In today’s gospel Jesus opened the minds of his disciples to understand the scriptures, commissioning them to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Taking that mission to heart, Peter urged his listeners, “Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”
Converted has many meanings including transformed. Not only was Jesus transformed through his resurrection, but the disciples had been as well and potentially we too can be.
While browsing in a gift shop, a couple admired a display of teacups. Picking one up, the wife said, “Look at this lovely teacup. This is one of the loveliest teacups I have ever seen!” Then would you believe it? The teacup said to them, “Thank you for the compliment but I wasn’t always this beautiful.”
Now, wouldn’t you drop a teacup in shock if one talked to you? Instead of being surprised, the wife calmly asked, “What do you mean that you weren’t always beautiful?” “Well,” answered the teacup, “Once I was just an ugly lump of clay, but one day a man with dirty wet hands threw me on a wheel. Then he started turning me around and around until I got so dizzy that I couldn’t see straight. ‘Stop! Stop!’ I cried. But the man with the wet hands said, ‘Not yet!’
“Then he started to poke me and punch me until I hurt all over. ‘Stop! Stop!’ I cried but he again said, ‘Not yet!’ Finally, he did stop but then he did something worse. He put me into a big furnace! I got hotter and hotter until I thought I was going to burn up. ‘Stop! Stop!’ I pleaded but again he said, ‘Not yet!’ Finally he took me out of the furnace. When I cooled down, a lady slobbered me with glaze and I was put back in the furnace. ‘Stop! Stop!’ I cried again but she said, “Not yet!” Finally, she put me on a shelf next to a mirror. When I looked at myself, I couldn’t believe what I saw. I was no longer an ugly lump of clay. I was beautiful, firm, and clean. I cried for joy. Then I realized all that pain was worthwhile. Without that pain, I would still be ugly and dirty. The pain has passed but the beauty remains.”
Like the teacup, we too will be transformed but do you ever imagine what our glorified bodies will look like in heaven? Jesus is giving us a foretaste of what God intends for us.
He appeared to his disciples more than once after the resurrection, eating fish, going through locked doors, which no earthly body can do, and assuring them that he wasn’t a ghost. They saw his wounded glorified body, which of course amazed them.
Like the teacup, bruised and poked along the way toward becoming beautiful, we are often wounded in this lifetime. Our wounds, suffered for the sake of the gospel, will be part of our glory, just as Jesus’ wounds are part of his glorified body. Our wounds result from being faithful in our vocation, sacrifices made for the sake of our family, asserting the values of human life, speaking out against the injustices of our world, being honest, the rejection or criticism suffered when we speak up for our faith and even our repented sins.
Jesus told the disciples to go and preach the message of repentance to transform us but why? Without repentance, there is no peace, which implies restored relationships between God and us, and people among people. The peace that the risen Christ brought to the disciples was a release from their shame and failures; this truly transformed them. That same peace is offered to us when we choose to repent.
But what happens if we don’t? Do you recall the ghost of Jacob Marley? He appeared before Scrooge wrapped in a chain “made heavy with boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds and heavy steel purses.” He was bound to his chain of sins for eternity. The first two readings assure us that we don’t have to go to our graves bound by our sins. We can break their grasp on us by following Peter’s advice.
Repentance brings us God’s forgiveness, which wipes our slates clean and our sins away. No guilt, no bondage, no jail time, no chains clanking into eternity. God wants to fill us with forgiveness and peace but that can only happen if we admit that we have sinned and we are sorry.
To remain stuck in one’s ways and unrepentant is to remain that lump of clay. To receive forgiveness, we have to admit to our wrong doing, knowing that something has to change. An apology is not enough. Imagine the potter saying, “Not yet! Not yet!” We must also change our ways and turn to God. Realizing that sin stops us from becoming holy can prompt us to put more effort into resisting the temptation to commit that sin again. As John points out, we know we are in a relationship with God when we obey his commands.
Sin weighs heavy on our minds and hearts just as it once did on the disciples, but Jesus did not focus on their sins. He instead offered them peace and forgiveness. He offers us the same today. Our repentance, our turning to God and receiving forgiveness enables us to recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread and bring to others what was given to us…the peace that comes with being in close relationship with Jesus. The time for loosing the chains of sins is now, so we don’t have them binding us, unlike Marley, for all eternity.
Like the teacup, whatever pain we experience in being transformed into something beautiful for God will pass. But the beauty of our glorified bodies in heaven will remain forever and ever.