I have an eight year old son and a six year old daughter. They generally are very good friends, and when they are out of school, they play well together. But sometimes they don’t play well together. Their little tempers get the best of them, and they start yelling at each other or even get a bit physical with each other. Whenever I question them about their actions, they start accusing each other of their faults like Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. In these moments, I usually do not care about what actually happened to cause the fight. All I care about is that the truth be told, they realize their mistake and are sorrowful, and tell me that they will try to never do it again. Is that too much to ask?
But of course, it happens again. After a coerced apology, they go back to what they were doing, and whether it is two minutes later or two weeks later, they inevitably fall into a meaningless squabble with one another once again. As a parent, those moments are trying on our patience. Being good seems so easy to us. All they have to do is what they have been told and everyone will be happy. Even when they mess up, if they just show that they are truly sorry, we can all move forward.
Yet, we are the children of God. And in the same way that Adam and Eve and my son and daughter blame each other, we often stand before God in our sinfulness looking for an excuse or for another person on whom to place the blame. We are so scared of judgement, that we have no problem throwing whoever it takes under the bus, just so we do not have to come to grips with reality.
But we cannot be healed if we do not face reality. Just like a patient hiding their pain from a doctor thwarts the healing of their broken leg, so does a sinner who does not reveal and own up to their sins in the face of God thwart their path to holiness and love.
That’s why in today’s Gospel, we see Jesus’ first words of preaching are Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. John the Baptist had preached these words in preparation for Jesus, and after John’s arrest, Jesus confirms his cousin’s message by telling us that God’s Kingdom is only brought about in our hearts if we repent of our sins first. We are all called to overcome the pitfall of Adam and Eve and be humble if we are to let God dwell among us. Otherwise, we will be a people who sit in our own sinful darkness.
But God does not want us to be a people in darkness. He wants us to dwell with Him in the light, and He has sent His Son Jesus to be the expiation for our sins and the approachable beacon that can guide us out of our gloom. He has humbly come to us in love, now it is time for us to humbly come to Him for healing. As we prepare in these final weeks for Lent, the season of repentance, let us examine the parts of our lives where we need to repent, and offer them to our Heavenly Father through the sacrifice of His Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit.