12 “Even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return to me with all your heart,
    with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

If you’re a parent, it’s easy to spot true repentance. I’ve got four kids in the house, which means that they have to say ‘sorry’ a lot. But not all ‘sorries’ are created equal. Many times ‘sorry’ is contrived, forced, said but not meant. Many times a child says ‘sorry’ simply because they’re caught or because they’re in trouble, not because they have any sorrow or remorse for their actions. Just because you say ‘sorry’ it doesn’t mean you actually mean it.

In Joel 2, God is judging Israel for this very truth. They sin, they mistreat others, the prostitute themselves before other gods, and then they come to the temple and say ‘sorry’ to God. But God can see right through their faux repentance, just like we can immediately sense whether our children are authentic in their repentance. So in verse 13, God says “Rend your hearts and not your garments.” Rather than going through the outward motions of repentance (rending the garments), God told them to rend their hearts.

God doesn’t want you to go through the motions. God is unmoved by rituals with no authenticity behind them. We can attend church all we want, but rituals do not equal authenticity. We can sing as loudly our hearts desire, but if the heart is right behind it then it’s simply noise. We can wear as many Christian t-shirts as we can afford, but what’s on the outside is never an automatic indication of what’s on the inside.

Jesus spoke to this same truth when he judged the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, 25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” Matthew 23:25-26

Ritual never substitutes for authenticity. Rend your hearts, not your garments.