Let us pray: Come Holy Spirit, inhabit these words, work in our hearts and minds, that we may see and be your dream for our world. Amen.
Guess who’s back? John the Baptist, AGAIN! When Jesus hears about his cousin’s arrest, he goes to Galilee. He leaves his home in Nazareth and sets up in Capernaum, by the sea. He calls some of his first disciples, Andrew, Peter, James and Jon, and he launches his public ministry. Remember when his mom wanted him to help with the wedding feast in Cana and he told her it wasn’t his time? Now, it’s his time. And from this point he begins changing his world in ways that are still resonating today. The first message of Jesus’ public ministry is: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” (Matt 4: 17)
Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.
Now, this word repent can come with some pretty negative connotations, as in, repent for all of the terrible things you’ve done you horrible person.
But…from the Greek, Metanoeo, maybe you recognize, metanoia, the changing of one’s heart or mind, changing one’s way of being. Change your hearts, and change your lives, is Jesus’ springboard. In the best of circumstances, new ways of seeing and thinking lead us to realize that the way we were operating in the past wasn’t good for us, but it doesn’t have to mean a terrible beating up of ourselves over how we couldn’t quite see or understand something, about how we made bad decisions or choices. Remember, the things that we realize we need to repent of, to change our minds, hearts, and lives about, are NOT who we are. Those times when we fall, and make mistakes, don’t define us. God loves us not due to anything we do or don’t do, but just for the sheer fact that God is love. That is God’s nature. We are loved because God is love. God couldn’t act any other way!
Change your hearts and your lives because the Kingdom of Heaven has come near, Jesus says. The Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God, as in, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, or The Reign of God, all of these are sometimes confused with the idea of heaven itself as some far-off, perfect place that, if we are good enough, we’ll get into later after we die. NOPE.
Jesus begins his ministry by telling us to change our way of thinking and being because the Kingdom of Heaven, is very near, in fact, it’s here and now in his words and actions, becoming more and more real every day. This Kingdom, or KINdom of God, God’s kin coming together in peace and love, is something that Jesus has brought and something that we are invited to help create with our actions. Our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry often refers to this as God’s dream for us. God’s dream for a world and a humanity in right relationship with itself, with creation, and with God. Throughout his life, Jesus talks about this kingdom again and again.
‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ (Mark 1:15)
‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. (Mark 4:26-7)
With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’ (Mark 4:30-32)
‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ (Mark 10:14-5)
But he said to them, ‘I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.’ (Luke 4:43)
Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. (Luke 8:1)
…And he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. (Luke 9:2)
Jesus and his disciples are proclaiming that God’s way of being in our world, this good news of the kingdom that Jesus exemplifies by curing every disease and every sickness among the people, this way of God exercising divine power, is a loving way, a healing way, an inviting in, a valuing of all people, and of all things, kind-of-way. For the people of his time and for us, this kind of rule, authority, or governance, is VERY different from anything that we have ever known. And that is the point. This is a radical new change, a metanoia in the way we order things in our lives. And Jesus is calling us to participate in its creation. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus is announcing that this Kindom of God, God’s dream for us, is active and happening here and now. It was foretold and witnessed by John the Baptist, put into action through the loving ministry of Jesus, continued by his disciples, and now, taken up by us. God’s love, forgiveness, and care are here for us to take part in now.
I hope you can come to realize that you don’t need to work and worry about getting into heaven after you die. You don’t need to! Seriously. Change your mind, change your heart, heaven is already here! It can be recognized in the smallest things and then shared in the smallest of ways. When we, like the brothers, Peter, Andrew, James and Jon, hear Jesus’ call and follow him, then we too can start seeing, seeking, and helping Jesus create the Kindom of God now.
Where can you find evidence of God’s dream on earth?
In the beauty of nature: mountains, trees, lakes,
rivers, oceans, sunsets,
the amazing diversity and beauty of our human, plant, and animal populations,
the joy of children, the warmth and tenderness of relationships, the generosity of others? In SO many ways Heaven is all around us, the reality of God’s loving care a reality of this world we live in here and now.
Siblings in Christ, I pray that today we may heed Jesus’ call to repent, to begin to see and hear differently, to recognize God’s love at work all around us. And then to join together with John the Baptist and Jesus to call others to this metanoia with us, to share what we have seen, and through our words and actions bear witness, and help to create God’s dream for us. Amen.
