AWAKENING TO THE SPIRIT OF REPENTANCE

These days in Zambia, there is plenty of talk about sin among “big people” – former government officials who plundered our economy, current politicians who jump from one party to another in order to getmore money or more power, business people who do not deliver the goods that they were paid for, prominent people who get caught in some marriage scandal, etc.  With a special “Task Force” chasing people this way and that way, and television and newspapers featuring all these “public sins,” it seems like a very exciting time!

But in our human way of doing things, we human beings can sometimes tend to be unfair to others.  We can spend time painting very ugly pictures of our neighbours.  We suspect them and we accuse then of all forms of evil, e.g., greed, unbridled sexuality, lust for power and wealth.  We talk about others as the centres of corruption and selfishness.  Sometimes we even declare, unfortunately, that others are really evil at heart.

So today, the First Sunday of Lent, when we hear Jesus say in the Gospel, “Repent!”, we might only be thinking about other people and not about ourselves!

In doing that, we fulfill the old Tumbuka proverb which says “uheni ngwa banyabo”. (Tumbuka)  That is to say, “It is the others who are always at fault”.  But can anything really be further from the truth than that?  Yet it is our human way of looking at life, isn’t it?  It is always easier to blame others, especially if they are very well known, than to look honestly at ourselves.

We can even say that such people don’t have the capacity of repentance and conversion.  We feel that they can never change their habits of sin, just as a leopard cannot change its spots.  And we turn to our own proverbs to find support and justification for our stand.  We say that “Wakake kaleya saleka” (Chewa), which means that, “A person who has a bad habit cannot stop it”.  This is the same as the Bemba proverb, which states that “Uwakalema Takaleka” (Bemba).

Yet deep down inside of us, if our Christian conscience is not blunt, we surely can acknowledge that a human being can leave the path of sin and can rise to the heights of perfection.  This is the reality of our human condition and history shows that even in the lives of many saints.  Repentance and conversion are indeed possible.  That is why people accept the proverb which says that, “Ukuboko bapota ukumine”, (Bemba).  That is to say, “It is the hard hand that is twisted”.  We do not pester and harass someone who has shown signs of repentance.

When we smear our neighbours with evil, when we find all kinds of faults in our family members and other relatives, we give in to the temptation of hypocrisy.  Because isn’t it true that we often hide our own failures and sins under the blanket of condemning others?    Let us resist temptations and imitate Jesus who did not give in to temptation but overpowered it with the help of his Father, as today’s Gospel tells us.  Let us learn to do to others as we would like them to do to us -- that is the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12).  It is charity at its best.

Charity begins at home.  And so does honesty!   During the Season of Lent, therefore, we Zambians should practice this spirit of charity and honesty.   We should look clearly at our own past and present record of life.  In our own families, for example, we should acknowledge how often we have broken our vows, promises and pledges and then repent sincerely.  God will pardon us and prepare a happy future for us under his continuing protection.

In fact, God’s unflinching and constant love for us has been shown all through the Bible.  This First Sunday of Lent we have heard in both the first and second readings about the covenant that God established with Noah.  Remember the story about the “rainbow” in the sky and how that tells us of God’s faithfulness for us?  We know that it is through the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross that we sinful human beings have this great covenant of love and mercy.

However, God does not force his covenant upon anyone.  He invites us to open our hearts to him.  Let’s do that in a special way this year during this Season of Lent, each time we gather in our small Christian communities.  Let’s take a few moments to examine ourselves to rid ourselves of our infidelities to God and to our neighbours.  Don’t think about others, about the “Big People” who sin, but about ourselves.  And with true self-knowledge and true repenting of our shortcomings, failures and sins, we can transform our human condition to become God’s instruments among the people with whom we live.

Remember what Jesus says in today’s Gospel, as he begins his public ministry:  “Repent and believe in the Good News!”

SKETCH

A husband and wife are married in Church.  They vow to live faithfully with each other till death and they look very happy.  But later on, the husband breaks his marriage vows by taking on a second wife, a concubine.  One of his close friends doesn’t reject him, but comes to him and misses no words to encourage him to repent and accept God’s mercy.  The man does repent, and he and his wife and children move on very happily!

COMMUNITY PRAYERS

1. God our loving Parent, help us during this Season of Lent to remember your Covenant of love and mercy and to assist each other in our small Christian communities to live faithfully as members of your Family.  Let us pray to the Lord.  Lord, hear us!  

2. God of Mercy and Compassion, teach us to show to each other the forgiveness that we want to receive from you.  Let us pray to the Lord.  Lord, hear us!

3. God our Creator, show us Zambians how to repent from all corruption, selfishness and laziness that keeps our great country poor and lacking true development.  Let us pray to the Lord.  Lord, hear us!

[Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, P.O. Box 37774, 10101 Lusaka, Zambia]