Repent and Believe - New Evangelizers

Previously I wrote about belief and mercy, how Jesus wants to save us, and how we need to repent and believe in him. In fact, Jesus himself in the Gospels invites us to “repent and believe” [Mark 1:15]. But how? How do we repent and believe?

Most of us know of a kind of secular repentance known as the New Year’s resolution. This is a mental act of the will that many people typically make at the beginning of a calendar year, resolving to act differently than in the past. New Year’s resolutions are known for their low success rate: often they are discarded before the end of the first month. A New Year’s resolution is generally not very useful: it is not the sort of thing that saves.

So what is? Let’s look at Jesus. Here is a story from the Gospels that is helpful. It describes an event when Jesus is in a house crowded with people:

So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”-he said to the paralytic- “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” [Mark 2:2-12]

There are several things here that are very different from a New Year’s resolution. One is that the paralyzed man acts, he did not merely resolve to act. Two is that the man’s action is to go to Jesus: he gets his friends to go to extremes to get him to Jesus. Three, the man is there in faith that Jesus is able to and wants to help him. Jesus sees the man’s faith, and helps him, first by forgiving his sins, and then healing his paralyzed body too.

Here is another story that is relevant. Again, Jesus is in a house, the home of a pharisee, where he is a dinner guest:

And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him-that she is a sinner.” Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher, he replied, “speak.” “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” [Luke 7:36-50]

We see a pattern here. The woman goes to Jesus, not half-heartedly, but with all her being, throwing herself at his feet. Jesus sees her faith and forgives her sins. We see here, and in the previous story, that to repent and to believe is not merely to make a resolution, it is to act. It is not just any act, it is an act of faith in Jesus: to go to him for help. No doubt the woman in the Gospels realizes her sins are known and she may not be accepted, but she risks it. Jesus does not reject her despite her notoriety: he accepts her, defends her to the others at the dinner, and forgives her sins.

So how do we repent and believe today? The very same way as in the Gospel. We throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus, with faith in his goodness, confess our sins, and receive his forgiveness. True, we can’t do this at dinner like the woman did in the Gospels, or get our friends to lower us on a stretcher in front of Jesus. But because Jesus knows we need forgiveness, he gives his apostles and their successors authority to forgive sins [John 20:23]. This means we can go in private to a priest, who in the sacrament of reconciliation is acting in the person of Christ and is entrusted with Jesus’ authority to forgive sins, to confess our sins and be forgiven by Jesus. In the sacrament of reconciliation, the key elements that we see in the Gospel stories are present. Instead of merely making a resolution, we act on our repentance. Our action is not an act of self-help where we try to fix ourselves, but one where we throw ourselves before Jesus, conscious of our desperate need for his help. We go to Jesus with contrition for our sins, and faith in his goodness. He, in his mercy, forgives us.

Sadly, some Christians of the reformation tradition of the last few centuries no longer have a sacrament of reconciliation or an apostolic priesthood with delegated authority to forgive sins, which is in my view a tragic loss. Yet even in protestant liturgical traditions, there are prayers of repentance, throwing oneself on God’s mercy and begging his forgiveness. Jesus, who is the one who acts through the sacraments, is not limited only to the sacraments. We can have good hope that Jesus will forgive those who in their heart and in their actions truly and earnestly repent of their sins and go to him in faith for forgiveness.

For all Christians of every tradition, true repentance is always more than mere regret and “New Years” resolve. To repent and believe is to go to Jesus, in faith that he can and will forgive us. We go to him in the sacrament of reconciliation if we can: that is what it is for. If we cannot, we go to him as best we can, with true contrition for our sins, to repent and be forgiven. We trust that in his mercy, Jesus will forgive us, and he will help us avoid sin and do what is right, so he can save us.

Agapios Theophilus

Agapios Theophilus is the "nom de plume" of a catholic layman who has loved Jesus from when, as a young boy in the 1970s, he first learned about him. His First Communion, at the age of seven, was the happiest day of his life, and he celebrates its anniversary each year. He lives in a large city with his beloved wife, two wonderful children, and an affectionate orange and white cat. He has no formal qualifications whatsoever to write about Jesus: he writes only because he has been given the great gift of knowing and loving him, and he would like others to come to know and love him too. See Agapios' posts at https://sites.google.com/view/agapios-theophilus and follow Agapios on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/a9apios