Matthew 4:12–23
Presented January 27, 2008, by J.D. Kline
Second Baptist Church—shared worship
Jesus begins his ministry with a challenging call to embrace a new way of living. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17 NRSV). Other translations put it, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand” (JB); “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is upon you” (NEB); “You must change your hearts and minds—for the kingdom of heaven has arrived” (J.B. Phillips).
When we hear the word repent, we are perhaps most likely to envision a John-the-Baptist-hell-fire-breathing preacher pointing a finger at us, raising our level of guilt and threatening us with a call to change or else suffer the consequences of deep and abiding punishment. But when Jesus issued the call to repentance, he was not simply piling guilt and remorse upon our heads; Jesus was prodding us to change how we live and inviting us to embrace a markedly new way of living. The Greek word for repentance, metanoia, literally means to turn, to go in a new direction in life, to adopt a new mind—a new way of thinking, to take on a sharply new identity. You may remember the Baptist preacher Clarence Jordan, founder of an interracial community in Georgia back in the 1940s, who wrote the Cotton Patch Version of the Gospels. Jordan paraphrases Jesus’ call to repentance this way: Reshape your lives, for God’s new order of the Spirit is confronting you.
Reshape your lives, for God’s new order of the Spirit is confronting you. This is no message for the shallow-minded, the thin-skinned, or the weak-hearted. Jesus is not simply talking about fine-tuning a few areas of our lives; much more, Jesus is talking of an experience so dramatic and so pronounced that our lives will never be the same again. Jesus is talking about a whole new way of being in the world—of listening with the ears of the heart and of learning to see as God sees. When we do, our lives are decisively reshaped and redirected, for God’s kingdom, God’s new order of the Spirit confronts us. Along the way, we find ourselves grappling with what it means to go the extra mile in relationships, to love our enemies, to extend forgiveness to those who have wronged us, to pursue the things that make for peace, to seek reconciliation and work for justice, to bind up the brokenhearted, to correct oppression, to comfort those who mourn, to walk in the very footsteps of Jesus.
The Gospel writer Matthew precedes his account of Jesus calling persons to repentance with words drawn from the prophet Isaiah—words we are accustomed to hearing in the Christmas season. “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16, quoting from Isaiah 9:2). Repentance is embracing the light of Christ, and seeking to live in such a way that others are drawn to walk in Christ’s light with us.
I read the story of a junior high school teacher named David who, as a young boy, was fond of throwing stones. One afternoon David discovered that if he tossed stones over his neighbor’s fence, he could create a crashing sound, the sound of breaking glass. David wasn’t sure what he was hitting on the other side of the fence, but he found it exciting to heave one stone after another over the fence.
As you might expect, David soon got caught. The man who lived next door came to his house and told his parents about the stones. And then he made a simple request, “I would like David to come with me to my home, so I can show him a few things.” From the perspective of a guilty boy, the man’s voice sounded ominous, but David’s parents, disappointed by their son’s behavior, entrusted David to the neighbor.
Sheepishly, David followed his neighbor into his house, through the back door, and out into the backyard. There, next to the fence David was so fond of throwing rocks over, was a greenhouse. The stones had shattered several panes of glass, and David tensed, readying himself for a well-deserved punishment. But the neighbor merely led David into the greenhouse, where he talked with David about his love for flowers. “These are my gladiolas,” the neighbor said. “They can grow quite large, and bloom in many colors. These are violets, my wife’s favorite. When I see them, I remember her, and I miss her. And these orchids, right here, are very difficult to grow. But when they bloom, they form the most exquisite shapes and textures.”
David was shocked. There was no lecture; there were no angry words; indeed, there was no punishment at all. The neighbor merely explained his love for growing flowers. And in those brief moments, David found his life being transformed. Recalls David, “At that moment I knew I would grow up and be a teacher. This man had done a very small thing—he showed me what he loved. He could have yelled about the glass, punished me for being destructive. But instead he took a few thoughtful minutes to share with me the fragrances and colors that meant so much to him. In a single hour, that man changed the course of my life.”
