“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And with these words Jesus begins His public ministry.
Interestingly, though, I’ve never had anyone – other than Jesus, that is – direct these words at me. I’ve never had a priest look at me during reconciliation and say, “Repent, deacon, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And I’ve made a lot of retreats over the years and yet I can’t recall a retreat master ever beginning a reflection by standing tall at the podium, pointing at us and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
I suppose these words, this command…I suppose it all seems just a bit…well, harsh – you know, not in keeping with the kind of pastoral approach people are looking for these days.
Mark, in his Gospel, has Jesus saying, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” And another translation presents this command of Jesus in slightly different terms: “Be converted, and accept the Gospel.”
But notice, regardless of the translation, Jesus tells us that we must first repent and be converted. That’s right, before we learn about the kingdom, before we accept the good news of the Gospel, Jesus tells us to be converted, to repent, to change. You see, without conversion, without repentance, the Gospel simply doesn’t make much sense. After all, the Gospel tells us to do all kinds of things that the world rejects.
“Love your neighbor as yourself…” Well, now, wait minute, shouldn’t I love myself a wee bit more? I mean, think of the effect on my self-esteem if I have to think so highly of others. And if I go around loving everyone else, doesn’t that make me better than them anyway?
Oh, yes, what’s that other one? “Love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, soul and strength.” That’s certainly doesn’t leave much room for anything else, does it? Does God really expect us to take that literally? Just think of the ramifications. I’d have to back-burner everything, placing God first all the time. Not really very practical when every to-do list begins with: “Love God.”
And then there are all those other Sermon-on-the-Mount things…you know, being meek and poor in spirit, being merciful and pure of heart and thirsting for righteousness, no anger, no lust, forgive your enemies – all those counter-intuitive things. That’s certainly no way to enjoy life and get ahead in the world.
Yes, the Gospel just doesn’t make much sense at all…unless we are converted. For only then, only after we have changed, only after we have invited God into our lives and into our hearts, only after we have accepted our sinfulness and repented, turned to God, only then can we accept the Good News as Good News. Once we respond to God’s call to conversion, and come to realize God’s greatness and God’s overwhelming love for us…then we can accept the Gospel with the unbounded joy that its message deserves.
Is that how you respond to the Gospel? With unbounded joy? With a thirst to hear more? With a hunger you know can never be fully satisfied until you come face to face with God? Is that how you respond?
If not…well, you haven’t yet responded to God’s call. Repentance and conversion still await you. Can you sense that? Do you feel something missing in your life? Is there an emptiness in your inner being that nothing has been able to fill? Brothers and sisters, that’s God calling you, begging to heal you, to fill that emptiness.
Perhaps St. Augustine, that reluctant convert, put it best, “Our hearts are restless, O God, until they rest in Thee.” That restlessness is a gift, a sign pointing to God.
Is that why we’re all here at this Mass, to satisfy the longing? Do we come together in faith as a community of believers to offer prayers of thanksgiving and praise? Do we come, yearning for God’s Word and celebrating His goodness? And do we come to feast on the miraculous gift of the Eucharist from which we receive the spiritual sustenance we need to grow in the Christian life. Is this the choice we’ve made?
Or are we here out of habit, or to fulfill some sense of social or cultural obligation? “Of course I go to Mass. Isn’t that what Catholics do?” We can’t respond to God call, and grow in faith if our motivation is grounded in something worldly. That would be a non-response, a static, unchanging, act of non-faith. For faith calls for continual conversion, conversion calls for growth, and growth demands change. And this is what Jesus calls us to do in today’s Gospel.
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” His call to conversion is unambiguous: Repent! And why must we repent? To accept God’s invitation to enter His Kingdom. You see, brothers and sisters, we are all sinners. And sinners need forgiveness. But there can be no forgiveness without repentance.
God extends this invitation to repentance to all of humanity. No one is overlooked. God desires to forgive each of His children, just as He desires to rule over each one of us. But unlike human rulers, God forces Himself on no one, and only those who freely choose to accept the invitation gain admission to the Kingdom.
Gradually, as His ministry unfolded, Jesus revealed more and more about the nature of His Kingdom. Unlike that which the Jewish people hoped for – a return to the glory days of David and Solomon – Jesus’ Kingdom extends beyond all time and space to eternity. It’s a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom of love and holiness…hence the call for repentance. A Kingdom of holiness cannot admit the profane, just as a Kingdom of love must reject hatred.
Oh, we all want to heed the call. If only it didn’t involve change. If only it didn’t place so many demands on me. If only my life weren’t going so well right now. And so we complicate God’s simple, straightforward call by cluttering it with our own issues. Oh yes, we want to respond…but on our terms.
But that’s not how it works. How can we enter the Kingdom but reject the authority of the King? We can’t have it both ways. To accept the Kingdom demands conversion. Just look how the Apostles handled it.
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| Jesus calls Peter and Andrew |
Although they haven’t yet accepted the Gospel because they haven’t yet heard the Gospel, they have accepted Jesus Christ, the very Word of God Himself. Called to conversion, called by Jesus to walk with Him in the light, these most ordinary of men immediately leave everything behind and follow; and that’s all God asked of them…for now.
They didn’t have a clue about what lay ahead – mercifully it was hidden from them – but I’m sure they sensed that their lives were about to change radically, and that their old lives were gone for good. And what a change it turned out to be!
This is what conversion is: an act that lasts a lifetime, a continual process of leaving things behind. What does God want you to leave behind? Have you asked Him? You see, God calls each of us in very unique and individual ways.
Some, like the rich young man in the Gospel, who was too attached to his possessions, are called to radical action: “Sell everything you have, give the money to the poor, and come, follow me.” Jesus knew that only this would bring the happiness the young man sought. But having rejected Jesus’ call, he went away sad.
Others, like the woman caught in adultery, are simply told, “Go and sin no more.” There’s nothing to fear from God’s call. He never calls us to that which we cannot do. But we must first hear and accept His call. Once we do, once we turn our lives over to His rule, He provides the grace we need to persevere.
And so, minutes from now, as the gifts are carried forward, and you sit in your pew, staring down at your hands, realize that the Spirit is calling those very hands to let go of the entanglements, those heavy, torn nets, that keep you from answering God’s call. God is carrying a gift to you, a call that will lead to eternal life.
For make no mistake about it: God is calling you to a new way of life, to something far greater than the world can ever give. And because He’s a loving God, He never stops calling.
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