Posts Tagged ‘Luke 11:29-32’

Luke 11:29-32

There’s a word that shows up in this Gospel lesson appointed for today; the word shows up continually in the Scriptures and in the vocabulary of the church: repent.  Repentance is both better and worse than you might imagine.  The English word translated as “repentance” is the Greek word “metanoia”: a preposition “meta (after) and “noia” (to think or observe).  “Metanoia” – repentance – is something we conclude in hindsight where we realize we had it wrong: something we have done or left undone, said or left unsaid that was wrong.  Maybe a conclusion or a judgment call about something or someone which we now see wasn’t right.  It may be a whole pattern of actions, brazenly in the open or in the secrecy of darkness that may have snowballed out of control, and it’s wrong.  It’s got to stop; we can see it, sadly. And so that’s the other piece about repentance.  Repentance isn’t just wisdom gleaned from experience; repentance is regret gleaned from sorrow.  We cannot go on, we simply cannot live with ourselves that way any longer.  Repentance is hindsight teeming with regret, enough so to fuel a change in life.  Repentance is both better and worse than you might imagine.  Read More