Repentance and Forgiveness

Psalm 32
Following on from last week, this weekʼs texts Psalm 32 and the gospel reading Luke 15:11-32, both contain themes of repentance and forgiveness of which forgiveness is by far the stronger. As we saw last week, repentance is more than just saying, “Iʼm sorry.” It is a turning away, a change of direction, change of mind, change the inner person (particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God). We also noted that the conscience plays an important role in bringing one to repentance. Both this weekʼs Psalm and Gospel inform us that the underlying reasons that our conscience is being brought into play is the thing that people today either donʼt recognise or donʼt want to hear about – sin. Sin that is exposed by the Law within us. Luther states that unless we understand about sin, we will not be able fully to understand or describe the reality of the evils and sufferings we see around us. We will not understand why our conscience becomes bothered. It is quite amazing how both the Psalm and Gospel readings address this, as they speak to many events in lives today, but their focus is not on sin or repentance but on the gift of forgiveness. Forgiveness in the Old and New Testaments is a gift from God, totally unmerited by the sinner, and has the power to change lives. This gift expressed through Jesus and by the Holy Spirit, calls all people everywhere to repentance so they may experience the true joy of life in Christ.

Pastor Darryl