Wednesday of the First Week in Lent
(Jonah 3:1-10 and Luke 11:29-32)
Last year someone petitioned Congress to award posthumous American citizenship to Anne Frank. She was the Jewish girl whose diary helped move the world to condemn the Holocaust. Before her family’s hiding place in Holland was discovered, her father had requested relatives in the United States to seek his family’s admittance. Since the request was denied, supporters of the Congressional petition say that granting her citizenship would be a sign of repentance of complicity in the Holocaust. Critics of the measure argue, however, that it would be a cheap gesture since it requires no sacrifice on the part of the American people.
Both proponents and opponents have made other good arguments, but Congress has not yet voted on the issue. For now we can note how it illustrates the call for repentance of the Scripture readings today. Jonah announces God’s wrath with Nineveh’s evil ways, and the people repent. The author of the story emphasizes how it is a sincere, communal effort. Not only the common people but the king and even the animals of the city fast and change heart. In the gospel Jesus calls his generation “evil” because it refuses to repent of its sins with his preaching.
We too must repent of our sins, not just symbolically but wholeheartedly. This means that we don’t just say we are sorry or we don’t just go to confession. No, these would be empty gestures if they are not accompanied by a sincere attempt to change our sinful ways. A young woman once confessed of having sex with her boyfriend. “Will you promise not to have sex with him again?” the priest asked her. “No,” she answered, she couldn’t promise that. Then, she couldn’t receive absolution. Just so, unless we promise whole-heartedly to stop taking God’s name in vain or talking about others, we have not really repented of our sins.
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