Remembering Repentance

In preparation for this Sunday's Easter service at Crossroads--hey, you should come if you can!--I've been writing a sermon on one of Luke's resurrection stories. It's a ripper. Luke 24:36-49. But something that's really hit me is a reminder of the place of 'repentance' when the New Testament talks about people becoming Christians. Particularly, I'm wondering if that biblical emphasis is reflected in my (and, our) preaching.

Here's how Bock puts it (long quote, worth it):

“For Luke, repentance is the summary term for the response to the apostolic message […] Change in thinking (i.e., a reorientation) is basic to human response to God's message. People must change their minds about God and the way to him, especially their thinking about sin, their inability to overcome sin on their own, Christ's essential role in forgiveness, and the importance of depending on him for spiritual direction. Those responding to the apostolic message of the gospel must come to God on his terms in order to experience the forgiveness that comes in the name of Jesus. But repentance means more than changing one's mind about God. People must also change their minds about who they are and how they can approach God. Repentance involves turning to and embracing God in faith. Forgiveness of sin comes to those who stretch out a needy hand to Jesus, clinging to him alone and recognizing that without him there is no hope.” Bock, Luke (BECNT), 1940.

These two things gripped me: "Repentance"; and, "without him there is no hope"