Copyright ©2020 by The Good Elder. All rights reserved.
In religious teachings and discussions, repentance is merely a theological concept for many. It is woefully misunderstood and underestimated in its power. In reality, this concept can be applied to human life/consciousness with definitive positive results for soul growth, if we only took the time to really understand it and take it seriously.
During my first trip to South Africa, I was privileged to visit a tourist destination in Soweto, a township of Johannesburg. This tourist destination was, in fact, of great historical significance to the native South African people. This historic district centered on Vilikazi Street, which, as it turns out, is the South African equivalent of what Auburn Avenue in Atlanta is to the Civil Rights Movement. Vilikazi Street is the place where Nelson Mandela, Oscar Tambo and others lived and where they organized their protests against the apartheid regime of oppressive minority rule in South Africa.
As compared to the immediately surrounding area, Vilikazi Street is well maintained, almost pristine. There are the same streets, the same buildings, but because of the great change that began there, the streets and the buildings have been restored. In fact Mandela's house has been turned into a museum!
To see the scarcity in this part of a country recently emerging from the "third world", a country that is shedding its official policies of state-sponsored oppression was upsetting indeed. Yet, in the midst of this privation sits a gleaming sign of hope, and a set of memorials to commemorate the pivotal actions toward positive change that took place there. In this place, a place where many would not dare visit, a place where the so-called lesser ones in society were relegated, a place into which an entire race of people were thrown, abandoned, and forgotten about--this place was the very birthplace of change for an entire nation, and a source of inspiration for the entire world!
Let us consider this example of Vilikazi Street as we approach our topic, repentance is a consequence of change.
We are familiar with the so-called "new covenant" or "new testament" that the Christian fathers have set forth in their doctrine. However, their doctrine, in which Jesus was sent to wipe away all of our sin and imperfections away by giving his life as a ransom, looks nothing like what God Himself says that this new covenant is.
Through His prophet Jeremiah, God proclaimed that the only thing new about the new covenant is that it will ultimately be written in the hearts of His people. There won't be a new agreement; there will be new ACCEPTANCE of the previously established agreement!
The only thing that will be new, different, changed--is the PEOPLE! In short, Israel will come full circle. In the beginning, after their deliverance from Egypt, God gave the Israelites His Law. And, at the end, there will still be God, His people, and His Law.
Amid this tumultuous, circuitous journey, which has extended over centuries, which has seen the Israelites conquer our enemies and become established in the Promised Land, only to be dispossessed by other enemies and scattered around the world; God declares that something WITHIN the people will change. So, yes, we come back to the same place, with the same terms of agreement, but we don't come back the same way we left. We come back CHANGED!
The Israelites left Sinai trembling with fear, pleading with Moses, saying (Deuteronomy 5):
[24] ...Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us His glory and His greatness,and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and He liveth.
[25] Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die.
[26] For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
[27] Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it.
And, in that watershed moment, God identified the problem, saying:
[29] O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
God's law was not in the hearts of the people, and it eventually manifested as disobedience, idolatry, iniquity, transgression, and sin. So, while God kept His promises to the patriarchs, their descendants did not keep their promises to God.
If the truth be told, the Israelites coming out of Egypt were not capable of keeping the promises that they made. In fact, God said to Moses of their fears, "They have well spoken..."1
I conjecture that they were living in a slavery mindset focused primarily on survival. Sure, they just wanted out of Egypt, but the thought of Who, when, or more importantly, why, did not cross their minds. As slaves, they likely had not had the luxury to contemplate God, His greatness and His goodness. In fact, even after Moses arrived on the scene, the people still wondered, "WHERE is the LORD?" "We've been enslaved for generations... where is this God Who made all these promises?"
For all of the praises that the Israelites offered to God in Exodus 15, with numerous references to His strength, power, and authority, there is curiously not a single "Thank you!" There is no consideration as to why this happened, no mention, thought, or understanding of purpose, or mention of the patriarchs...
And they complained and murmured all the way there to inheritance that they did not earn. In fact, Moses told them even as they stood at the banks of Jordan (Deuteronomy 9):
[5] Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that He may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
[6] Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
Because they were not ready to receive it, all the abundance that they inherited was ultimately stripped away from them.
Putting Israel out of the Promised Land was a necessary consequence of their state of being, specifically their imperfect hearts toward God. Yet, although God fulfilled His promises to the patriarchs in getting the Israelites there, this fulfillment remained incomplete because they could not stay there. In Genesis 13, God said to Abram:
[14] ...Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
[15] For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed FOR EVER.
If God is to keep His promises, Israel must come again to the Promised Land, and we must be able to stay there. This necessitates the prophecy that Jeremiah received regarding the new covenant, and specifically, that Israel will one day live according to that agreement.
Since Israel turned its back on the law, Israel must be turned again, back to the law. This turning back is what we know as teshuvah, or repentance. This turning, however, this repentance is a consequence of a change that has occurred in the hearts and minds of the people. Repentance is not the cause of, but the consequence of change!
Jesus aptly captured the plight of Israel, from their nascent beginnings in ignorance, through their wasteful self-centered excesses and eventual collapse, their eventual moment of change/enlightenment, and their triumphant return to the father, in his parable of the prodigal son.2 This son demanded what he was due, that which he had no part in earning, only to waste it on riotous living; to then be a beggar wallowing with swine, and finally coming to himself, i.e. changing, and returning with humility and regret.
Sadly, for most of us, the ache of pain caused by privation, poor choices, and willful ignorance is the only thing that compels us to search for light and makes us agreeable to change.
As much as we hate trouble, as much as we detest years and decades of complacent mediocrity, as much as we resist change, the discomfort we experience from NOT changing is its own punishment, and it will continue for as long as we remain hard-headed, stiff-necked, obstinate people with an entitlement chip on our shoulder.
If we consider a musical instrument, say a violin, for example, that hasn't been used for a long time, one will discover that it is most likely out of tune. Not being used as intended did not cause it to become worthless; but it did fall into a state where it requires adjustment to be useful again.
Similarly, if we consider the renovation of an old, abandoned house, we understand that while the house may still have value, it cannot be used unless and until it is refurbished. Old, rotted wood must be replaced, old floor boards, tiles, or carpeting must be replaced. Old plumbing and electrical wires must be upgraded. Dust, dirt, and cobwebs need to be cleaned. Furniture needs to be restored or replaced. New things, like A/C, alarm system may need to be installed. Vermin and pests must be killed and controlled. And, all this work, all this change must happen BEFORE the house can be inhabited again, before it can be used in the manner in which it was originally designed. And, all of this work will take time, it will create noise, expense, and inconvenience; but in the end, it will be better than it was originally.
As we consider our plight as a people, the latter house will be greater than the former house; but the work on restoring this house, this act of turning or re-turning must first be preceded by change and acceptance of God's way. Even if we come to ourselves and see ourselves wallowing in the muck with the swine, see ourselves wallowing in old habits, in unconscious, negative, entrenched behaviors; if everything is still someone else's fault, we will remain stuck there unless we arise and go to our father. Repentance is not the cause, but the consequence of change.
"But if, from thence, thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou shalt seek Him with all thine HEART..."3
1See Deuteronomy 5:28.
2See Luke 15:11-32.
3See Deuteronomy 4:25-31, especially verse 29.
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