Domes - Our Monthly Newsletter
Dunbar UCC
December 9, 2007
Matthew 3:1-12
Repent: Try Again
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This is called the season of watching and waiting. Someone asked me: “What are we supposed to be waiting for?” Are we waiting for the special sales, so we can finish our shopping? Are we waiting for the big holiday party? Are we waiting for better health, or for all our problems to go away?
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These are all good things to wait for. But they’re not what John the Baptist had in mind when he announced in the wilderness the arrival of the Messiah. It matters what we wait for -- because we have to prepare for whatever it is. If we’re waiting for a new addition to the family -- a child -- we have to get a room ready and buy about a thousand things and rent a U-Haul to carry all the stuff in when we take a trip. If we’re waiting for a huge pre-Christmas sale -- we need to be sure that there’s room on our credit cards.
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But if we’re waiting for Jesus, how do we prepare for that? John the Baptist used just one word: “Repent!” Repent has to do with turning -- or turning back. Turning back to the path that God told us to follow in the 10 commandments, and especially in Leviticus and Deuteronomy -- “Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.” To repent means to stop being mean -- stop hurting others through gossip or greed or violence. To repent means following the way Jesus showed us -- of love and mercy towards all. John said: “Bear fruit worthy of repentance.” Kindness is the fruit.
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A colleague of mine attended a funeral of a friend of his who died, an man named Sam. And during the eulogy the minister got all worked up. He shouted: “It’s too late for Sam. He could have done something different with his life, but it’s too late now. It’s all over for him. He won’t get another chance. People drop dead every day. Why wait? Today is the day. Repent! Make your life count for something. Give your life to Jesus! You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Repent now!” After the funeral, my colleague said to his wife: “That was terrible. I’d never do that to a grieving family. That was the most manipulative, inappropriate, and tacky funeral homily I’ve ever heard.” His wife said, “Yeah -- it was awful. And what I hated the most about it -- it was all true.” Well, we have time. Maybe not as much as we think. But we can repent now -- turn our lives to Jesus Christ. That’s what this season is really about.