Repentance: Real or Imaginary

Joel 2:12–19 

¹²“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

¹³and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

¹⁴Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering

for the Lord your God?

¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly;

¹⁶gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.

¹⁷Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,

and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

¹⁸Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.

¹⁹The Lord answered and said to his people, “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

My mother grew up in a Christian tradition that demanded that women’s heads be covered in church at all times. Often, she would forget to grab her hat or whatever she was supposed to wear and would be forced by my grandmother to wear a Kleenex on her head. She would grab one out of the box on her way into the sanctuary. It seemed like a terrible way to worship; sitting through church with a tissue on your head. While that may have indeed been within keeping the letter of the law, it seems outside of the spirit of the law. But it was the acceptable practice in their tradition.

The prophet Joel is dealing with something similar as he admonishes the people to examine the gifts for God they are bringing into worship. They had fallen into a strict adherence to the law without ever taking a moment to examine what was happening inside their hearts. Had they done so, they would have found that there was nothing repentant in their hearts at all. They had fallen into the habit of penitential practices without ever actually asking God to forgive their sins. It was outward behavior without inward repentance. God’s response to this lip service was severe. He turned them over to their enemies in order to get their attention. He wanted to see them “rend their hearts, not their clothing.” Lip service doesn’t carry much weight with God.

Romans 12:1–2

¹I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The Apostle Paul addresses this same issue with the New Testament Church. Now, a goat or a few turtledoves brought for sacrifice no longer made the grade. Paul insists that believers “present your bodies as a living sacrifice”. That means you can’t leave your offering on the altar and walk away. You are in 100%. Your entire life is given over to the Lord. This is what is means to “rend your heart and not your garments.” Repentance is an act of the heart, not the hands. Repentance means that I know I am a sinner and in desperate need of a Savior. That is what makes the sacrifice of Jesus all the sweeter. He meets me at my deepest need.

Even the Old Testament prophet does not leave us without hope, though. The mercy of God moves through His heart and He rescues His people, granting them new wine, grain, and oil. He saves them, just as He has saved us. If you are a student of the Old Testament you know that this cycle of human hard-heartedness and God’s mercy is repeated time and again over the centuries and we are not immune. Upon review of the past any of us might find that we too fall into the pattern of wandering away from God only to be chased by His divine love for us. At the time, His rebuke may not feel like love, but a Father always disciplines the one He loves.

So instead of wearing a tissue on our head to church, maybe we spend a few moments in honest reflection and bring before the Lord our whole lives. Instead of trying to leave our offering at the altar and walk back into lives devoid of His presence, we offer up ourselves instead and let His love flow through us so that others might see His love as well.