Rend Your Heart
Different cultures observe unique mourning customs, each reflecting their beliefs and traditions. In times of sorrow, some wear black as a symbol of grief, others shave their heads to mark a transition, and some withdraw from social interaction to process their loss. These practices serve as expressions of mourning, helping individuals and communities navigate grief in ways that are culturally meaningful.
People in biblical times often expressed mourning through visible and symbolic acts. A common practice was tearing one's garments as a sign of deep sorrow, accompanied by wearing sackcloth—a coarse, uncomfortable fabric—and covering oneself in ashes, representing humility and repentance. These outward expressions reflected an inward grief, whether personal or communal. Here are some key examples from Scripture:
Daniel, recognizing the prophecy of Jerusalem’s desolation lasting seventy years, humbly turned to God in prayer, fasting, and mourning, wearing sackcloth and ashes as a sign of repentance. He earnestly confessed the sins of his people and pleaded for God’s mercy, seeking restoration and divine intervention (Daniel 9:3).
After hearing Elijah’s prophecy of judgment for his sins, King Ahab responded with deep remorse. He tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, fasted, and walked humbly, showing outward signs of repentance for his role in Naboth’s unjust death (1 Kings 21:27)
Upon hearing the Assyrian threat against Jerusalem, King Hezekiah responded with deep distress. He tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the Lord, seeking divine guidance and intervention in the face of impending danger (2 Kings 19:1).
On learning of the decree to annihilate the Jews, Mordecai publicly mourned by tearing his clothes, wearing sackcloth and ashes, and crying out in distress. His grief reflected the urgency of the crisis, prompting a chain of events that led to Esther’s courageous intervention (Esther 4:1).
Overwhelmed by sorrow, they tore their garments and put on sackcloth, outwardly showing their grief. Spiritual responses often accompanied this visible act of mourning. Things like fasting, prayer, and repentance reflected a deep longing for God’s intervention and restoration.
However, over time, even well-intentioned traditions can lose their original significance. When this happens, some individuals continue observing the practice out of habit rather than the significance of its deeper meaning.
Scripture provides a clear illustration in Genesis 37. Jacob sent Joseph to report on his ten brothers, who were tending their father’s flock. Seized by envy, they conspired to kill him, but Reuben, the firstborn, intervened—persuaded them to throw Joseph into an empty pit instead, secretly intending to rescue him later and return him safely to Jacob.
Once the brothers agreed to Reuben’s plan, he withdrew—planning to return later—while they left Joseph bound in the pit. Seizing the opportunity for profit, the brothers sold Joseph to a passing caravan of Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. When Reuben returned and found the pit empty, he openly lamented Joseph’s disappearance.
Genesis 37:29-32 (ESV)
29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes 30 and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy his gone, and I, where shall I go?” 31 Then they took Joseph’s robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not.” 33 And he identified it and said, “It is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.”
Reuben’s tearing of his garments signaled genuine anguish and his resolve to rescue Joseph, reflecting the firstborn’s sense of responsibility to their father. Yet when his brothers slaughtered a goat, stained Joseph’s robe with its blood, and claimed a wild animal had devoured him, Reuben agreed—likely out of fear of their wrath or a misguided wish to keep peace. His compliance exposes a tension between outward expressions of grief and inner compromises of conscience: he tore his garments but not his heart.
This episode highlights how visible rituals, no matter how sincere they appear, can mask unresolved fear and moral hesitation. True integrity demands that our internal convictions align with our external actions, lest symbolic gestures become hollow performances.
As we've seen, people normally followed the tearing of garments and the donning of sackcloth with concrete acts of repentance. Yet Reuben carried silent sorrow for twenty-two years over Joseph’s fate and the lie told to their father, never translating his outward mourning into true repentance.
In Genesis 42:22, Joseph’s brothers admitted that their present suffering reflected the guilt they bore for shedding his blood, viewing their hardship as just recompense. Reuben then reproached them, reminding them that he had pleaded to spare Joseph’s life and that they must now face the consequences of their actions. This underscores that Reuben continued to carry guilt over the entire episode. To uncover the deeper lesson, consider the following questions:
Why did Reuben’s guilt endure for years without driving him to genuine repentance?
