On Conversion

Bishop Bawai Soro

REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL

   

“In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea (and) saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 3:1-2)

As we approach the Season of Lent, a key aspect of the Christian life is conversion (also called repentance). This means to turn away from sin, to “throw off the works of darkness (and) put on the armor of light,” as Saint Paul put it, to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” instead. (Romans 13:12-14) Conversion means changing one’s life and allowing Christ, not sin, to live in one’s heart and mind.

The theme of repentance echoes in the words of John the Baptist and of Jesus. John, in the desert, preached repentance and accompanied his call with a baptism by water. Jesus, coming out of the desert just after having fasted for forty days and been tempted by the devil, used the same words as John: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 4:17)

Repentance for sin in the teaching of John and Jesus was not new. On countless occasions in the Old Testament, sinners were called upon to repent lest disaster fall on them. Those who repented were spared the wrath of God. Those who persisted in their evil were destroyed. King David repented before the Lord when he realized the evil of what he had done to Uriah the Hittite, (cf. 2 Samuel 12:13) and the Lord made his line that from which would spring the Messiah. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah did not repent and their cities were destroyed. (Genesis 19:24) But when Jonah preached a message of repentance to the people of Nineveh they were spared because they repented. (cf. Jonah 3:10) The Ninevites answered the call to conversion.

In the gospels, the necessity and power of conversion and repentance show up time and again. Coming out of the desert, virtually the first words Jesus preached were about repentance. When he spoke to the woman caught in adultery, after those who would have stoned her had left “one by one,” he forgave her sin and called upon her to let this experience bring about conversion in her life. “Go,” Jesus said to her, and “from now on do not sin any more.” (John 8:11) Jesus called the woman to conversion.

In his parables, Jesus used the image of the prodigal son and the loving father to teach about the need for conversion and also the need to be able to forgive. The son, who squandered his inheritance and fell upon hard times finally comes to his senses, and returns home to his father to admit his sin and to ask just to be treated as one of the hired workers. The father welcomes his son in love, rejoicing that he who was lost is found, who was dead is alive. (Luke 15:32) It is God who moves human hearts to seek his mercy, to repent of sin, to rejoice in forgiveness, and to change the course of their lives. Had he not responded to the movement of the Lord in his heart, the prodigal son would have starved to death in a foreign land, far from his nation and family and faith.

In that same chapter as part of another parable, Jesus teaches that “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.” (Luke 15:7)

Jesus also gave the apostles a powerful example of the need for repentance, forgiveness, and conversion. Peter had denied Jesus three times, and after the resurrection Jesus gave Peter the opportunity three times to proclaim his love for Jesus again. (John 21:15-17) This man who had been the rock on which Jesus said he would build his Church had failed terribly, yet he responded to Jesus’ call to repent of his sin, to be forgiven, and to convert his life away from one of sin and fear to one of holiness and hope – and Peter became a great leader in the Church, the head of the apostles, the specific one whom Jesus told “feed my sheep.”

One common use of the word conversion refers to people switching from one religion or denomination to another. While that common usage is a valid one, for the purposes of the Church conversion is an ongoing process for Christian believers. In our own lives as members of the Church, we are called to repentance and conversion repeatedly. By baptism the sin of Adam and Eve was washed away and we entered into a right relationship with God. Being weak and subject to temptation, we fall into sin again, and need continually to seek God’s mercy and forgiveness. In the mystery of conversion, it is the Lord himself who moves our hearts to feel sorry for sin. Our conscience helps us determine when our thoughts, words, or deeds have been contrary to God’s law of love, and our natural remorse leads us back to God.

The saints understand conversion the best of all. These holy men and women who become models of the Christian life for us were keenly aware in their lifetimes of their own need to repent every day, to subdue the sinful desires that temptation awakens within us, to convert every aspect of their lives, to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” again and again. Conversion, they understand, is not a once-and-for-ever proposition, but is necessary every day. By prayer, by sacrifice, by serving the poor and the least among us, all members of the Church are called to allow the mystery of conversion to draw us closer to God and to one another.

Like the loving father who welcomed back his wayward son, the Lord welcomes us with open arms, clothes us in a white garment free from the blemish of sin, and brings us into his banquet again. We who were lost are found. We who were dead are alive again. It is Jesus who accomplishes this within us, the same Jesus who said “Repent and believe in the gospel” two thousand years ago, and who says it to us every day of our lives, calling us to conversion and helping us achieve it.