Studies in repentance, and not (1): "my sentence inconveniences me!"

by Dan Phillips

[Parental warning: it delights me that some kids read my blogs. In this case, however, you should read beforehand, and decide how to proceed.]

I've seen enough stories similar to the following one, that it finally occurs to me that a series might be in order. I begin, though, by noting that this (like any such post) is written under the provisional assumption that the news article is accurate.

The Bible says a lot about repentance. The common Hebrew verbs used are one that means to regret, feel sorrow; and another that means to turn around, to do an about-face. The most common Greek verb means to have a paradigm-shift, a change of mind that issues in changed behavior.

For our PoMo culture — where if you simply say you're a butterfly, then by jingo you are a butterfly — it is important to remember John the Baptist's words: "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matthew 3:8). Nor can any take shelter in the fiction that repentance is an exclusively Old Covenant notion, for Paul sums up his New Covenant ministry as declaring "first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance" (Acts 26:20).

There is forgiveness in God, but the forgiveness is conditioned on repentance.  God has nothing happy, sweet nor head-patting to say to the man or woman who refuses to repent. "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper," God warns, adding "but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). But God makes it crystal-clear that "He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing" (Proverbs 29:1).

So what is our story, today?

Michael Yavorski pleaded guilty to molesting a child. The middle-aged man reportedly "twice fondled [a twelve-year-old] girl and gave her beer." His victim has repeatedly been to the hospital since, and allegedly cuts herself to relieve the tension. The judge sentenced Yavorski to "three months to two years behind bars, plus a year of probation." The "misdemeanors of indecent assault and furnishing alcohol to a minor" do not require that Yavorski register as a sex-offender.

Yavorski's attorney argued that the sentence should be reduced because it could have a negative impact on Yavorski's business as an ice-cream stand owner.

I'll shift gears a bit, and speak as if I were speaking to Yavorski as a Christian, though I have no idea of the spiritual condition of any of the participants. On the face of it — which is all we have — this doesn't sound as if Yavorski has accepted full responsibility for his crime.

Here's what repentance does. Repentance says I and I alone am responsible for what I did. Repentance says what I did was wrong in God's eyes, and merits Hell. Repentance utterly damns the deed, it puts it to death and buries it with no gravestone and no flowers, and repentance turns one from the deed and from everything that gave birth to the deed.

But wait. There's more.

Part of damning and killing and burying the deed involves restitution to anyone affected by the deed. That is the Bible's orientation from start to finish (cf. Matthew 5:23-26). Did you steal something? Give it back (duh) — with interest. "Justice" according to the Bible is precisely the same. Perpetrators are not rewarded with "three hots and a cot" at victims' expense; they are required to repay. There is virtually no jail system in Biblical law.

How would that apply in this case? I don't know that there is anything Yavorski can do directly to or for his victim, except stay far away from her forever. Obviously, if he lied about her or otherwise slandered her to cover up his crime, he would need to undo that emphatically. But I would think that he would, at the least, accept his sentence and not complain of the inconvenience it cost him.

The perspective would be: I never ever should have done this, and so I will accept what justice requires, and then do more.

For our purposes, I don't want to get into a debate as to whether the sentence is justice in the absolute sense.

The point is, this is justice according to our system, and like Cain, Yavorski is saying — not "My guilt is greater than I can bear," but — "My punishment is greater than I can bear" (Genesis 4:13).

Which isn't, as far as I can see, repentance.

---