Change your mind and turn around

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

Without skipping a beat, the evangelist St Mark notes the immediate transition from the ministry of the Baptist to that of the Lord’s after the former’s imprisonment - the latter takes over where the former left off - calling people to repentance: “The time has come … and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.” The work of repentance did not end with John the Baptist. In fact, the Lord not only assumes John’s primary work of calling people to repentance but takes it to another level.

The noun “repentance” comes from the Greek word “metanoia,” and the verb “to repent” comes from the Greek verb “metanoeō,” both of which connote a change of mind. In Greek, the word sheds its baggage of merely turning away from and renouncing sin. It calls for a radical change of our noetic faculties, of how we see things, how we think about things, of how we remember things. It addresses the issue of what occupies our attention and that which we give priority to. Seen in this light, metanoia addresses a society of narcissistic people who are obsessed with themselves and who have forgotten God. We are often preoccupied with earthly affairs rather than contemplate heavenly things. This is what sin entails - a forgetting of God. It is hard to sin, when we are thinking about God. The occasion of sin translates into the sin the moment we push God out of our consciousness.

Similarly, the moment of repentance takes place when we begin to think about God. Consider the story of the Prodigal Son, who squandered his inheritance in a wasteful and hedonistic lifestyle, thinking only of himself. But the turning point, the point where he “changes his mind” or experiences metanoia, is when he remembers his father and his father’s goodness and kindness. That reorientation of his thinking sets him on the path home. Consider also the story of the disciples in the gospel. There is no indication that they lived lives of depravity or abject sinfulness. They were just too occupied with their work, making a living, tending to their family affairs. But the encounter with our Lord changed everything. They experienced a metanoia too, a change of mind which led to a change of values and priorities. From now on, Christ will be their principal priority and everything else will take second place.

To explore further the deeper nuances of repentance, we need to turn to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament there are two words which expresses the idea of repentance, shuv (or its verb teshuvah) and naham. Shuv can be translated “to turn,” “to turn back,” “to turn around.” It does at times denote the kind of a complete heart change we will come to see in the New Testament idea of metanoia. Naham, on the other hand, has a number of meanings: “to sigh, to be sorry, to pity, to console, or (reflexively) to rue; to avenge, to comfort, to repent.” We will find both words used in the first reading if we happen to have the opportunity of reading the text in its original Hebrew.

In the first reading, we have a short excerpt from the familiar story of the prophet Jonah. Too often the prophets are thought of mainly as predictors of the future. But the truth is that they were mainly forthtellers or truth-sayers, for they spoke forth the truth of the Word of God over against the rising tide of idolatry, apostasy, and sin of the nation.

Whether it was deliberate or not, the excerpt in the first reading provides us with an extremely sanitised picture of the mission of Jonah without the full context, that is minus the hitches or glitches or drama and the multiple twists and turns in the entire narrative. The reading begins with Jonah carrying out his mission by being obedient to the Lord’s word. But the truth is that Jonah was not always “obedient” to the Lord’s word. In fact, Jonah did everything to run away from God and evade the mission that was entrusted to him. Instead of “going up”, literally heading north, Jonah fled south. Instead of going east in the direction of the great city of Nineveh of the Assyrians, Jonah sailed off westward into the uncharted waters of the Great Sea (the Mediterranean). It was after several adventures or misadventures, including being swallowed up by a whale, did Jonah relent. He “teshuvah,” he turned to the Lord and turned in the direction of Nineveh to fulfil his mission. And because his preaching was so effective (or the prospect of divine punishment so horrifying), the inhabitants of Nineveh also “teshuvah”, they repented.

But this is not the most amazing part of the story. The passage ends with this mysterious line describing what God did next: “God saw their efforts to renounce (shuv) their evil behaviour, and God relented (naham): he did not inflict on them the disaster which he had threatened.” Jonah turned. The Ninevites turned. But according to the text, God also turned! On the one hand, it is consoling to note that God turns His countenance on the sinner when he repents. It is important to note that God’s repentance is not like man’s. God is not taken off guard by unexpected turns of events like we are. He knows all the future. God did not regret creating man after the Fall because He knew that the Fall would bring about a greater good - man’s redemption through His Son’s death on the cross. Nor does God repent from sin since God never sins. So, His repentance is not owing to lack of foresight nor to folly. God neither turns away from committing sin nor does God “change his mind” about sin.

In the case of God, relenting or “naham” is a sign of His infinite mercy. God respects our freedom to walk away from Him, He even warns us of the consequences of our actions to discourage us from pursuing this path of destruction, but God is always ready to welcome us back. As much as He waits for us to turn around, God’s gaze is always upon us even while we were sinners. It does seem at least from our perspective that God’s judgmental eyes are boring into the back of our heads when we walk away from Him in sin. But the truth is that He has always been looking at us with His loving gaze and we will only come to realise this when we finally decide to turn around.

We just celebrated the New Year three weeks ago and many of you have made strong resolutions to turn your life around and become a better version of yourselves, resolutions which we often fail to keep. But why wait for this annual event to change. The Catholic Church provides us with an all year round opportunity to do better because she understands that we slip, we fall, and she affords us the opportunity to get up and start all over again. She knows us in and out, and how much we need to change, and how much help we need in changing. In fact, as our Eastern brethren would remind us, repentance is a permanent mode of Christianity, for to grow in holiness, one is constantly called to turn to God.

For this reason, the Church is never “stingy” in dispensing mercy. Repentance is not something which should be limited to once or twice a year when the penitential service comes round to the parish. The Church offers us the sacrament of confession anytime we need it and God knows how much we are in need of it. In offering confession, the Church offers us a much better version of the human desire to change. When we go before the priest in confession, we are renewing our commitment to “change our minds and our hearts”, to turn away from all worldly distractions and the allures of sin, to run back into the arms of a Loving God who has never taken His gaze off us. In confession, through the ministry of the priest, we turn to God and He turns to us in a loving embrace. So my dear brothers and sisters, wait no longer but “Repent, and believe the Good News!”