Luke's account of Jesus' stories about the lost sheep and the lost coin can make clearer the deeper significance and meaning of repentance: the actions of a shepherd who watches his flock and a woman who cares for her savings.
Most Christians see repentance as the action of changing their way of life. This perception overlooks a much richer understanding and experience of God's love and care for his people.
A shepherd who sees one of his flock has disappeared will act in one of two ways: either he will ignore the lost animal, perhaps because the flock is already large and he does not have a personal care for each of his charges or immediately he will leave the flock that is together with other shepherds or sheep dogs to search out in nearby areas, calling out for the lost one. As the shepherd calls out, hoping that the wandering one will hear his voice and then will come back to him. When he does, his genuine care for the animal is evidenced by his lifting the animal up on his shoulders and bringing it home with the flock.
Before the one lost sheep returned, the shepherd is out seeking the errant animal. Why? Because the man to whom the animal was entrusted has a particular care for it. He sees real value in the animal. But notice this: the lost sheep did not return to the flock on its own. The shepherd took the initiative to find the wanderer.
True repentance is the experience of our responding to the graces, the signals, if you will, that calling of God to the sinner who has separated him/herself from a loving God. It is the awareness of God's efforts, his love for the sinner, that leads the sinner to return -- giving up sinful ways -- a rebuilding of the life of grace with the God who sent different signals, inviting the sinner to return. True repentance is seeing that we are already in the loving arms of God ... before we decide it's time to give up what separates us from God and return to his loving care.
