Call to repentance

The Meaning of Repentance

To repent means to regret, be sorry, feel sorrow or feel ashamed for any wrong done. Therefore, repentance is the act of regretting or feeling sorry or ashamed for any wrongdoing. It is the realization that what we have done is bad/wrong and we are ready to apologize and ask for forgiveness.

King David Obeys God’s Call to Repentance. 2 Sam. 12:7-13, Ps. 51:1-19

David was the second King of Israel. The Israelite army was fighting against the Ammonites. David did not go to fight the war. One day as he was walking on the roof top of his house, he saw a beautiful woman next door taking her bath. David asked his servants who the woman was. They told him that she was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, one of his soldiers fighting in the war against the Ammonites. Later, he told his servants to bring the woman to his palace. The woman came and David slept with her and she became pregnant.

David called Uriah from the battlefield and tricked him to go home to sleep with his wife so that (he) David could make him responsible for the pregnancy. But Uriah refused and in the end David had him killed in the battle. David then married Bathsheba, who later gave birth to a son.

David did not feel sorry for the wrong he had done. Therefore, God sent the prophet Nathan to call him to repentance. Nathan told David the story of a poor man who had one lamb and a rich man who had plenty of sheep and goats.  One day, the rich man had a visitor and he took the lamb of the poor man and killed it for his visitor.

When David heard the story he became angry and said the rich man should be put to death. The prophet told him that he was the ‘rich man’ in the story. When David realized that what he had done was wrong, he repented. He felt very sorry and asked God for forgiveness; and God forgave him. The call of David to repentance and his response is found in Psalm 51.

Zacchaeus Responds to the Call to Repentance (Luke 19: 1 – 10)

Zacchaeus , a short man, was a chief tax collector in the town of Jericho. He used to cheat the people by collecting more than the tax he was supposed to collect. He made use of the surplus tax for himself (fraud).One day, Jesus was passing through Jericho to Jerusalem. Many people came to see him. Zacchaeus was among them. But because he was short , he climbed a tree to see Jesus pass by: when Jesus reached where Za Zacchaeus was , he askes him to come down from the tree. Jesus told him that He will spend the night in his house. Zacchaeus was very happy and walked Jesus to his house. But the people were not happy because Zacchaeus was a bad man who did not feel sorry for cheating the people and so,they protested and said ‘Jesus has gone to be a guest to a bad man. Both Jesus and Zaccheaus,heard  the protest, Zaccheaus then saw the protest as a call to repentence, He felt ashamed for having cheated the people all this while. He promise to refund all the surplus tax he had taken from the people.  Jesus was very happy for the repentence and said ”Today salvation had come to Zaccheaus

Zacchaeus on the top of a sycamore tree to see Jesus

CLASS ACTIVITY

Students should sing a song on Zacchaeus repentance. An example can be seen below:

O Zacchaeus come down from the sycamore tree Zacchaeus come down from the tree

Zacchaeus come down from the tree.

EVALUATION

1. What is repentance?
2. Explain how Zacchaeus responded to the call to repentance.