When he rent his garments at the empty pit, did his inner being likewise tear?
Might the passing years have gradually dulled his conscience?
Reuben’s example reminds us that believers must neither quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19) nor harden their hearts under His conviction (Hebrews 3:8–15).
What God desires
Scripture affirms in 1 Samuel 16:7—“The Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Consequently, God rejected mere outward mourning rituals when they became empty ceremonies devoid of genuine repentance.
And in Joel 2:12-13, God asked for a change: “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. (Joel 2:12-13, ESV)
God calls us to rend our hearts, for the heart is the wellspring of all we do. “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the source of life” (Prov 4:23). As our Lord taught, “from within, out of the heart of men, come evil thoughts…sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness” (Mark 7:21; Matt 15:19–20). God cares less for outward actions than for the inner root from which they spring.
Thus, the Gospel confronts the heart itself. One may cease theft and adultery, yet still harbor covetous desires. God’s work, however, is to cleanse and transform our innermost being—“I will give you a new heart” (Ezek 36:26)—so that our repentance springs from genuine brokenness. What, then, does a heart truly torn before the Lord look like?
The Psalmist shows us a heart God won’t despise in Psalm 51:17;
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
God calls for inside-out renewal—a broken spirit and contrite heart rather than mere rituals. Outward signs—torn garments, sackcloth, fasting, weeping—once pointed to genuine remorse, but without inner brokenness they become empty performances.
In Isaiah 58, God had rebuked His people for their hollow fasting, exposing the hypocrisy behind their rituals. Though they had afflicted themselves outwardly—bowing their heads, wearing sackcloth, and proclaiming their devotion—their hearts had remained unchanged. They had oppressed their workers, pursued selfish gain, and neglected justice and mercy, all while expecting God's favor.
Rather than the fast they had observed, God desired a different kind of worship—one that sprung from genuine righteousness. He called them to loose the chains of injustice, set the oppressed free, share their food with the hungry, and clothe the naked. Only then would their worship have honored God.
Their story stands as a warning: outward displays of piety do not move God, but hearts transformed in obedience to His will.
Genuine repentance sprouts from inward brokenness. Contrition begins with an honest confession of sins, followed by obedience, and then bears fruit in transformed attitudes and actions brought about by God’s transforming grace.
Peter and Judas both betrayed the Lord, yet the condition of their hearts determined their paths. Their contrasting responses reveal the difference between godly sorrow from the heart and worldly grief.
Peter’s denial of Jesus three times was followed by “bitter tears” (Luke 22:62)—a sorrow born of godly conviction that immediately drove him back to the risen Christ. In John 21, Jesus restored Peter with threefold questions of love and commissioned him to “feed my sheep,” showing that true repentance brings reconciliation and renewed purpose.
Judas, by contrast, “felt remorse” after handing Jesus over for thirty pieces of silver (Matt 27:3), but his sorrow never turned inward toward God. He returned the money to the religious leaders, refused to seek divine mercy, and “went away and hanged himself” (Matt 27:5). His grief remained an empty gesture, a heart unyielded to grace through repentance.
This contrast teaches us that:
Godly sorrow wounds the heart, yet heals through confession and restoration—“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10, ESV).
True repentance is more than regret—it is a turning to Christ in brokenness.
Visible remorse without inward surrender is a dangerous deception that leads to death.
May we, like Peter, allow our failures to drive us into Christ’s embrace, rather than echoing Judas’s despairing end.
In Matthew 23:25–28, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their outward religious appearance while their hearts remained full of greed and wickedness—teaching that genuine devotion must spring from inward purity, not merely outward show.
Matthew 23:25–28 (ESV)
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
True repentance springs from genuine brokenness from the inside-out, leading our hearts into full submission to Christ and His grace. A believer's authentic transformation goes deeper than outward appearances; rend your heart, surrender to the Spirit's purifying power, and embrace the liberty of God's grace.
Amen.
