By the Rev. Dr. Paul S. Nancarrow
This sermon is based on Mark 1:14-20.
An audio version of this sermon is available here.
Our Gospel passage today tells the story of the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. As Mark tells it, these words in today’s reading are the first words we hear Jesus speak — everything so far has been words about Jesus, but this the first time we hear words from Jesus. And because these are Jesus’ first words, they set the tone for everything that comes after them throughout Mark’s Gospel.
Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
The long wait is over, Jesus says; the time of preparation, the time of anticipation, the time of wondering when God will act — that time is over, Jesus says. The kingdom of God, the reigning of God, the hands-on, down-to-earth, flesh-and-blood working-out of God’s will for justice and peace, God’s will for right relationships of mutual well-being — that has come near, Jesus says; that reign is beginning now, Jesus says; that reign starts with me, and the people I gather around me, Jesus says, and from us it will spread throughout the whole earth. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near” — and what we must do to be part of that kingdom, Jesus says, is to repent, and, because we repent, to believe in the good news.
Now usually, when we nowadays hear the word “repent,” what we think of right away is something negative. We think of repentance as being sorry for our sins, or beating our breasts for our failings, or promising God that we’ll never ever do bad things again if God will just get us out of this mess that we’ve gotten ourselves into. We usually think of repentance in the purely negative sense of turning away from that in ourselves which is sinful or evil or bad.
But the word that Mark uses in the original Greek of this passage means more than just “turning away.” The original word is metanoia; and what that word means, translated literally, is “a change of mind” — or, more dynamically, it means to change your way of thinking, to be transformed in the habits of the heart by which you recognize and respond to yourself, and your neighbor, and your world, and your God. Metanoia means not just “turning away” from what is bad, but “transforming toward” what is good, it means being opened to new ways of thinking and feeling and behaving that participates in the very goodness of God.
And repentance in this sense leads precisely to believing in the good news. Our English word “believe” is related to the word “belove.” To believe is not just to accept something as true even though you can’t prove it; to believe is to give your heart, to place your trust, and to pledge yourself to being true and trustworthy in your turn. To repent and believe is to be transformed in the way we are mindful of God, so that we give our heart and put our trust in the way God is with us, we give our heart and put our trust in the way God’s grace acts in and around and through us, we give our heart and put our trust in the way God’s love lifts us up when we are beaten down and rejoices in heaven when we are made whole. So Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
And I think a perfect example of that kind of repentance and belief comes in the call of the first disciples. When Jesus meets Simon and Andrew and James and John, his first words are not, “Be sorry for your sins and you can follow me”; his first words are not, “Promise never to do bad things again and I’ll let you be my disciples”; his first words are “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”
"I will make you fish for people.” Jesus recognizes Simon and Andrew and James and John for who they are: fishermen: rough, gruff, uneducated fishermen: working guys who are honest and loyal and faithful, but who are not exactly religious experts, and not necessarily morally pure. Jesus recognizes them exactly for who they are — and he calls them exactly for who they are, he calls them to be who they are, but to be who they are in a new and a bigger way. “I will make you fish for people,” Jesus says: I will take the skills and abilities and know-how and experiences and personalities you already have, and I will put them to a new purpose, I will fill them with a new meaning, I will take them up to work the work that God is working in the world. That’s the sort of metanoia to which Jesus calls Simon and Andrew and James and John: not that they should turn away from everything their lives have been, not that they should reject the thoughts and feelings and actions and experiences that have brought them this far in life, but that they can be transformed in their mindfulness, they can wake up to the love of God with them and in them and all around them, and their own actions can thus become instruments of that greater love. “Repent and believe,” Jesus says. “Follow me,” Jesus says, “and I will make you able to be who you are in a new and godly way.” And so they gave their hearts to him and trusted him and left their nets and followed him — and their lives became fulfilled with more love, and more spirit, and more risk, and more strangeness, and more challenge, and more joy, than they had ever imagined before.
“Repent and believe,” Jesus says. “Follow me,” Jesus says — and today Jesus says that to us, here at Trinity, too. This gospel prompts us to ask, How can we repent and believe and follow? How can we transform our way of thinking, so that we give our hearts to the Way of Jesus, and learn how to be ourselves in a new and bigger and more godly way? How might Jesus take up our skills and talents and abilities and personalities and resources and money and time and attention and thoughts and feelings and actions, and transform them, connect them in new ways, to be signs and instruments of God’s reign of justice and peace and love in our world here and now?
What would that look like for us? I want you to think of one thing that you are good at — right now, think of one thing that you think you do pretty well. No false modesty now — no one else is going to know or judge what you think you’re good at. Think of one talent you have: Maybe you’re good at math. Maybe you like putting on parties. Maybe you like to read books out loud. Maybe you’re really good at fixing things. Maybe you’ve got a mean arm with a hammer. Maybe you have a knack for remembering important days in people’s lives, and celebrating with them. Maybe you like to sing. Maybe you’re a good listener. Maybe you have a strong imagination. Maybe you have a talent or ability nobody even knows about. Right now, think about one thing you are good at. Then think about how Jesus might take up that one thing and direct it to the purpose of acting out God’s love. Imagine how Jesus could use your talent to increase the amount of compassion and joy and goodness and sharing and relationship and love in the world. And then think: if Jesus could do that with just that one little bit of you, imagine what Jesus can do with all of you. That is the metanoia Jesus offers you.
In our Gospel this morning we hear the first and foremost teaching of Jesus’ mission: The time is fulfilled, the reign of God has come near, transform your thinking, give your heart, follow me, and I will empower you to be who you are in a new and godly way. May God grant us the grace to hear and know and live this Gospel call all our days. Amen.
