Repentance
Reading: Mark 2:13-17
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
Lent is the time to repent. We have heard that word a great many times. But what does it mean? It means to acknowledge that we need to change the direction of our lives. When we repent, we move toward God. We value the things of God, not the opinions and ethics of this world. We put the past in God’s hands and move toward new life.
In order to repent, however, we must admit our need. We usually do not go to the doctor unless we recognize that we are sick; that something is wrong. Jesus can do nothing for those who are unwilling to admit their sin and failure.
Levi, or Matthew as we know him best, a tax collector, was welcomed into Jesus’ band of disciples. Matthew had broken Jewish laws to serve a foreign government. But Matthew, unlike the self-righteous Pharisees, recognized the sickness of sin. He wanted to be cured. Matthew sought an end to the separation between himself and God.
Those who come to Jesus admitting the failure of their past actions and seeking guidance for a new direction have repented. They will be cured as surely as the sick who seek medicine from a doctor.
For Reflection: Am I ready to put the priorities of the world behind me and move toward God?
Prayer Seed:
Lord, who throughout these forty days
For us dissent fast and pray,
Teach us with Thee to mourn our sins,
And close by Thee to stay.
Claudia F. I. Hernaman, 1873
