Writings: The Meaning of Repentance

By: Dr. Gregory S. Neal

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” — (Luke 13:1-5)

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We’ve probably all seen someone standing at a street corner, or in a crowd, or in the stands of a football game, holding up a sign that says “REPENT!” It’s almost become a joke. You see all sorts of signs at games; just watch one on TV and the camera always seems to catch ‘em. Go to a game and you can’t miss ‘em. Someone’s always got a John 3:16 sign, waving it back and forth. And, someone else always has a “REPENT!” sign, held above their heads … sometimes it says “Repent, for the End is near!” Other times it might say “Repent or Burn!”

As a kid and as a young adult, the call to repentance was most often taken as an attempt to shame, scare, or frighten me into being good. It was an attempt to wag the finger at me and scold me for being an awful sinner, and that I was going to go to hell if I didn’t “REPENT!” Once they found out that I was gay, they yelled it even louder and shook their fingers even more vigorously in my face. As a result, I quickly learned to hate that word. It's one of those "triggers" that can set me off very quickly if the wrong person says it, the wrong way, at the wrong time … and, particularly, with certain kinds of hand motions and other forms of body language. This is sad, really, because the word "repent" can actually a useful, meaningful, and powerfully liberating word.

What does the word “repent” actually mean? As an English word, its origins are in Latin where it means: “return to remorse” or “return to regret.” The concept is simple: one goes from not caring a whit about whatever “it” may be to having a deeply seated emotional remorse or regret for it. It’s a significant step beyond “feeling sorry,” and it's leaps and bounds beyond just being sad that you got caught. It’s all about feeling bad about what you did, that it was wrong, and that you recognize and regret that you've hurt another person when you did it. The only problem with this word, in this usage, is that it really doesn’t translate the original, Biblical Greek, word very well.

We often forget that the Bible was written in languages other than English. The old joke: “If the King James was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me!” comes to mind. The KJV is a time-honored, respected, favorite translation for many. Indeed, there are some Christians who think that this is THE Bible … that it was given by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai, or something like that, and that if you change one word, one comma or period, "one jot or tittle" of this translation, you’re going to hell. I’ve had some people tell me that God would judge me based upon my acceptance or rejection of this specific version of the Bible, and that the KJV, and only the KJV, is THE “inerrant word of God!" One fellow went so far as to tell me that all other versions – including the original autographs, in the original languages, of the 66 books of Bible – are vastly inferior to the KJV, full of "Satan's curse," and should be burned!

Some people appear to worship the Bible; others appear to worship a specific translation of the Bible; regardless of the version, they’re all translations, they're all interpretations and approximations of the originals because all of the biblical books were originally written in either in Hebrew or in Greek.

"Repent" is a word with deep Latin roots, and has much popularity among English speakers. However, it is a very poor English translation of the Biblical word it usually renders. The word being translated from the Greek original of Luke’s Gospel, and most other places it is found in the New Testament, is: Metanoia, which means “to change one’s mind.”

Huh? Yep. Its roots include the prefix meta – meaning: “to change”; and nois – meaning: “mind” or “thought.” So, when Jesus says “repent” in our reading today, what he’s really telling us is that we must change our minds.

Now, the changing of the mind has several specific consequences, some of which closely resemble what most people think of when they use the word “repent.” When we change our minds, we are sorry that we were wrong; we regret our mistake or our action or our failure to act; we feel true remorse for it and, as a consequence, we begin to physically change. We change our minds and so we change our actions; we reverse our motion; we redirect our behavior. That is what Jesus is calling us to do. Jesus calls us to have a fundamental change in our minds and all our actions which follow from the changing of our minds.

In Lent, we have an opportunity to experience a fundamental change in how we view ourselves, how we view others, and how we view God. Frequently, people consider Lent a time to beat on themselves, but it’s not. The season isn’t about scolding yourself or beating yourself up or making yourself feel bad about what you've done or not done. Lent is about coming to a recognition that God has so much more for us to do and to be; God calls us to become the most wonderful and beautiful children of God that we can be … if only we will recognize God’s grace, God’s love, God’s mercy and favor are all present, right here and right now, for us. And it all starts with the change of the mind that comes with repentance. It all starts with our recognizing that we’re not worthless worms, but that God loves us so much that God came to be among us in Jesus of Nazareth.

The message of Advent and Christmas is absolutely essential for understanding the message of Lent and Easter. God’s love for us is so absolute, so beyond question, so unlimited by anything – even our failures – that God came among us in Jesus of Nazareth: God walks with us, talks with us, plays with us, laughs with us, cries with us, and yes even dies with us. God is with us, experiencing life as we experience it in all of its fulness, from joy and happiness to pain and sadness. And, because God loves us and is with us and will never leave us nor forsake us, we must learn to change our minds about the perverted message that we’ve been taught about how we’re worthless, or that God won’t love us as we are, and who we are, and for what we are.

Let's look at the Gospel passage again:

"At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”" — (Luke 13:1-5)

The question is an ancient one: when bad things happen to people – in this case, when some Galileans were killed by the Roman authorities – or when accidents happen – like when the tower of Siloam fell on a crowd of people and they died – or when people die in wars – like what’s happening right now in Ukraine – do these things happen, and do these people die, because they were bad? Sometimes we will hear preachers say that a hurricane struck a certain city because of all the sinners in it, or that this war happened because of the sin of a certain group. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, has claimed that the current war is being fought to “save Ukraine from homosexuals.” You heard that right: he claimed that “the gays are to blame!” This hideous kind of thinking is called “Deuteronomic Theology,” because it’s found most commonly in the Book of Deuteronomy. When something bad happens to someone, it must be because they sinned, or were somehow bad, and hence they deserve the bad things happening to them. But, no. While this kind of thinking can be found in a few places in Scripture, most of the Bible — including, most especially, Jesus — speaks against this way of thinking.

"Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did."

Notice … the call to repentance is sometimes taken as overriding Jesus’ rejection of Deuteronomic theology, but it doesn’t. He clearly says “no” to the idea that these bad things happened because these people were somehow worse sinners than others. The idea is very clearly rejected: these people died not because they were sinners … they simply died. But, just as assuredly as they died, so also we will spiritually die, and our opportunities for future growth will cease, unless we change. That’s what Jesus is saying.

God is doing a new thing within and among us. This theme has a powerful Biblical root in Isaiah 43:19. And, for God to do a new thing with us, we must be willing to change, we must be willing to be open to God’s new action within us. Change isn’t easy. I don’t like to change anymore than do most of you. But change is often necessary.

Benjamin Franklin once quoted the Greek Philosopher Heraclitus in saying: “Change is the only constant in life.” Louise Erdrich reflected on that by saying: “Things which do not grow and change are dead things.” And, yet, even dead things change: they decay; they experience "terminal entropy." And, that’s what’s in store for us unless we change.

We must change. And, we must begin by changing our minds about ourselves and about God’s love for us; we must change our minds about our situation, as a church and a people, and we must change our minds about God’s will for us. When we’ve repented, when we’ve changed our minds, when we’ve decided to go in a different direction than the one that was leading us nowhere, then … and only then … can we start truly experiencing the “new thing” that God has in store for us.


© 2022, Dr. Gregory S. Neal
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