October 30, 2022 | by Pastor Peter

Wherever religions allow for the forgiveness of sin, there are going to be people trying to game the system. In Old Testament Judaism, many of the people offered empty religious rituals, but the prophets called the people to genuine repentance. While there are no sacrifices to be offered in Christianity, God still demands that his people practice genuine repentance.

We see how repentance works in the interaction between Jesus and the tax collector Zacchaeus. You might know the children’s song about how Zacchaeus is a short man who climbs a tree to see Jesus, but what happens when they encounter one another is a picture of what it looks like to turn our lives around. Jesus shocks the tax collector by asking to stay with him. This encounter leads Zacchaeus to radically change the way that he lives, giving away half his wealth and making restitution for his wrongs

There are four things we see in his encounter with Jesus that are true in all instances of genuine repentance 1) God takes the initiative, 2) the invitation is given irrespective of merit, 3) it leads to a transformation that works itself out in changed action and 4) it allows the person to take up the calling that sin forced them to abandon.