Lenten Devotion

Repentance: A few rather unorganised, random Lenten reflections by an all-too-imperfect Lutheran pastor

The prophet speaking of The Suffering Servant, in Isa 53:5 says: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” Jesus beginning his public ministry in Galilee in Mk 1:15 has this to say: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” King David, after the prophet Nathan had pointed out his sin of committing adultery with Bathsheba, had this to say in Ps 51:17: “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Peter, while Jesus was on trial, denied him three times, cursing and swearing an oath in Matt 26:74: “I do not know the man!” Paul, described himself as “chief of sinners,” and declared in Rom 7:15 with raw honesty the state of his sin-sick soul: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” And again in verses 19 & 20: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin what dwells within me.”

In more recent times, one of the famous 20^th century poets, T.S. Eliot had this to say about our sinful state and hence the need to repent in his play Murder in the Cathedral: We are soiled by a filth that we cannot clean,/united to supernatural vermin/It is not we alone, it is not the house,/it is not the city that is soiled,/But the world that is wholly foul.

Then in our time, there is contemporary prophet-poet, Bruce Cockburn, who is one of my favourite Canadian singer-songwriters. Some of his lines, I think are so brilliant and all encompassing that they speak volumes. In his song “Tried and Tested,” listen to these lines: Tried and tested/Tried and tested/By “What does love require”/By the lure of false pride/By the need to take sides/By the weight of choice/By the still small voice/By things I forget/By what I haven’t met yet. At the end of such trials and tests, Bruce concludes, “I’m still here,” likely if asked, he’d say he’s still here by the sheer grace and love of God. Bruce, reflecting on the song, had this to say, which again underscores our need to repent: "You look at war and environmental problems and you look at what’s causing them and what’s preventing us from solving them and the trail always leads to human greed. Somebody’s getting paid to keep it that way or make it worse. Everyone’s wondering what it all means and what we can do about it."

Lent is the heavy-weight season of the church year. Most of us would rather fast-forward and eclipse Lent by moving from Epiphany right on to Easter. But it doesn’t work that way. We Lutherans value our theology of the cross, and someone once said that for us Lutherans, Lent is our favourite season of the church year. Lent is the season of repentance and Luther himself said that life for sinner-saint baptised Christians is a life of daily repentance.

Why is repentance and Lent so important? Well without Lent, there would be no Jesus dying on the cross to forgive and atone for our sins because the gospels themselves would not contain the Passion Story. It is believed by many New Testament scholars that the gospels started with the Passion narratives and after that grew and expanded into what they are now. So without Lent, the story of Easter is empty, trivial and meaningless. Without the suffering and death of Jesus, there is no resurrection and new, redeemed, set-free life. So, this Lenten season I encourage you to read the Passion Story, meditate on it, read it prayerfully. Do you see yourself in the story? In response to what Jesus has done for you through his suffering and death, are you able to repent? Repent is not only confession of your sins, although we need to do that too—repentance literally means returning, turning back to God and God's ways. Lent is a season that offers you and me the opportunity to return back into a deeper, closer relationship with Jesus through such disciplines as spending time in prayer, fasting, and giving generously and sacrificially to causes and organisations like Canadian Lutheran World Relief that work with and help the poor. That's why we can sing in one of our Lenten Gospel Acclamations: “Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and abounding in steadfast love.”

Prayer: Loving and merciful God, help us during this Lenten season to return to you in true repentance not only by reciting and being sorry for our sins, which are many, but also by living lives worthy of our calling as your followers with ever greater gratitude for what you have done for us by your suffering and death on the cross and your victory over death through new, resurrection life. In Jesus our Suffering Servant's Holy Name we pray. Amen.