Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27:1, 5-13, I Corinthians 1:10-18, Matthew 4:12-23
Jesus takes up the announcement that was made first by John the Baptist: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” But unlike John the Lord Jesus does not wait for people to come to him. He goes fishing.
He catches Simon and Andrew, and he challenges them: “I will make you fishers of people.” Which metaphor is odd, because fishermen are enemies of fish; no fish ever consents to be caught. Well, the Kingdom of Heaven does involve some dying, some disruption, some repentance. Then Jesus catches James and John as well. This is the beginning, this disruption will change their lives forever, and this begins to change the world.
When Jesus repeats the announcement of John the Baptist he shifts the meaning, and stresses more the second part: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” With John, you repent first, you go down to the river to get clean before the kingdom comes. But the Lord Jesus brings the kingdom with him. You repent as a response to it. He takes it from the lakeshore up to the dry hills of Galilee, to the villagers, and their repentance is to accept its coming right there, at home, and the healing is the sign that it has come.
In their villages, not in Jerusalem. In Galilee, not in Judea. In The Bronx, not Manhattan. In the north, in the tribal lands of Zebulon and Naphtali, the borderlands of Lebanon and Syria, a region that has always been a battlefield, then as now, one army after another marching through, pillaging the crops and ravaging the women.
It was a region of Jews in poverty, and of gentrifying Gentiles moving in. The Jews were in depression, and they felt like exiles in their own land. What to do about the Gentiles?
The Galilean patriots were at first attracted to Jesus bringing the Kingdom of Heaven, but then when he didn’t tell the Gentiles to go back to Iowa they were disappointed in him. He didn’t bring it as a kingdom of independence but of interaction.
It’s not for ridding your life of enemies but for loving your enemies close at hand. It’s not for getting rid of your troubles, but for transforming your troubles. It’s not the bright light of the noontime, but the light that shines in the darkness. The Kingdom of Heaven is for the mixed-up reality of your lives. It’s the light that shines before you to help you find your way. It’s the light that shines on your skin to give you hope again.
Following Jesus is not magic. You do it in fits and starts, with gaps and hesitations, and doubts and disappointments. You know this for yourself. Following Jesus is just not a sudden simple thing or one nice gradual evolution. You get an experience wherein you notice God. And then there is a gap, and you wonder if it was real, and if anything has really changed. Maybe it was just your wishful thinking. The voice of God is not discrete from your own self-enclosed experience. But then something happens or somebody says something that takes you further, and you feel called again. Now God is asking more of you, a greater measure of devotion, a higher ethic, a more demanding justice, a challenging reconciliation, profounder grace.
Jesus says, “Follow me.” That’s open-ended. You’d like to know first where he’s going. “Why not just tell me where we’re going, give me the directions, and I’ll get myself there? Just tell me what it is I need to repent of, I don’t mind, tell me what I did wrong, and I’ll be sorry and I’ll address it.”
Nope. Open-ended. Liberated. You are called to freedom. And that means disruption, because freedom is always a disruption. But your life is full of disruptions anyway. You manage your disruptions all the time, and you choose among them. To choose for certain disruptions is the meaning of repentance and discipleship. It’s a package: The kingdom is what Jesus brings, and to receive it is repentance, to explore it is discipleship, and to embody it is healing.
The lakeshore is a metaphor. Melody and I have a lakeshore cottage in Canada. Of course, most of the time we are not actually in the water. We are land creatures, we are only guests in the lake and we can drown in it although we love it and enjoy it. But yet the lake is always there, always present, always in our awareness, that other world right there that constantly determines our life on shore.
Discipleship feels like that to me, repentance feels like that, like living along the lake, living on the boundary of two worlds, two realms of existence. The one realm is the one we’re born into and we’re used to, where we can make our own way, where we don’t have to follow anybody. The other realm of existence is right there, always with you, as close as heaven is to earth, but it’s wide open, and you’re drawn to it but you’re unsure in it.
When you look around at this world that you’re used to from within the air of heaven, the very same world becomes a different world, a strange world, in which all of your certainties are made uncertain, where all your confidence must be humility, where you need a leader and a guide, someone you can trust. And he says, “Follow me.”
It is both liberating and disruptive because everything is on the table. There are not some parts of your life that are in the Kingdom of Heaven and other parts that are exempt. The boundary runs through everything. Every action you take, every possession you have, every relationship you make, every issue you engage, every dollar you make, every investment, every interest, everything you think or hope or say, it all belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven. For everything you need instruction, in everything you need healing, in everything you need forgiveness, for everything you need repentance.
Repentance here is not that you are feeling bad or sorry, though that can be necessary, nor even a self-evaluation or a listing of rights and wrongs that you’ve done, though that has its place, but a general attitude, an attitude of total receptivity, allowing everything on the table, including your self-examination. I’m talking about freedom even from yourself. And that’s disruption. To let go of your nets is to let go of your image of yourself.
The kingdom is what Jesus brings, to receive it is repentance, to explore it is discipleship, and to embody it is healing. It’s good news. It is total but it is light. Notice how easy Jesus takes it. He takes his time, he campaigns patiently, he gives lots of room. How just a little is a sign and seal of a whole new world. The kingdom has already come, we don’t have to earn it or build it but receive it. You explore it by enjoying it. This is a kingdom where the law is love and the power is joy.
How did God call you? What were you doing when you heard that voice that brought you here? What did it sound like? God’s voice was hidden in some other voice, some other thought, or maybe an itch you had. Maybe a vague feeling that you needed to do something, make a small change, maybe simplify your life, or even add some complication. You thought, I need some more religion in my life, some spirituality, or some healing, or some ethical inspiration. You had your own thoughts in your head.
I’m telling you that behind your thoughts was the calling of God. I’m saying that God is in, with, and under your thoughts, though indistinguishable from your thoughts, and indiscernible to any objective examination, except your own imagination, I’m saying that God is calling you.
How do you determine which calls you answer on your phone? How do you know it is God who is calling you? You can tell, if it requires some new learning. You can tell, if it requires some repentance, some self-examination and some disruption of yourself. You can tell, if it means some liberation and some freedom. You can tell, if that freedom and liberation is directed towards healing and wholeness and reconciliation and community.
God is giving you the knowledge you need to choose among your disruptions. God gives you the light to make your way through the darkness. God gives you companions to walk along with you to help you and affirm you and challenge you and listen along with you. You can tell, if the best single word summary for what is itching you is Love.
Copyright © 2020, by Daniel James Meeter, all rights reserved.
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