DUDLEY HALL —

The young man had just received instruction on how he could change his pattern of life.

“Why should I change?” he demanded. “Who says? Why doesn’t everyone just accept me like I am?”

In a culture where it is becoming more evident that we expect others to change their definitions of what is proper rather than entertain the thought that we should or could change, repentance is not a popular word.

Jesus painted a beautiful picture of what repentance looks like in his kingdom.  (Luke 15:11-32) He told the story of a father who had two sons. The younger demanded his inheritance even though his father was still alive. He took it and squandered it on lavish living. Broke and hungry, he found a job tending swine. (Not a very prestigious job, since he was probably Jewish.) He then began to think of the home he had left behind and made plans to return. He imagined that he could never get his family privileges back, so he planned to beg to be a servant where he could possibly work his way up. Humbled and ashamed he started home, rehearsing his appeal to his father.

But he was shocked! His father ran toward him in the road. He placed a robe on him, shoes on his feet, a ring on his hand, and announced a celebration party. The boy couldn’t take it all in. It wasn’t what he expected at all. He was thinking in terms of earning some place of safety. He would be happy just to have food, clothes, and shelter. Now the father is demanding that he no longer think like an ashamed rebel, or a servant working for wages, but rather like a restored son. He has to change. He can’t hold on to his previous perspectives if he is going to embrace the reality created by the father. He is not a prisoner on the lam, nor a parolee under supervision. He is a son with the father’s robe, shoes and ring on. And he is the celebrated one at the party. He must abandon his own version of his status and embrace his father’s.

His older brother has trouble with repentance also. He has not rebelled. He has stayed home. But he has been working for wages in his own mind. He has been strictly keeping the rules to be good. He can’t join the party, because his previously wayward brother is getting the rewards, while he is the one who deserves them. He never joins the party. It would take a change in his perception of reality. He lives in the house with his father, but never knows his true nature.

From the story we see that though a hog pen can get our attention and cause us to reexamine our direction, repentance is not complete until we abandon our thinking about reality and embrace that which the father declares. How can we know when we are repenting? We are enjoying the party that Jesus deserves. Our Father has no pleasure in sons remaining outside just because, in their minds, his goodness is too good to be true.

Repentance is a gospel (good news) concept.