The Relationship Between Repentance And Faith

How is repentance related to faith, and can I have faith if I have not repented of my sin?
REPENTANCE AND FAITH

Matthew 21, 28 to 32 - Mark 1, 14 to 15 - Romans 2, 1 to 5

Why does Jesus tell this parable?

To answer this question, contextual knowledge is crucial. The historical and literary context, that is to say the events reported in this chapter 21 of Matthew, and in those that follow.

According to Matthew, who is the only evangelist to report this parable, Jesus tells it the day after he entered Jerusalem. But Palm Sunday begins the week of the Passion of Christ. We are therefore in a particular climate.

Already, as soon as he entered Jerusalem, Jesus chased the vendors out of the temple; which is not done to calm the spirits. The next day, he dries up the barren fig tree and refuses to answer the priests who ask him by what authority he acts. It is then that he tells the parable of the two sons, then that of the bad winemakers who keep the fruits for them and kill the master's son. And Jesus to say to these hearers, Wherefore the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation that shall bring forth the fruits thereof (22,43). Matthew adds (in verse 45) that the high priests and Pharisees understood that it was from them that he spoke .

In the next chapter, the discussions between Jesus and the religious leaders become more and more acerbic. Jesus tells the parable of the invitation to feast, invitation rejected by the first guests. Which leads the master to invite anyone.

Finally, in chapter 23, Jesus makes scathing reproaches to the scribes and Pharisees, calling them hypocrites.

It is necessary to have this context in mind to try to grasp the meaning of the parable of the two sons.

A man had two sons.

Who are these two sons? This is the question that Jesus wants to achieve. Indeed, he introduces his commentary by the question: Which of the two did the Father's will? (v. 31). It is to emphasize the difference that exists between the two, and give a key to identify them.

Initially, we do not know who these sons are, but Jesus' presentation of these two young men answers the question.

The father gives the same order to his two sons: Go to work today in the vineyard .

The first responds that he does not want to work in the vineyard, then he changes his mind and goes. About him, Jesus says he repents.

The second tells his father that he wants to work in the vineyard, then he changes his mind and does not go. And, in his case, Jesus does not use the verb to repent .

Does Jesus tell this story only to encourage us to work for God? Not at all, because, in this case, his comment would have been like: Like the first son, repent and go to work!

Instead, he said to his hearers , "Truly, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes will come before you in the kingdom of God .

What does this commentary do here? Why this reference to tax collectors and prostitutes?

There is every reason to believe that Jesus makes a comparison between the first son, who repented and finally did the father's will, and the tax collectors and prostitutes. They would have said, at first, that they did not want to do the will of God, then repented to finally accomplish it.

Who is the second son? Jesus does not answer in a precise way, but there remains only one category of people: the you of verses 31 and 32, that is to say the listeners of Jesus.

So we have the answer to the question: Who are the two sons?

The first symbolizes the collectors of taxes and prostitutes, and through them, all the left behind, the badly seen, the undesirable ...

The second is the image of the hearers of Jesus, with the exception, of course, of tax collectors and prostitutes; that is to say, the well-thinking, the honest people, ... and even more so, the religious.

Jesus draws attention to the difference between honest people and prostitutes.

Where is this difference?

In the morality of each other? No ! At no time does Jesus approach this theme, speaking of good and evil and establishing correlations, for example, between work and good and laziness and evil. If that were the case, we would have a moral discourse here. Moreover, on this point, the parable of Jesus would not fit with reality, because, in matters of morality, it was better to deal with the Pharisees than with tax collectors.

Where is the difference between honest people and prostitutes?

In the ability to change your mind? No more ! For if it were a question of the capacity to change one's opinion, we would have a son who would have changed, and another who would not have done so; The two sons have changed their minds. The lesson of the parable does not relate to the interest of adaptation to the detriment of stubbornness.

So how does Jesus want to attract our attention?

On the ability to keep one's word? No more ! Because the two do not do what they say. We can not trust them.

So what is the message of the parable? Or what is the difference between the two sons?

It is rendered by two terms:

1 proudly : Repentance.

In verse 29, Jesus says that the first son (the one who went to work in the vineyard after saying he would not go) repented. And in verse 32, Jesus reproaches his hearers for not repenting the preaching of John the Baptist.

2 èmement : Faith.

In verse 32, Jesus says that tax collectors and prostitutes believed in the preaching of John the Baptist; whereas they, the honest people, did not believe this preaching.

Repentance and faith.

How does Jesus relate to the two?

By saying (v. 32), precisely, that the Jews who did not repent did not believe.
In asking the question (v. 31): Which of the two did the father's will? Question to which the listeners of Jesus answer: the first son. That is to say, the one who repented.
Note that Jesus does not ask: Which of the two has done well? But: Which of the two did the father's will?

Repentance is not limited to a decision about an idea, which we would call good or bad - like the idea of ​​working to stay in the context of the parable - but in relation to someone; in this case: the Father.

Repentance is a relationship.

A relationship of trust ; that is to say, of faith. A relationship of love.

We do not repent according to morality; for we know that the notions of good and evil are fluctuating according to the times, the environments, and the circumstances.

We repent because we love someone and want to manifest that love. As a result, we change our mind sometimes because we love a living Being, and because love leads us to constantly adapt to others, to change our points of view and actions, then that the application of a rule of conduct may produce a fixed behavior, a stubbornness on principles to the detriment of living beings; in a word: fundamentalism.

This is perhaps the reason why Jesus tells the story of two men who change their minds. To show the fundamentalist Pharisees that this is common behavior, and that it does not matter in itself. That change of idea is not an evil, a sin, it is even rather good sign. Reflecting on your own actions and accepting to change your mind is a mark of intelligence. The important thing is to act out of love for the Father and for others. This is what the Pharisees, committed to the law above all, did not understand.

To repent is to change criteria, references, anchoring, out of love for someone.

What the second son does not do. He has changed his mind and point of view, but not out of love. This is why Jesus does not say that he repented.

Repentance is a new attachment, a relationship of trust. What Jesus calls: believing in him .

But the natural benchmark is itself. Most of our decisions are made based on ourselves, our interests. We are too central to our lives. Even in the religious sphere, the human being is always tempted to look for the answers to his questions while we are invited to look to the Father.

To repent is to look to God and not to oneself. That is to look at others, because love for God induces love for the neighbor.

This is the essential change of direction: to believe in him and not in us.

Extrapolating the parable, one could say that the first son repented not because he felt that his decision not to go to work was bad, but because he thought of his father. His final decision is a choice of love, not good morality.

The question is not: Do I have good principles, good rules of conduct? - Even if this kind of question is not negative - But: Do I love God and my neighbor? If so, we are ready to change our mind again and again; to love more.