So it is when we hear the gospel’s call to repentance, when we are confronted with Christ’s invitation to embark upon a new way of living. We are called up short, for Jesus loves us, rather than badgering us, into the kingdom of God. Along the way, Jesus plants within us a counter-vision for what life is meant to be. In his book A Generous Orthodoxy Brian McLaren describes the alternative vision of Jesus this way:
[Jesus’] kingdom is a kingdom not of oppressive control but of dreamed-of freedom, not of coercive domination but of bottom-up service, not of a clenched iron fist but of open, wounded hands extended in a welcoming embrace of kindness, gentleness, forgiveness, and grace.
The first disciples to be called by Jesus—Peter and Andrew, James and John—little knew where their response to that simple call, “Follow me,” would take them, any more than we know, yet today, where we will be led as we seek to walk in paths of faithful discipleship. But this much we do know. The One who calls us to put on a new way of thinking and acting in the world around us, the One who bids us, “Come to the light”—this One is worthy of our trust. This One will carry us through. This One—Jesus—will soften our hearts, restore our sight, bring light into our darkness, hope into our despair, peace into our confusion.
Who can forget the powerful story of Rosa Parks, doing what the society of that day told her she ought not do? When asked why she refused to go to the back of the bus—an act that led to the Montgomery bus boycott, an act that thrust Martin Luther King, Jr. into national leadership—Rosa Parks answered simply, “I sat down because I was tired.” But Rosa Parks was not just talking about her feet being tired; she was speaking of her soul, her inner spirit, her very being, sick and tired of living by racist rules, sick and tired of being denied basic human dignity and respect, sick and tired of conforming to unjust laws and customs. And so Rosa Parks did what she had always been told she should not do, in order to be faithful to a deeper calling, a calling that beckoned her to something more in life, to a higher righteousness. Is this not where the call to repentance leads us as well, to a decision to base our lives, not on the broken values of the culture around us, but on the very values of Jesus—compassion and peace, self-giving love and servanthood, grace beyond measure, hope that inspires courage and risk-taking?
Just a week ago we remembered and celebrated the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. I sometimes encounter persons in the white community who speak of the celebration of King’s birthday as an African-American holiday, as therefore having little impact upon the larger society. But the life and ministry of Dr. King stands as one of the great models of our day. Dr. King stands as a model of one who heard the call, Follow me, and who responded, not just for a moment, but for a lifetime. Dr. King stood as a model of one who embraced discipleship as a life-long journey, not just a single experience; one who risked his life in the pursuit of justice, because the hand of God was upon him; one who fully embraced God’s new order of the Spirit; one who walked in the footsteps of Jesus. A modern-day prophet who was willing to take an honest look at upsetting and unsettling realities in life long ignored by many, while giving voice to God’s vision of a new way of living.
There’s an old story told of a coal mouse and a white dove, talking together on a cold, wintry day. The mouse says to the dove, “Tell me the weight of a snowflake.” The dove responds, “Nothing more than nothing.” “In that case,” responds the mouse, “I must tell you a marvelous story. I sat on the branch of a fir tree, close to its trunk, when it began to snow—not heavily, as in a giant blizzard, no, just like in a dream, without any harshness. Since I didn’t have anything better to do, I decided to count the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number totaled exactly 3,741,952. When the next snowflake dropped onto the branch—nothing more than nothing, as you say—the branch broke off.” Having said that, the mouse scurries away.
The dove, since Noah’s time an authority on the matter, ponders the mouse’s story for a while, finally concluding to herself, “Perhaps there is only one person’s voice lacking for peace to come into the world.”
When Jesus challenges us, Reshape your lives, for God’s new order of the Spirit is confronting you, when Jesus calls us to thorough-going repentance, is it not a call to raise our voices for justice and peace? Is it not a call to embrace a new way of living in the world around us, a way of life based upon compassion rather than domination, open hands and hearts rather than iron fists, gracious love rather than suspicion, fear and distrust? Is it not a call to a life of risk-taking—going the extra mile in relationships, embracing the things that make for peace, loving one’s enemies, yearning and praying and working wholeheartedly for the coming of that day when swords are beaten into plowshares and weapons of destruction are refashioned into instruments of healing and wholeness, when justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream?
Reshape your lives, for God’s new order of the Spirit is confronting you, inviting you, even now, to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, to fish for people, to live as beacons of the light and peace of Christ shining in the darkness. Thanks be to God, for the inexpressible gift of Jesus Christ, the One who has the power to transform our lives, empowering us to live for the glory of God and the good of our neighbors. Amen.