This sermon is based on Mark 1:14-20.
An audio version of this sermon is available here.
Our Gospel passage today tells the story of the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. As Mark tells it, these words in today’s reading are the first words we hear Jesus speak — everything so far has been words about Jesus, but this the first time we hear words from Jesus. And because these are Jesus’ first words, they set the tone for everything that comes after them throughout Mark’s Gospel.
Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
The long wait is over, Jesus says; the time of preparation, the time of anticipation, the time of wondering when God will act — that time is over, Jesus says. The kingdom of God, the reigning of God, the hands-on, down-to-earth, flesh-and-blood working-out of God’s will for justice and peace, God’s will for right relationships of mutual well-being — that has come near, Jesus says; that reign is beginning now, Jesus says; that reign starts with me, and the people I gather around me, Jesus says, and from us it will spread throughout the whole earth. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near” — and what we must do to be part of that kingdom, Jesus says, is to repent, and, because we repent, to believe in the good news.
Now usually, when we nowadays hear the word “repent,” what we think of right away is something negative. We think of repentance as being sorry for our sins, or beating our breasts for our failings, or promising God that we’ll never ever do bad things again if God will just get us out of this mess that we’ve gotten ourselves into. We usually think of repentance in the purely negative sense of turning away from that in ourselves which is sinful or evil or bad.
But the word that Mark uses in the original Greek of this passage means more than just “turning away.” The original word is metanoia; and what that word means, translated literally, is “a change of mind” — or, more dynamically, it means to change your way of thinking, to be transformed in the habits of the heart by which you recognize and respond to yourself, and your neighbor, and your world, and your God. Metanoia means not just “turning away” from what is bad, but “transforming toward” what is good, it means being opened to new ways of thinking and feeling and behaving that participates in the very goodness of God.
And repentance in this sense leads precisely to believing in the good news. Our English word “believe” is related to the word “belove.” To believe is not just to accept something as true even though you can’t prove it; to believe is to give your heart, to place your trust, and to pledge yourself to being true and trustworthy in your turn. To repent and believe is to be transformed in the way we are mindful of God, so that we give our heart and put our trust in the way God is with us, we give our heart and put our trust in the way God’s grace acts in and around and through us, we give our heart and put our trust in the way God’s love lifts us up when we are beaten down and rejoices in heaven when we are made whole. So Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
And I think a perfect example of that kind of repentance and belief comes in the call of the first disciples. When Jesus meets Simon and Andrew and James and John, his first words are not, “Be sorry for your sins and you can follow me”; his first words are not, “Promise never to do bad things again and I’ll let you be my disciples”; his first words are “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”
"I will make you fish for people.” Jesus recognizes Simon and Andrew and James and John for who they are: fishermen: rough, gruff, uneducated fishermen: working guys who are honest and loyal and faithful, but who are not exactly religious experts, and not necessarily morally pure. Jesus recognizes them exactly for who they are — and he calls them exactly for who they are, he calls them to be who they are, but to be who they are in a new and a bigger way. “I will make you fish for people,” Jesus says: I will take the skills and abilities and know-how and experiences and personalities you already have, and I will put them to a new purpose, I will fill them with a new meaning, I will take them up to work the work that God is working in the world. That’s the sort of metanoia to which Jesus calls Simon and Andrew and James and John: not that they should turn away from everything their lives have been, not that they should reject the thoughts and feelings and actions and experiences that have brought them this far in life, but that they can be transformed in their mindfulness, they can wake up to the love of God with them and in them and all around them, and their own actions can thus become instruments of that greater love. “Repent and believe,” Jesus says. “Follow me,” Jesus says, “and I will make you able to be who you are in a new and godly way.” And so they gave their hearts to him and trusted him and left their nets and followed him — and their lives became fulfilled with more love, and more spirit, and more risk, and more strangeness, and more challenge, and more joy, than they had ever imagined before.
“Repent and believe,” Jesus says. “Follow me,” Jesus says — and today Jesus says that to us, here at Trinity, too. This gospel prompts us to ask, How can we repent and believe and follow? How can we transform our way of thinking, so that we give our hearts to the Way of Jesus, and learn how to be ourselves in a new and bigger and more godly way? How might Jesus take up our skills and talents and abilities and personalities and resources and money and time and attention and thoughts and feelings and actions, and transform them, connect them in new ways, to be signs and instruments of God’s reign of justice and peace and love in our world here and now?
What would that look like for us? I want you to think of one thing that you are good at — right now, think of one thing that you think you do pretty well. No false modesty now — no one else is going to know or judge what you think you’re good at. Think of one talent you have: Maybe you’re good at math. Maybe you like putting on parties. Maybe you like to read books out loud. Maybe you’re really good at fixing things. Maybe you’ve got a mean arm with a hammer. Maybe you have a knack for remembering important days in people’s lives, and celebrating with them. Maybe you like to sing. Maybe you’re a good listener. Maybe you have a strong imagination. Maybe you have a talent or ability nobody even knows about. Right now, think about one thing you are good at. Then think about how Jesus might take up that one thing and direct it to the purpose of acting out God’s love. Imagine how Jesus could use your talent to increase the amount of compassion and joy and goodness and sharing and relationship and love in the world. And then think: if Jesus could do that with just that one little bit of you, imagine what Jesus can do with all of you. That is the metanoia Jesus offers you.
In our Gospel this morning we hear the first and foremost teaching of Jesus’ mission: The time is fulfilled, the reign of God has come near, transform your thinking, give your heart, follow me, and I will empower you to be who you are in a new and godly way. May God grant us the grace to hear and know and live this Gospel call all our days. Amen.
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