“Repent: Why We Get It Wrong” Ep#22

What if everything you’ve been taught about repentance is incomplete? In this episode, Chris Jones challenges the traditional Christian understanding of repentance as merely turning from sin. Drawing from the Hebrew concept of “shuvah” and the practice of teshuva, he reveals that biblical repentance is a journey of becoming—not just unbecoming. Through Isaiah 58 and Jesus’s teachings, Chris demonstrates that true repentance means actively loving your neighbor, breaking chains of oppression, feeding the hungry, and administering God’s justice based on need rather than deserve. This isn’t about religious behavior modification—it’s about discipleship that transforms both you and your community.

Episode 22 of “Spiritual Hot Sauce” by Chris Jones is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.  

Transcript

Chris Jones: 0:00

Most Christians have been taught to repent, but what if we've only understood in part what that word actually means? Jesus emerged from 40 days of testing in the wilderness with one primary message, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That single word repent became the foundation of everything he taught. Today we're going back to the original Hebrew shruv and the Greek mentanoe to discover what we've been missing. Welcome. I'm Chris Jones. This is where believers and skeptics alike are invited to embark on a journey of faith, philosophy, and life from a different perspective. Whether we are joined by an insightful guest or we just jump into the deep end, this exploration promises to challenge us all. Are we getting it right? This is Spiritual Hot Sauce. A large number of the people that practice the religion of Christianity define repent or have been taught repent means to be sorryful for and regrets to turn from and do no more. And from that posturing, we are left in a place of refrain of what we don't do. And I'm not debating or challenging that. I'm simply saying that's not the whole definition of repent. That's not what it truly means. That is just a piece or a part of it. That's the equivalent of saying if you're going to leave your driveway, your house in the morning as you drive, you look at what you are turning away from. But you should be heading to something. This should have much more to do with what you are becoming rather than what you are unbecoming. And if your understanding of repentance is incomplete, then your repentance will be incomplete. Repentance is more than just stop sinning. Now, if you've listened to me in the past, you've heard me say there is a difference in being someone who practices the religion of the worship of the deity of Christ versus those who become disciples of Christ. I think what determines the difference is how we define repent, and how we define it will be the outcome of whether we are believers or disciples. Two different behaviors, two different outcomes. See, I think traditionally, and I'm not talking about just Christianity, I'm talking about ancient Hebrew faith as well, ancient Judaism, but it's always been seen as me refraining from something in isolation. And I'm not saying that's not part of it, that that's not where we start, but that's where we seem to leave it. If you look back at the ancient text, there was a long period where how they practiced repenting was with sackcloth and ashes and fasting. Job, the people of Nineveh, I mean the Israelites as a group, this was just how it was done. Up until Isaiah 58. Let me set the scene for you. All of Israel is in a place of repentance. They're repenting by fasting, sackcloth, ashes, as they always had for 1,300 to 1400 years. Now everybody starts getting really frustrated because they don't see God moving or changing anything or giving them justice. They don't feel any closer to God than when they started repenting this way. So God tells Isaiah, his prophet, let your voice cry out loud like a shofar, which was a ram's horn or it was a trumpet. It was used to sound an alarm or to call to assembly or an important announcement. This would have been heard as drop everything and come immediately. This gives us the idea of the weight these words are to carry and how it's to be received. Now, once he has everyone's attention, he delivers to them the message from God. He says, day after day you seek me out, you seem very eager to know me. You're a nation that obeys my commandments. However, while you are repenting, while you are fasting on sack, cloth and ashes, when you're done, there's dissension amongst you, there is strife, there's even fighting. You cannot fast the way you do and expect for your voice to be heard by me. He goes on to tell them, This is how I want you to repent, this is how I want you to fast, to break the chains of the wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and the homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to ignore your own flesh and blood? Then your light will appear like the dawn. Your recovery will come quickly, your righteousness will go before you, and the Lord's glory will be your rear guard. At that time when you call, the Lord will answer. When you cry out, he will say, Here I am. They were understanding repent, much like we understand repent, and that's to be sorry for what you've done and do it no more. But God is saying that's simply the starting point. This is about transitioning and journey and becoming something else. You want justice for you, but this is about justice for everyone. Now in Judaism, they have a word called teshuva. Now you hear the word shuvah in there, which means to repent, but teshuva means literally return to God through the process of repenting. It has a number, the number is 40. And so they believe that every time you see the number 40 in the Bible, it is us being returned to God. But it's typically through testings or trials or our will being changed of what we want and receiving what he wants, which takes us to a much better place, not just for us, but for everyone. Now, these testings and trials aren't there to punish us, but they are to prepare us, much like Jesus was prepared for 40 days in the wilderness to bring the message of repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. After his crucifixion and resurrection, he spent 40 days witnessing. But this isn't the only place the number 40 appears. The number 40 appears in text at least 145 times in the Old and New Testament. Noah's Ark, it reigned for 40 days and 40 nights. King Saul reigned for 40 years. King David reigned for 40 years. Moses was 40 days on the mount receiving the Ten Commandments. The tabernacle, later the temple, the number 40 was so architecturally embedded