Penance - Thoughts for Holy Week from Exodus

Depiction of the Tabernacle from Wikicommons

I grew up under the teaching that penance was a misguided religious practice. I understand the heart of the argument. God’s grace is free. His mercy flows from His nature. We cannot earn our pardon; Christ alone is our atonement. All these things are true. And yet, I have come to believe in the redemptive nature of penance.

I value penance partly from human experience. When we sin against a neighbor, our relationship is damaged. Forgiveness is essential to restore peace; but we as sinners cannot demand forgiveness from those we have wronged Mercy must flow freely for it to carry power. However, mercy will not hit is mark, it will not work its wonders, unless the recipient is truly penitent. Penance is the means by which we recognize and receive the holy gift of mercy.

Scripture shows us the way of penance without instructing us in its theological mysteries. Repentance was the entire message of John the Baptist - the message which prepared the way for our atonement. We see several examples of corporate penance in the Old Testament - the Ninevites fasting in response to Jonah’s preaching, the Israelites weeping at the reading of the Law under Josiah’s reign - and in the Gospels Zaccheus restores four times all the gain he received from cheating. And still, I hear preachers warning against the lure of penance - worried that Christians might think we can earn our salvation or appease the wrath of God by good works.

In our relationship with the LORD, penance is not an attempt to make up for our sins or to fend off God’s anger. Rather, penance is a contrite heart with feet. It is repentance in deed as well as words. It is a pursuit of the Lover of our Souls. And penance, just like mercy, is a gift which comes from God. He is the Healer who teaches us how to walk in paths which restore our souls.

Until last week, I did not understand what a pivotal, redemptive roll penance plays in the story of Exodus, particulary in repairing the damage done in the Golden Calf travesty. I have always marveled at the fact that the LORD keeps Moses with Himself for forty days knowing full well that the Israelites are making an idol in the camp. God’s heart is broken; His anger is burning; and still He fellowships with Moses as a friend. When the forty days are over, when the tablets have been inscribed, then God sends Moses back to camp telling him what has happened in his absence. The LORD threatens to wipe out the people and start over again with Moses, but I think it is clear from the passage that God is moved and relieved when Moses intercedes for them. He does not want to destroy the people, but He cannot abide their faithlessness. He cannot draw close to a people who will not recognize His holiness. God wants Israel to delight in Him; at the very least, they must fear Him. So the LORD says this to Moses.

“Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’  I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.  Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

This solution was an expression of God’s mercy. The people would not be consumed, but His presence would not go with them. Israel mourned, for this distant relationship with God is not what either party had desired. It was not a full repair of the damage in their relationship.

When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. - Exodus 33:4

Contrition is the first act of penance. Putting away the jewelry which God stirred the Egyptians to give them was a concrete expression of contrition. This contrition opened the door for further restorative penance. Moses then prayed to the Lord.

And he (Moses) said to him (the LORD), “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.  For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

 And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”

So God calls Moses up to the mountain again. He speaks His name - the name which is His glory - “ the LORD, the LORD God who is merciful, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love….” Moses stays with the LORD for forty days once again, and this time the people wait in hopeful contrition. When Moses comes down, the construction of the tabernacle begins. People give so much gold and silver, perfume and fine linen that Aaron commands them to stop.

The last few chapters of Exodus are all about the building of the tabernacle. This work is the penance God gives His people to restore relationship. It is the work by which they prove their love for the LORD - and He is right there with them in the work! He gives His spirit to Belzael the craftsman teaching him, Oholiab exactly how to shape all the furnishings of His dwelling place. This sacrifice which of the Israelites turned into their glory - for they were building a home in which the Creator of the Universe would well with them!

Here is the mystery of penance. It was God’s intention all along to restore His people, I believe, for instructions fregarding the tabernacle were given to Moses on his first trip up the mountain - while they were building the golden calf. Contrition opened the door for penance, and the Lord responded to that penance by filling the tabernacle with His presence! This is the wonder of penance and mercy. It is an exchange which manifests the glory of God and His tender presence among His people. It is a repair which which strengthens covenant love.