Scripture: Jonah 3:1-10. Psalm 51. Luke 11:29-32:

Teshuvah in the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) means "return" and
denotes repentance. It is a helpful concept for Lent in the passages where
it occurs. Today's first reading shows us Jonah involved with the call to
repentance of the Ninevites and then himself. This is a great parable about
teshuvah. The Ninevites or Assyrians answer the call and do "return" to the
Lord completely. For me, teshuvah represents our making a one hundred and
eighty degree turn away from where our faults and sins and facing God
straight on. Lent is a call to return to the Lord and speak to him face to
face as a friend speaks to a friend. Martin Buber has this to say about
Teshuvah: "Teshuvah, return, is the name given to the act of decision in
its ultimate intensification; it denotes the ultimate turning point in a
man's life, the renewing, the total reversal in the midst of the normal
course of his existence." And Lewis Glinert in his wonderful book called
"The Joys of Hebrew" says, "Teshuvah is the foundation of Jewish morality.
Prophets and rabbis have forever come back to the image of a "return" to
God--a return from what is surely just a temporary estrangement." (Glinert,
p.243). And from the High Holy Day prayers we have this..."and teshuvah,
tefila(prayer), and tsedaka(charity) cancel the strern decree." Jesus,
too, is often speaking about teshuvah or as it is called in the New
Testament "metanoia." He reflects on the example of Jonah and offers its
message to his listeners as a challenge to their searching for signs; only
the sign of Jonah will be given. Metanoia seems to be more cerebral and
helps us to change our behavior patterns towards negativity, rash judging
of others, envy, jealousy, etc. These tendencies are basically quite
boring yet we continue with them year after year without making much change
in ourselves. I am speaking more of myself than you,dear readers. We are
encouraged by Psalm 51 to express our need for repentance and teshuvah.
The Psalm is the greatest of the penitential psalms and prays by itself
without much effort on our part. So the Hebrew teshuvah goes to the heart
of a return to God, while the metanoia puts our minds in harmony with the
gifts of the Holy Spirit. Just knowing them helps us get on the correct
path of our journey with Jesus on the Way of the Cross. They are wisdom,
understanding, knowledge, counsel,fortitude, reverence of the Lord, piety
or devotion. We all need to return to God through these gifts of the
Spirit. I also think these words from T.S.Eliot help us to see the
importance of a return to where we were first thought of in the love of
God: "We shall not cease from exploration/And the end of all our
exploring/Will be to arrive where we started/And know the place for the
first time." (Four Quartets, Little Gidding, IV). Amen.