DAILY HOMILIES #repentance

Today’s first reading warns against the “Jonah complex”—the reluctance, prejudice, or anger that can make us unwilling to share the Good News with certain groups or “enemies.” We must have God’s heart for the whole world. Similarly, Today’s responsorial psalm provides the ultimate goal of the mission, which is to ensure that the entire earth sees and praises God for His saving work.

“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.” (Jonah 3:10). Repentance moves God. Just as God changed His mind towards the Ninevites, repentance from sin saves us from the calamities our sins attract.

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus is unhappy with Bethsaida and Chorazin because, despite the miracles in those towns, the people remained stiff-necked and refused to repent. Jesus was expecting a change of heart and a change of life to follow from the miracles, but the reverse was the case.

The simple truth is that even though many of us are frequent at Holy Communion, we have no real connection with God. At the gate of heaven, God will deny knowing us because we refused to take our hands off evil. We tried eating our cake and having it; we thought we could serve two masters. We pretended to be good externally, but we soaked ourselves in sin in secret. On the last day, it is those things we did secretly that will count.

After her conversion, Mary Magdalene gave her life to Christ and became an apostle to the apostles. She represents the truth that for God, it is not your past but your potential that matters. Like St. Paul, who was once Saul, Mary Magdalene’s life shows us that God can work through anybody. It doesn’t matter what your past has been; you can become a saint if you give God a chance.

Miracles are of great value, but to repent from sin is the ultimate miracle. Every miracle is a sign pointing to God. Please do not get stuck on the sign and forget its meaning. Miracles must lead to repentance; otherwise, they become reduced to mere entertainment. God is disappointed with us when we return to our sinful ways after experiencing His miraculous intervention. Jesus expressed utter disappointment with the towns where most of His miracles had happened because, contrary to His expectations, the people remained stiff-necked in their sinful ways.

From Jesus’ action in today’s Gospel passage, we learn that there are several methods of bringing people to repentance. With the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus was harsh and direct, but with Matthew and his friends, Jesus employed a different method – He won their hearts by eating and drinking with them. To his critics, Jesus said: “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

I praise the courage of Peter, who spoke on behalf of the apostles: “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, WHOM YOU KILLED by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” (Acts 5:29-31).

This is the night when God led our forebears, Israel’s children, from slavery in Egypt and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea. This is the night that God banished the darkness of sin with a pillar of fire. This is the night that, even now, throughout the world, sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices and the gloom of sin, leading them to grace and joining them with his holy ones. This is the night Christ broke the prison bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld…

The prodigal son, now suffering from an inferiority complex due to sinfulness, wanted to be employed as a hired hand in his father’s house. He never imagined he could be forgiven. However, the father did something humans would rarely do; he forgave the son and restored his former dignity. The father saw him as one who had returned from the dead. This is how God treats us when we repent.

Jonah did not work miracles. Like the crowd in our Gospel passage, many Christians today have reduced their worship of God to a quest for miracles. Jesus referred to such persons as an “evil generation.” Those looking for miracles are only interested in “using” God. Should they get the miracles they seek, it never translates to repentance.

Beyond refraining from pointing accusing fingers at others, the season of Lent offers us ample opportunity to pray for the conversion of sinners. Let us become like Jesus to the Levi’s in our world today. Don’t stop condemning evil, but go beyond pointing fingers; show love to sinners, reach out to them, and lead them out of darkness to God’s marvellous light. This is the fasting that God desires.