Sorry Sinners

Psalm 81

^11 (10) I am Adonai your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth, and I will fill it.’

^12 (11) “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Isra’el would have none of me.
^13 (12) So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to live by their own plans.

Luke 15:1-10

⁷ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who turns to God from his sins than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.

¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy among God’s angels when one sinner repents.” (CJB)

I guess it all depends on who’s listening.

I’ve met people like that: the ones who don’t listen. The ones who keep on complaining after they’ve gotten what they wanted. The ones who keep arguing their point even after everyone gives in. The ones who keep believing a lie even though they have proof that it’s false. The ones who point fingers whenever they’re trying to escape the consequences. The ones who think they know the way things are supposed to be. The ones who can’t let go of their own plans, even when none of them are working.

Maybe I’d rather be a sinner. Maybe I’d rather be someone who knows it’s possible for me to be wrong; that it’s possible for me to do wrong. Maybe I’d rather admit it now than wait until there’s no point in saying I’m sorry.

And maybe, just maybe, that’s how Jesus felt too. He hung out with the people that listened. He ate lunch with people who knew how good any kind of food is when you are hungry.

Maybe that’s all it meant, the idea of Jesus “taking on our sins.”

Maybe Jesus figured that being kind was better than being right; that being fair was better than being rich; and that being a sinner was better than being someone who didn’t know what joy feels like, or love.

Maybe Jesus felt like he belonged with people who knew how to say, “I’m sorry, I was wrong.”

The word “repentance” has a lot of baggage, you know. I’ll tell you this: It’s not repentance when you’re scared, and standing in front of a judge. It’s not repentance when someone is standing over you saying, “You’d better be sorry!”

I think the joy of the angels overflows anytime someone learns how to admit they were wrong. I think the dancing in heaven starts whenever someone says, “My God, what have I done?” I think Jesus couldn’t possibly have shown people how to do that; he couldn’t have persuaded them to do that; unless he knew exactly how to do it himself.

It doesn’t really matter how he knew how to go about repenting, it just matters that he did know.

I think Jesus went willingly to his execution in order to say, “I’m sorry” for the whole world, and the reason it saved us all is that he really meant it.