Readings for today: Matthew 3, Mark 1:1-11, Luke 3, John 1:15-34
Human beings are a wonder. Truly. Relentless dreamers and visionaries. Hopeful to a fault. Possessed of the most incredible capacities for creativity and industry. It makes no sense. Not on the face of it. After all, our lives are like grass. Here today and gone tomorrow. The world in which we live is brutal and terrifying, filled with all kinds of violence and hate. The amount of pain and suffering we endure is immense. Death stalks us from the moment we’re born. Where do we find the strength to keep going? Why is every generation born with a spark that inevitably flies upwards? The Bible’s answer is clear. It is because we are made in the image of God. Created a little lower than the angels. A little less than divine. God-crowned with a glory and grandeur not our own. Made for an eternal purpose and given a mandate we simply cannot escape, no matter how hard we try.
This is why the message of repentance is such good news. I know we tend to consider “repentance” a bad word. We have a negative reaction every time we hear a preacher say it. And yet think about what the word means. It means a radical turn. A move in the opposite direction. A 180 degree shift in life. It’s a call to turn from death to life. Darkness to light. Despair to hope. Sorrow to joy. Violence to peace. Hate to love. Why in the world would we ever resist such a call? Why in the world would we ever reject such a call? There was a man named John who was sent from God to prepare the way for His Son. He came preaching a singular message. “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Thousands responded to his message. They could feel the truth of it in their bones. He tapped something deep inside them, something ancient and eternal. An original spark embedded within us in the Garden of Eden.
Repentance isn’t just about a “turn” but a “return.” A return to our original identity. A return to our original purpose. A return to our original home in the Garden and a recommitment to the original mandate for which we were made. Repentance is a call to stop running from God. Stop fighting with God. Stop hiding from God. Stop rejecting God. It’s a call to come home. Come home to the Father who loves us and adopts us and calls us His own. It’s a call to return from the far country where we have squandered our lives in self-absorbed living. God wants to put an end to our pain and sorrow and suffering. God wants to put an end to violence and hate. God wants to put an end to injustice and oppression and exploitation and corruption. God wants to put an end to sin and death. Repent. Believe the good news. The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Readings for tomorrow: Matthew 4:1-22, 13:54-58, Mark 1:12-20, 6:1-6, Luke 4:1-5:11, John 1:35-2:12