in it, it becomes overwhelming how important this number is. So every time you see the number 40 in the Bible, it is the path of humanity being changed and being redirected towards God. It is the number of completeness. It's really important that we understand that Teshuvah is about returning to God through journey and your path. It's a process, not an event, and it's done through repentance. Here's how it's practiced: it starts in the month of Alul. It's a lot of time of self-reflection and doing some serious soul searching. It's preparing for what you're going to change in your life, the wrongs you're going to right, where you've hurt other people, how you're going to feed others, how you're going to take care of others, and what you're going to change in your path, in your journey. Now, this is to be taken very seriously. You turn off your phone, you turn off all electronics and distractions, you isolate yourself. This isn't done in community. This is done with great sincerity and prayer and fasting between you and God and self-reflection. Now, on the 30th day, the shofar, the ram's horn, sounds, signaling it's New Year's. It's the day of moving towards atonement with God. This is where we begin. This is where we start actually going to other people and making amends, righting our wrongs. It's where we start actually changing our path. And we do that through service. By helping others, by feeding others, it changes our direction of where we ordinarily would go. By our path being changed by loving and helping others. That is the path that returns us back to God. And on the fortieth day it marks Yom Kippur, the atonement, return to God, if not but just for one day. Now on that morning in the synagogue they have haftarah, and the rabbi will read Isaiah fifty-eight, six and seven, of how God wants repentance to be done. Isn't this the fast that I have chosen? To break the chains of the wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke. Isn't it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and the homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? This is the completion and the fulfillment of Teshuvah, of how they are returned to God through this journey and this path of repenting. Hearing verses six and seven, the attributes that God wants to see, the behaviors that he wants to see come out of repentance. Does any of that sound familiar? Does any of that remind you of the behaviors of Jesus? Acts 1038 says how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil because God was with him. Jesus loved based on need versus deserve. If Jesus would have healed based on deserve, no one gets healed. The justice that Jesus delivered was healing and feeding and loving based on need. When Jesus was asked, What's the most important law in Mosaic law, the mitzvat? Jesus quotes Leviticus 19, 18, of love your neighbor as yourself, because that's what God sees as the fulfillment of repentance. When he's asked by the lawyer, how do I inherit eternal life? Jesus asks him how he reads it. And he says, he quotes Leviticus 19, 18, love thy neighbor as yourself. Jesus says you are correct, do this and you will live. But then the man asks him and challenges him, Well, define my neighbor. Who is my neighbor? He's thinking geographical location. Jesus goes into the parable of the Good Samaritan. And it's the story of this man traveling that is attacked by robbers on this road to Jericho, to Jerusalem, and he is beat severely and badly. They take everything from him. He is left on the side of the road in great distress. Then it says a Levite and a Levite priest travel by on the road and they see the man, but they don't stop. Then he says, a Samaritan, he sees the man and he has compassion on him. And he goes to the man, puts him on his own animal, takes him to the end, tells the innkeeper, I'll pay the bill, just nurture him back to health and help him. And then Jesus asks the man from the perspective of the guy on the side of the rope that was beaten and in distress, who would he say his neighbor is? And the lawyer says, the one that did good. Jesus says, You are correct. So Jesus is demonstrating the robbers are unrepentant. They do what they want, they don't care. Then he shows the religious two, the Levite and the Levite priest. In their minds, they are repentant, they are refraining from sinning. They're not hurting other people. See, they are a lot like the people that Isaiah was talking to in Isaiah 58. They're fasting, they're on their sackcloth and ashes, they're refraining from hurting other people, they're not disobeying the laws of God, but they haven't done anything for anyone else either. They are just living for themselves. They are in incomplete repentance. They understand it in part, so therefore they repent in part. Now the Samaritan would have also been a practitioner of Abrahamic faith, except he was practicing it in accordance with Isaiah 58. Now when Jesus gives his commandment in John 13, 34 and 35, he tells his disciples right before he goes to the cross, this is my commandment, that you love one another, that you love one another as I have loved you. By this the world will know you're my disciple. See, when he is asked what the most important law is, he says, Leviticus 19, 18, to love thy neighbor as thyself. Then when he is asked, Well, who is my neighbor? Jesus describes that it's not geographical location to where you live, but in proximity to where you are to those who have need. And he goes on to explain of how you love somebody in that situation. So now through all of that, he has told us, he has shown us, he has demonstrated it, and then commanded it of us in discipleship, of following his lead and love like he loved, which is Isaiah 58, 6 and 7. See, Jesus is demonstrating for us what correct repentance looks like. And I'm not saying that Jesus had sin in his life that he had to turn from. No, I think if you are hearing it that way, it's because you misunderstand it in part. It has more to do with where you're going and what you're doing than what you're moving away from. Jesus demonstrates true repentance, not just turning from sin, but perpetual teshuvah, becoming mercy for the needy, like Isaiah 58 commands. Disciples live this daily, administering God's justice based on need, not deserved. Thanks for joining me here on Spiritual Hot Sauce. I'd love to hear from you. So please reach out with questions, comments, andor concerns. And don't forget to like, subscribe, and review us. You can follow us on Facebook for updates and information. And if you enjoy the flavor of the sauce, then please share it with others. I would appreciate that. We'll see you next time.