'Repentance is joy.'
These are the seemingly paradoxical words of a New Testament scholar writing about some of the parables of Jesus, including the parable of lost coin which I told to the children earlier, and the parable of the prodigal son which we will be looking at next Sunday. One of the messages of these parables is that 'repentance is joy.'
During Lent we are particularly encouraged to think about repentance. We hear in the Eucharistic Prayer for Lent: 'in these forty days you lead us into a desert of repentance, that through a pilgrimage of prayer and discipline we may grow in grace and learn to be your people once again'
Repentance means 'turning around'. Although repentance is a turning from sin, darkness, death, it is ultimately a turning to light, life and love: an entering into joy. It is because of the joy offered to us that we repent. Repentance is joy.
We will come back to the joy later, but first let's notice that our New Testament readings today, which are all about repentance, are pretty sombre. They focus more on the dire consequences of not repenting than on the joy set before us.
Paul warns the Corinthian Christians against complacency, drawing on the story of the people of Israel in the wilderness. The Christians at Corinth were proud of their spiritual experiences and spiritual gifts, and at least some of them tended to presume on the grace of God and believe they could live however they liked. As long as they were baptised and partaking regularly in the Lord's Supper, they didn't seem to think it mattered that they participated in pagan meals and worship, or lived sexually immoral lives.
Paul reminds them that the people of Israel in the wilderness had their equivalent of baptism and the Lord's Supper. They were God's covenant people: God delivered them from slavery in Egypt and led them across the Red Sea, and he gave them manna to eat and water to drink. Yet, they still turned away from God by worshipping idols, by indulging in sexual immorality, and by constantly murmuring and complaining against Moses and against God. And many of them then died before reaching the promised land. Paul warns the Christians at Corinth to learn from the story of the Israelites in the desert. They must not treat the grace of God lightly.
This is a message for us too. We may be part of the people of God, baptised members of the church, regularly receiving communion. But, like the people of Israel, we can still go astray, taken over by idolatry, sexual immorality, or a complaining, grumbling spirit, and end up dead in a desert far from our promised land. "So, if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall."
Paul's message is that our God is a holy God and he wants our wholehearted love and loyalty. It matters how we live. Perhaps we all need to consider what might be the idols in our lives: what are the things we devote our attention to and what are the things we hanker after? How do we use our time, our energy, our money? Do we live in a way that honours God? Of course, such self-examination and reflection could end up making us all depressed. We may feel daunted, despairing over recurrent patterns of failure in our lives.
But Paul's intention is not to make the Corinthians despair, but to prompt them to repent, to turn around from their proud complacency and admit their need of God's grace. Paul's words challenge us too: let us not get stuck, either in a self-satisfied pride at our own spiritual status, or in a fearful despair at our own failures. Instead, we need to turn around, to turn away from ourselves and turn back to God. In him we will find light, hope and joy.
In our Old Testament reading, the prophet Isaiah also calls the people to repent: 'Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.' He addresses the Israelites in exile in Babylon. Many of them have got used to their life there and settled down in the Babylonian empire. Isaiah sets before them a contrast between their current way of life and the rich and fruitful life which God offers them. 'Why spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy?'
The Lord urges them to find their true nourishment in him; 'to listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me, listen, so that you may live.'
To receive this nourishment and rich life, they need to turn to God. They need to repent.
'Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.' Turning to God involves recognising God's holiness and how different his thoughts and ways are from ours. 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'
Our God is holy. God does not simply shrug at our failures, smile indulgently, pat us on the back and say it doesn't matter how we live, or what our thoughts and ways are. Instead, he wants us to be his people, a people who grow to be like him. Such a thought may lead us back to discouragement and despair. We know only too well how unlike God we are; how often our thoughts are centred on ourselves, how often we set up our own idols, or indulge in our own appetites, rather than seeking after God and the life and nourishment he offers. We cannot of ourselves make ourselves to be different people. But we can repent. We can turn afresh to God and his grace.
When we do this, we find joy. For when we begin to seek after God, we discover that God is already seeking after us. Yes, his thoughts and ways may be far beyond us, as far as the heaven is above the earth, and the gap between us and God can seem enormous. But God has bridged that gap himself, as he has come among us in his Son. He is seeking after us long before we seek after him, and when we turn to him, he welcomes us into his love. This is the joy of repentance and we will be considering this more next week as we look at the parable of the prodigal son.
Today, let us remember the call to let go of our pride and complacency, to hear God's call to turn around, to come to him and live. The exiles in Babylon are promised that when they do this, when they turn back to God and put their trust in God, their lives will be transformed. The prophet speaks of a joyful homecoming to their own land. A few verses after our reading we hear: 'You shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace.'
But the joy of repentance is not a one-off thing. Repentance is not something we do once and then go away and forget about it. We need to go on turning back to God, again and again, throughout our lives. Let me recommend a simple spiritual practice which may help us do this. This is based on the Prayer of Examen of St Ignatius. At the end of each day we ask the Holy Spirit to help us remember the events of the day: our encounters with others, our thoughts, feelings, words and actions. We give thanks for something good in that day; even in the most difficult days there will always be something to give thanks for. Then we say sorry for any mean thoughts, words, or actions; any failures to live in love. Finally, we look forward with trust and joy to the coming day. This practice is a simple prayer of turning to God every day; both giving him thanks and repenting of our failures. It is a prayer which can bring great freedom and joy. Repentance is joy.
Of course, repentance is not just something we do as individuals. We confess our sins together at every church service. Some of our sins may be personal sins; some may be corporate sins. As we confess, we are also aware of the darkness, violence and cruelty of the wider world of which we are a part. I am not just thinking of what is happening in Ukraine, but also in many parts of our world. Often, we too are implicated in the unjust structures which perpetuate the suffering of others. Our whole world needs to turn to God. What is certain is that we need support from one another to grow in holiness. In the words of Pope Francis: 'Growth in holiness is a journey in community, side by side with others.'
We are not alone. As Paul tells the Corinthians: 'No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone.' The temptations and struggles we face in our Christian lives are not unique. We are in this together. We all have our own spiritual work to do, and we can't appropriately discuss everything with everyone, but, as in the Christian life more generally, repentance and growth in holiness is not a solitary task. We are the body of Christ and it is together that we are being transformed into his image. It is together that we are to repent and believe the Gospel. Christ is in our midst and we are called by his name. May our common life in him prompt each of us to deeper repentance, and so also lead us to discover more of the joy that is set before us.
'Repentance is joy.' Let us turn from sin and selfishness and idolatry of all kinds and turn to the God who is already turned towards us and we will discover the joy of his welcome and love.
Helen Marshall