Repent And Be Saved

𝐎𝐂𝐓. 𝟐𝟓, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐑𝐨𝐦 𝟖:𝟏-𝟏𝟏

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟐𝟒:𝟏-𝟔 “𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟏𝟑:𝟏-𝟗

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑰 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒏𝒐! 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉.” (𝒗𝒗. 3, 5)  

𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐃

         The Jews in the olden times always associate sin with suffering, calamitous events and unrighteous death. Inversely, the Jews also believe that sin can cause suffering, and even natural calamities.

         But Jesus in this Gospel presented to the people a view that was entirely new and was opposed to their traditional beliefs. Instead, Jesus preached about the need to repent as a condition that could spare man the judgment of God and the chastisement and suffering experienced by those who sinned.

         The massacre of the Galileans on orders of Pilate and the 18 who were killed when the Tower of Siloam fell on them fall on this category in that the Jews would normally linked these events with the sin of those who perished in these incidents.

         And Jesus corrected this assumption by asking his listeners if those who perished in those two events were worse sinners than the other Galileans and, Jesus went on to say that this was not the case as the people can be spared from similar suffering if they will repent.

         But these Jewish beliefs that drew a correlation between sin and  calamities are still relevant today as it were in the olden times. I remember the claims made by some modern-day prophets who in 1990 said the earthquake that caused the death of thousands in Baguio City, Cabanatuan City and, Dagupan City were as a result of the sins of the people in those areas. And we are moved to ask how presumptuous could these people get? Certainly God will not resort to calamities as a punishment for sinners.

         As natural calamities since then have been occurring with increasing regularity up to these present times, these disasters were tagged as acts of God and when such calamities became an almost regular phenomenon, the people begin to accept this as part of climate change and somehow, we all forgot about blaming sin as the cause of these misfortunes.

        While Jesus said those Galileans who were massacred by the Romans and the 18 on whom the Tower of Siloam fell were in no way worse sinners than the rest of the Galileans, these events must be viewed as a sign for us to take positive action with regards our sinful nature.

         In the previous chapter we heard Jesus talking of the need to properly discern the signs that would lead us back to God and in this Gospel today Jesus once again used the two tragic events (𝐯𝐯. 𝟐-𝟒) as a sign that should remind us that God’s judgment should be viewed as a mechanism in which God is providing us with the opportunity to make things right by repenting of our sins.

         The Catechism of the Catholic Church has a beautiful description of what repentance is all about. In 𝘊𝘊𝘊1431, 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴: “𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯, 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘪𝘯, 𝘢 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦’𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘰𝘥’𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘪 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴 (𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵) 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘴 (𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵).”        

          In a way, repentance is what is needed for us to bear fruit and not risk being cut down like the fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit. The man who planted an unproductive fig tree in his vineyard but told his worker to give it another year is a sign that we should spend our time between now and the time when we will be judged to repent of our sins, work on our own transformation so that we can change our fate.

         An unfruitful fig tree was looked upon as a sign of disobedience on the part of the Israelites and Jeremiah compared rotten fig trees to those who commit evil deeds. This parable on the unproductive fig tree shows that God is patient with the people he has created but it doesn’t mean that we tarry.

         Patient though he may, we should remember that Jesus had also warned us of the thief who will come without any warning. Again, these are signs that Jesus gives us to afford us the opportunity to turn away from the world but we should not presume that we could take our time.

         Jesus was never more emphatic than in this Gospel as he drives home the need for us to really repent and be productive. The parable of the unproductive fig tree shows that God will not tolerate our not using the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit that he has so generously made available to us.

         In his mercy and compassion, God always gives us the opportunity to find our way to repentance which is the key to transformation so that we can use our gifts to our advantage by becoming productive so that our God can use us in his vineyard. In so doing, we must keep in mind the terrible consequence of being cut down if we persist in our sinfulness.

         The necessity of repentance is borne of the fact that it opens the way to the restoration of our relationship with God that was impaired because of our sins. Repentance has two kinds of movements – one is turning away from sins and the other is turning towards God. For true repentance to happen, we must do both. We can’t just say we believe and then live our lives anyway we choose and, neither can we live a morally correct life without a personal relationship with God because there is no way we can be forgiven of our sins if we don’t give God primacy in our lives.

         Washing your hands may be a simple day-to-day process but if you carefully observe what happens you will notice that the results of washing your hands are immediately visible.

         Repentance, on the other hand, is a process of which the results cannot be readily seen. This is why John the Baptist in 𝐌𝐭 𝟑:𝟏-𝟐 used baptism as a symbolic action that people can see especially the Jews who are familiar with the rites of baptism as a means of repentance and forgiveness.

         To repent means “𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧” which means a change in behavior, and which also means turning from sin toward God. To repent is to accept Him who created us in his image and likeness. To repent is to change the disposition of our hearts. To repent is to put our trust in God and place our lives in the palm of his hand.

         Try spending a few quiet moments and ask yourself: Have you repented of the sins in your life? Are the changes in your life visible that others can see the difference that repentance made in your life? Remember that for repentance to be real and visible, others must see the changed life and reformed behavior in your life. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘖𝘤𝘵. 25, 2025)