In our Old Testament reading from the Book of Malachi, we hear more about the ministry of John the Baptist:

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.”

Think about those images for a moment: a refiner’s fire, fullers’ soap, like one who refines and purifies gold and silver. These images perfectly capture the dilemma of repentance: we want holiness and joy in Christ but, in order to get there, we have to be purified first. And purification involves fire. And fire burns.

Let’s bring this into the realm of our lives and put it plainly: repentance hurts. Fundamentally, it hurts our pride. And this is because, when we repent, we must admit before God and before other people that we get things wrong and that we have made mistakes. And that is painful. It can be humiliating. And it is certainly very difficult.

But look at what is on the other side of that process: holiness, life, joy, forgiveness, reconciliation with God through Christ. That is the deal: humility comes before exaltation. Repent and you will be forgiven and raised up.

I’ve been interested to read about the principles of psychological counselling that make a similar point to this, albeit in a secular context: if you have problems in your life, you have to start by being brutally honest about the part that youare playing personally. You have to take responsibility for yourself and stop blaming other people. So the question becomes: are you willing to take a good and long look in the mirror and to really be honest about what you see there? Remember that there is life on the other side of this but recognise the challenge that is set before you.

The Help God Gives: Christ

And yet there is more here and there is a crucial point that separates what I am saying from the secular psychologists. And that crucial point is that we are not left to our own devices to do this. It is not by an effort of the human will alone that we can be honest about our failure before God and one another and be transformed. It is not only that we are called to make a way for him but that he has made a way for us.

The help God has given us to find the way to him is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the message of the Gospel: though we have sinned against God and wandered away from him, he has nevertheless sent his only begotten Son into the world to gather us back to him as to a loving Father. And he has gone so far as to give his Son up to death upon a cross to make this so.

Do you feel ashamed of your sin? Do you feel unworthy before God to come to him? Look to Jesus Christ. For he has a made for you through his life, death, and resurrection to approach God in faith that you will find not an angry judge but a merciful Father.

How to Repent

Finally, a word on the work of repentance. How do we do it? Firstly, search your heart. Listen to your conscience. And use the time that you have during this Advent season to do it.

There may be something that is very obvious to you. Sometimes we call this kind of thing a besetting sin. A besetting sin is some kind of sinful pattern or attitude to which we are particularly vulnerable. The best biblical example of besetting sin is perhaps Judas, the disciple of Christ. Though Judas lived and walked with Jesus himself, he did not conquer the besetting sin of material greed which resided secretly in his heart and caused him to betray Christ.

Besetting sins often manifest themselves in the form of addictive behaviour which can take many forms that we don’t need to go into here.

Besetting sins are very damaging and can often lead to our downfall as Christians. So, ask yourself: What is my besetting sin and how am I am going to fight against it through the grace of Christ?

But we are all of us beset by sin, even if it doesn’t fit into this category. Think of the list of the seven deadly sins, for example: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. Which of us can say that we are not at times proud and contemptuous of others? Which of us has not been greedy and selfish with our time and money in recent days? Which of us has not fallen prey to lust? Which of us has not envied what another has and resented him in our hearts? Which us does not give in to anger and shout in frustration about or at others? Which of us has been as diligent as we should have been in loving God and our neighbour as we ought to have done?

The fact is, friends, that, were we to spend more time examining ourselves, we would see that we really have a long way to go. And realising this is actually a really good thing because we see that repentance is in fact a call to greater levels of holiness and love. One way of seeing this is to flip those deadly sins around: Pride? Yes, well I am pursuing greater levels of humility through deeper repentance. Greed? Yes, well I have got a great opportunity to practice giving to the Church and others out of my abundance. Lust? Yes, well I can practice chastity and self-control and grow in self-mastery. Envy? I can rejoice in the opportunity to be obscure in the sight of the world but loved by God. Gluttony? I can practice abstinence. Wrath? I can practice peace. Sloth? I can grow in joyful service of God and neighbour.

You see that repentance is not merely about saying “No” to sin but it is so much more than that. It is about saying “Yes” to a life of ever-greater holiness, empowered by the grace of God through the Gospel of Christ.

What is it?

I’d like to end with an exhortation and to ask you a simple question: What is it?

I know an older man who was struggling with his live-in maid. She had replaced a previous maid with whom he got on with very well. When the previous maid left to get married, the new one came. She was younger and less experienced and there was a clash. This man was a committed Christian and struggled with the problem for many months. One day he spoke to a trusted Christian friend about it. The Christian friend said to him, “You’ve just got to love her.” This advice struck him powerfully as though given by the mouth of Christ himself. Taking that advice was enough to transform the situation and from that moment onwards his relationship with the live-in maid improved.

Life is not always that simple. But sometimes it is. My question to you: Search your hearts. Ask yourself, “What is it? What is God calling me to change? What do I need to be sorry for? And how can I bring about that change in my life?” It might be a broken relationship and an apology that needs to be made. It might be a pattern of behaviour that needs to be broken off, perhaps with an appropriate level of accountability. It might be that you need to come to confession and receive the sacramental ministry of the Church for reassurance and the power of God. Whatever it is, you will know when you look into your own heart and consider the circumstances of your life.

Don’t waste the opportunity that you have at this moment. Repent and go on repenting. And you will find the key to life and joy in Christ.

Amen.