When Justin Bieber Sings, "Sorry"...

Isaiah 55:1-9
55:1 Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
55:2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
55:3 Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
55:4 See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.
55:5 See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
55:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;
55:7 let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

 


Perhaps...somehow...you have no idea who Justin Bieber is.  If so, as the Aussies say,"Good on you!"  If not, and you know who Justin Bieber is then you probably find yourself groaning in pain any time you hear this particular man-child's name.  I know I do.  Recently Biebs released a song called "Sorry".  It was my deeply held hope and dream that it would contain a heartfelt apology to America for single-handedly embodying every single negative celebrity cliche simultaneously (even though he is Canadian) with a promise to do better in the future.  Sorrowfully it was yet another one of the "open letter" style songs he and his former flame Selena Gomez have tossed back and forth now for the last couple of years.  A fellow can hope.

No, this deeply thought out Pop behemoth (it charted number one for three weeks only to be replaced by another of his uber-catchy pop anthems: "Love Yourself" which also seems to be about Gomez) is merely another attempt to apologize for the unnecessarily public train wreck that was his relationship with the equally royal pop star Selena Gomez.  It included such thought out sentiments as:

"Ooh, ooh
I'm sorry, yeah
Ooh, ooh
Sorry, yeah
Ooh, ooh
Sorry"

He doesn't even have the decency to pronounce it "sooorry" like a proper Canadian.

 

 But enough on Justin, he has plenty of problems already, I want to take a moment to grumble about the whole notion of "sorry".  And yes, I do feel a little grumbly about the whole notion of apology.  We have become a nation of folks who either feel compelled to apologize for things that have nothing to do with us, or who fail to altogether apologize for any sort of malfeasance no matter how egregious.  I blame the whole notion of apology itself.



First of all far too often "I am sorry" means: "I am sorry...you caught me doing something", or "I am sorry...you are upset about something I did.", or  "I am sorry... your anger/frusteration/sorrow/loss makes me feel uncomfortable."

Let's be clear the Bible has exceedingly few examples of people saying they are "sorry" or making any sort of apology.  It isn't biblical and it may not be very useful....Now repentance on the other hand....

Word Study Alert!
The word "Repent" in English is translated from the word "metanoeo" or "μετανοέω" (if you read Greek).  It is the same word that gives us concept word in English like "metamorphosis" and is the word that the ancients used to refer to the change of colors that leaves do in the fall.  It means more than to say you are "sorry".   it means to genuinely feel remorse for what you did wrong and actively choose to turn and face away from the the thing that you did and go the opposite direction. 

The Biblical concept of "repentance" includes not only a choice to ask for forgiveness but a promise to act differently in the future in a concrete way.  If I step on your toes I might say, "Forgive me for stepping on your toes, I will try in the future to look where I am stepping so as to avoid crushing your feet."  It is not so much a statement of my desire to absolved of my feeling of discomfort for your hard feelings as it is  a pledge to behave differently and a request for your forgiveness.



The difference is that an apology is a powerless thing that moves us nowhere useful, and repentance is a powerful thing that moves us toward new life.  Apology leaves the one offering it in the same place they started, albeit in a more comfortable frame of mind. It lacks the power to create change and growth.  An apology can also serve to humiliate the one who offers it when it comes with no change of relationship. This is the opposite of God's call to repentance.Repentance is to move a person to a more healthy state of being and heals broken relationships. Our problem with it is we are unsure of how to find the right direction to turn to.

God does not want your apology or your sorriness.

In the book of Isaiah the prophet is telling about how the role of Israel is to call the nations of the world to repentance.  Isaiah writes, "Seek the LORD while he may be found...let the wicked forsake their way...let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them...for he will abundantly pardon."  

The definition of lost is "to not know what direction to go in"  God calls the lost to repentance by showing us the direction...Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life..."  Turn and face the love of God that comes in Jesus and know that your repentance is not an act of humiliation, false sorrow, or relational  manipulation as it is a call to live a new life

It is God's desire to see the broken made whole. God seeks to make whole the broken relationships of his lost children.  He seeks to lead them home, first with Israel's call to repentance and then through the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ calling us all to repentance. God wants us to repent, but he has no use for our discomfort, our sorrow, our tears. God wants us to repent, in the truest sense of the word, and return to his love. When we do, Isaiah promises us, we are faced with a God who will "have mercy on them" and "abundantly pardon".  

.So.  Maybe Justin IS sorry, let's hope he is repentant too...let's hope we all are.