(Because Farm World will not publish a Dec. 30 issue, we are printing Rev. Althouse’s column for Jan. 3 in this issue, in addition to his Dec. 27 column, which may be found on page 8B. –Ed.)
Jan. 3, 2010

Background Scripture: Mathew 3
Devotional Reading: Acts 8:26-38

In his own day, as well as in ours, the son of Zechariah the priest and Elizabeth, Mary’s kinswoman, became known as “John the Baptist.” Many also identified him with the prophet Elijah (Malachi 4:4-6), for his message was a prophecy of the imminent coming of the kingdom of heaven and the one to whom God would entrust it.
At the time of John the Baptist, there had been no prophet in Israel for 400 years. So, because of the increasingly odious occupation by the Roman military, many Jews were looking for a prophet who would bring them a message of hope and liberation.

It is interesting that when prophets tell us of God’s message for us, we refuse to listen; but when there seem to be no prophets to speak for God, we long for them to appear. It seems that prophets are appreciated only when they are dead or prophesying somewhere else.

If there is any message of “hope” (good news) in the prophet’s message, there is also likely to be a warning (bad news). So it was with John: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (3:1).
We are delighted that God’s reign is at hand, but repentance has a negative tone if we, not someone else, are the ones to whom the warning is given.

Repent and heal

The call to repentance is actually good news. The sins for which we need to repent – especially those we refuse to acknowledge even to ourselves – are a tremendous weight that may keep us from experiencing God’s grace. Repentance is the spiritual surgery that alone can free us from an unbearable weight of guilt of which we may be either aware or unaware.

Albert Hutschnecker, M.D. found that some people who are either accident- or sickness-prone are those whose sins have either not been known or punished by society. Unconsciously, they punish themselves.

I know I’ve previously told this story here, but I think it bears repetition. One day, while giving communion to a parishioner who was homebound, as I was praying the Prayer of Confession, she interrupted me to assure me that, being homebound, she had no sins to confess.

I don’t recall how I answered her, but I know now that one can sin with the mind or even the spirit, as well as with the body. Our thoughts and feelings can be sinful, just as we can be held accountable for sinful acts.

Subtle, hidden sins may be as harmful or even more than those that are obvious.

Who needs it?

Something else I’ve learned since then: The more we grow spiritually, the closer we come to God, our awareness of sin becomes much sharper, deeper and broader. Too many assume if we are able to keep the Ten Commandments (always more difficult than we assume), we have overcome the “sin” problem.

The saint, however, continues to repent because he or she has a deeper consciousness of what it means to miss the mark that God has set before us. That’s why Jesus said our righteousness must exceed, not equal, that of the scribes and Pharisees (Mt. 5:20).
To repent, feeling badly is but the means, not the goal. The end is to think and act in a new way. Marvin Richardson Vincent says, “Mere sorrow, which weeps and sits still, is not repentance. Repentance is sorrow converted into action; into a movement toward a new and better life.”

The words are not what counts, but the change of heart and conduct. Repentance may be painful, but it can also be therapeutic. That is the kind of repentance to which John is calling the people.
“There is in repentance,” says William L. Sullivan, “this beautiful mystery – that we may fly fastest home on broken wing.”

Happy landing!

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.