“and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations…” – Luke 27:47
That’s it? All the stuff that happens in Jesus’ life, indeed all the stuff in the scriptures leads up to Christ’s death and resurrection – and the result is just that? He ascends and leaves us with just repentance and forgiveness being preached? At first glance it doesn’t seem like much – shouldn’t all this Jesus thing mean we get more stuff or money or wealth? Shouldn’t it mean that we get to crush our enemies (and certainly not forgive them)? Is that it?
Well, yes. But the thing is we can forget how mighty and wondrous repentance and forgiveness actually is. We can become bored with them and look for other things to our own sorrow. Consider what a gift repentance actually is. Sin messes with all of us, and it grows. Little white lies start to get bigger and bigger. We start of mildly annoy, and then we get perturbed, and then we get angry, and then there’s shouting matched and things get broken. A little bit of lust starts to warp and twist entire relationships. And instead of just standing by and letting us run wild and ruin everything in our stupidity, Christ has a word of repentance spoken – He shows us our sin and checks us up. That is no small thing!
And then, when we are made aware of our sin – when we see the mess we’ve made and how we’re making it bigger, Christ speaks a word of forgiveness. The consequences of sin are horrible – and they ought to get worse. But instead of having you run into and live in the consequences of your sin, now and forever, Christ Jesus has taken them up for you, He took them to the cross and you are forgiven. You are right with God. You will not die, but you will live eternally with Him. And even the temporary and earthly problems that come about because of sin – you see them differently. You live in Christ’s love. You admit you are wrong to your neigbhor – you don’t have to double down. You forgive your neighbor – you don’t need to get vengeance or punishment.
And that’s hard on you. Living in Christ’s love is hard, especially when you are still in your sinful flesh, and when you are running into things that really are hard and painful in the world. And sometimes your flesh and the world get the best of you, and they pull your eyes off of Jesus and lead you astray. And yet, what has your ascended Lord commanded His Church to give to preach to you – the repentance and forgiveness that you need. Repentance is no small thing; it’s everything you need – and Jesus gives it to you over and over again.
