Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, Year C

Repentance Is Actually A Good Thing

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, Year C

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, March 20, 2022

In the first century Ancient Judaism, misfortune or suffering was related to sin committed by the sufferer or the sufferer’s parents. But in Luke 13:1-9, Jesus states clearly that such assumption is not always the case. To drive home his message, Jesus uses the sad events of the massacre of the Galileans by Pontius Pilate and the collapse of the Tower of Siloam that killed eighteen people to emphasize that such a tragic death was not necessarily due to any particular sin. Then in a breathtaking way, Jesus flips it and tells his audience, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did.

Now, the account of the slaughter of the Galileans by Pontius Pilate is unknown outside the Gospel of Luke. We don’t have evidence of it from other historical reference. But there is actually no reason to doubt the truth of the event because what Jesus said matches perfectly with the kind of person Pilate was. In a book titled, “Embassy to Gaius” the first century Jewish author, Philo of Alexandra, who was actually a contemporary of Jesus describes the kind of person Pilate was: deeply corrupt, hugely insolent, greatly insulting, extremely cruel, and has a habit of wantonly executing people without trial. Philo’s description of Pontius Pilate fits perfectly what Jesus is describing in Luke 13—the killing of Galileans and the dishonoring of the temple by Pilate. Another Jewish historian Josephus, a very famous one, in his book titled “The Antiquities of the Jews,” writes that Pilate had disrupted a religious gathering of the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim by slaughtering the participants; and that on another occasion, Pilate had killed many Jews who had opposed him when he appropriated money from the temple treasury to build a bridge in Jerusalem. 

Friends, what the Lord is saying here is that suffering or death is not necessarily a consequent of sin. It matches with another event found in John’s Gospel. When his disciples saw a man born blind and right away asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (9:2), his response was that neither of them sinned, rather God allowed this to happen for some greater purpose. In our time, people assume there is no connection whatsoever between sin and suffering. But in the Lord’s day, people link every suffering to sin. If they saw someone with experience of tragedy, they assume such persons are being punished for their sins. But Jesus says, no. It does not work like that all the time. Then he adds, “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

Let me just say it, this is one of Jesus’ less popular saying. You will see bumper stickers about the Golden Rule, “Do unto others what you will want them do unto you,” and John 3:16, “For God so loved the world…” I have never seen a bumper sticker about Luke 13:3, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” So, this is not one of Jesus’ popular sayings. However, that he says it twice in this Gospel passage suggests the urgency and the significance of what he is saying. On one hand, Jesus is debunking the belief that physical death is due to a particular sin, but on the other hand, he is saying, if you do not repent, that is, if you do not stop committing sin, you will die. Is that not a contradiction? It’s a classic example of a paradox. Jesus’ words are deliberately phrased as riddles, as parables designed to make us think. If death is not necessarily the result of sin, then why should I perish if I don’t repent, if I don’t stop sinning? Of course he is not talking primarily about physical death. He is talking about spiritual death, which is the worst kind of death. He is talking about being cut off from God. He is talking about what he said elsewhere in the Bible, “What shall it profit you to gain the whole world and lose your soul?” (Mk. 8:36). He’s not talking about the loss of physical life, but a kind of spiritual death, exclusion from God’s Kingdom. 

In our contemporary culture, the call to repentance is usually difficult for people to take in. The word “repent” has been given a bad name. It has been associated with people who stand by street corners and yell, “Repent, for the end is near.” Some associate it with the brand of Christianity that is fanatical or judgmental or angry. But the proper understanding of repentance suggests it is not something to be afraid of. Repentance is not and should not be a negative thing. In reality, it is a powerfully positive thing. What’s repentance? What does it mean? In the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), the Church stresses that repentance is a radical reorientation of life, a return to God with all our heart, and turning away from sin and evil. Are these not good things? Is it good to turn away from evil? Is it good to return to God with whole heart and mind? Is it good to reorientate our life towards God? Is it good to seek an end to evil? YES! How many of us will not like evil to be driven out of their lives? Is there anyone here who does not want to change and to be a better Christian person? Is there anyone here who does not want to turn away from doing the things that hurt others and hurt themselves? Repentance is actually a good and positive word. It should be one of the most popular words from the Bible because it means turning away from evil and turning to goodness. It means breaking the chains of sin. It means seeking freedom from the addiction of sin, living a life of freedom and enjoying peace and joy that Christ came to give us. Now, the part of repentance that is sometimes difficult for a lot of people is repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. It is hard for some people to hate the things they have done. This is the case for most young people, but as you get older, you start to realize the way you had wounded others. And that’s when the feeling of sorry sets in. But you don’t have to wait till your older years. Who even told you you will live to be old? It’s better to do that reflection now and to do something about the ways you have hurt and wounded others. Granted that the word, “repent” has been given a bad image, but a proper understanding of its meaning will lead to a journey of return to God. Unless you repent, unless you change, unless you convert your heart to God, unless you turn away from evil, unless you stop doing things that harm yourself and others, unless you love to hate the sins in your heart, not just others’ sin, you will perish too. You won’t bear good fruits, and God has put us in this world to bear good fruits.