If you happened to notice my sermon title this morning, I wonder what your thoughts were. It’s a little different from the titles of most of my sermons. Perhaps you thought it was more like something you’ve read on a cardboard sign, held by a man with uncombed hair standing on a street corner, than something I would preach on. Perhaps, depending on your church background, that title may have brought back to you memories of a form of Christianity that you’d rather forget. Perhaps you wondered if I was channeling my inner Jonathan Edwards, that famous 18th century preacher known for his sermon titled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Or maybe my title simply sparked within you a little seed of curiosity.
Perhaps you didn’t notice the title at all. Not everyone pays attention to such things. In that case, I’ll tell you that the title of today’s sermon is “Repent! God’s Kingdom is At Hand.” As Barbara mentioned to me at the beginning of last week, it sounds like the title of a real “fire and brimstone” sermon, a sermon that calls upon you to “beware!” Beware, because God’s kingdom is coming!
If you were paying particularly close attention, you may have noticed that my sermon’s title comes from the last verse of our scripture reading this morning, where Jesus speaks these words. However, you may have also noticed that for Jesus, the kingdom of God is not something that we need to “beware” of. It’s not something we should dread or feel anxious about, as if it were some really bad news.
Quite the contrary; because what the scripture says is that Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news, the good news of God. And as his thesis statement, he declared that “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” I don’t know; maybe the echoes of Jonathan Edwards are still being heard today.
It really is quite amazing that so many people associate the coming of God’s kingdom with bad news of punishment, when Jesus says quite clearly—not once, but twice—that it is good news.
What is the kingdom of God? It is life as described in the stories and teachings of Jesus. It is a life that is available now, a life in which blessings come to those who are meek, those who are humble, those who show love, those who make peace.
Jesus said that the kingdom is not of this world, and many think that he meant that it’s not of this earth, but that’s not what he meant. What he meant was that the kingdom is not found in a world where the rich and the powerful are exalted and honored. What he meant was that the kingdom is not found in a world where some have more food than they can eat while others starve. What he meant was that the kingdom is not found in a world where people are considered 2nd class citizens because of the color of their skin.
The kingdom is found in a world where the image of God is recognized in every human being. The kingdom is found in a world where rich and poor eat at the same table, where there is food for all. The kingdom is found in a world where the blind can see, and where the oppressed are set free.
Followers of Christ are called to align themselves with that kingdom. They are called upon to turn away from a world that promises happiness and satisfaction from wealth and power, and then fails to deliver on that promise. They are called upon to turn to a world in which true happiness and satisfaction are found in breaking free from those false promises, and following the way of Jesus, the way that leads to true happiness and satisfaction.
That’s called repentance. When you realize that the goal toward which you’ve been heading is the wrong goal, that wealth and power won’t give you what you really want, and when you instead begin to live in a way that aligns your life with the way of Jesus, the kingdom of God—that’s repentance.
When you realize that the new outfit that you just have to have won’t make your life more meaningful because you already have 20 outfits in your closet—that’s repentance.
When you realize that you get more joy from feeding the homeless or going on a mission trip than you do from playing with all your grown up toys—that’s repentance.
When you realize that the bitterness within you is actually hurting you more than the person who offended you, and you decide to work for reconciliation—that’s repentance.
When you are able to see the commercial advertisements for the lies that they really are, and you realize that, in fact, you don’t really need what it is they’re trying to sell you—that’s repentance.
When you realize that the way you spend your money isn’t in keeping with the values you hold dear—that’s repentance.
When you realize that your way with friends and relatives has been a reflection of your own impatience and self-centeredness rather than the love of Christ—that’s repentance.
Sometimes when I find myself having a bad day, when I’m short with people, irritable—we all have those days, don’t we?—I’ll catch myself, and I will stop and try to figure out just what it is that is causing my mood to be so foul. Sometimes the cause is obvious, but other times it’s not. Sometimes we need to stop, and figure out what’s wrong. And I’ll ask myself what steps I can to make the day better—better for me, and better for those who have to put up with me.
And then I’m ready to give my day a new start. If I can, I might even take a shower—right in the middle of the day—wash away all those ugly feelings, and begin again with a fresh start.
If you have been baptized, then there was a point in your life when you experienced the same thing, just on a much bigger scale. You were asked to turn away from a life that is not aligned with God’s kingdom. You were asked to repent. And you were asked to believe the good news, the good news that there is a new life that awaits you, a new world, a new kingdom.
I once knew a woman by the name of Iris. Iris lived in a care facility, and she relied on a wheelchair to get around. Diabetes and 80 years of living had taken their toll, and her right foot had recently been amputated.
Just a few years before, Iris had been active at the church I pastored. She would often bring in flowers to decorate the sanctuary; their simple arrangements were done according to a traditional Japanese style, in which there was symbolism as well as beauty. And every time we had a church potluck, Iris would make a huge pan full of marinated chicken, using an old Japanese family recipe.
She also enjoyed making things, especially out of paper. She’d make greeting cards and decorate them with folded origami paper, something she continued doing even after she moved into the care facility.
When I’d go in to visit Iris, I’d notice the strings of paper flowers hanging in her window. One time, I arrived with some exciting news to tell her. “Guess what, Iris?” I said. “I just got back from directing a week of church camp, and one of the things we did was learn how to make paper cranes.” Iris reached from her wheelchair and pulled a book off a nearby bookshelf. It was an origami instruction book.
“I’ve folded everything in this book,” she said, “but I’ve never been able to figure out the crane.”
“Would you like me to show you?” I asked.
She said, “Yes, please!”
For the better part of an hour we sat there, she in her wheelchair, I on the foot of her bed, folding paper cranes. Her hands that had seen so many years displayed remarkable agility. Some of the folds were difficult, and a few of the cranes were askew, but a couple of them were almost perfect.
Iris always maintained a positive, cheerful outlook. I found this remarkable, considering all she had been through in her life. As a teenager, she, like most Japanese-Americans during World War II, was forced to live in an internment camp. She told me stories of life there; many of the stories she told were of going to dances, looking at the boys, that sort of thing. She said she actually had a good time living there, despite the circumstances that led to her family’s relocation.
However, when the war ended, she found it a lot harder to get back to a normal life. There was a lot of discrimination against Japanese Americans, and one I remember one particular incident which she described, in which she and her husband went in to a restaurant, sat down, and waited to be served. And waited, and waited, and waited.
One day, Iris showed up at the little country church where I was then pastor, although this was of course many years before I was even born. She walked in and took a seat, not knowing how she would be received. Immediately, one of the members of the church saw her and walked to the pew in which she was sitting. That member slid in next to her, greeted her, and let her know that she was welcome.
Hearing how the people of that congregation had repented from the way of the world and turned to the way of Jesus helped me keep going in a ministry that was, in many ways, challenging and difficult. Stories like this showed me what the kingdom of God is like, and how followers of Jesus are called to be part of that kingdom right here, right now.
That is what it means to repent from a world that does not always follow the way of Jesus, and to live in the kingdom of God. When the world wants to keep people out, those who are living in the kingdom welcome them in. When the world wants to hate, those who are living in the kingdom show love. When the world says “I don’t want to deal with your problems,” those who are living in the kingdom say, “let me help you carry your burden. And together, we’ll travel the road of life.”
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