Sermon given on the Third Sunday after Epiphany, January 22, 2012, at Wooddale Lutheran Church by Pastor Tim Rauk. Text is Mark 1:14-15. “Repentance as Good News”.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” Mark 1:15.
I did a little survey of what people think when they hear the word, repent. It almost always was described using negative ideas and concepts. I have done something wrong. I need to repent. I have failed in some way. I need to repent. I feel bad about something I did. I need to repent. I’d rather keep doing what I was doing, but I guess I shouldn’t, so I’ll reluctantly repent.
The first person people often think of when we talk about repentance is John the Baptist, who preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. But in today’s gospel we find Jesus beginning his teaching ministry and calling his disciples, and it all begins with this very interesting sentence. “Jesus came proclaiming the Good News of God and saying,” – and here you have in a sense, the topic sentence if you will, the summarizing statement from Jesus’ early teaching as he began his ministry, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Good News.” Those two ideas don’t seem to go together in our thinking: Good News and Repentance. Jesus came preaching the Good News of God saying, repent and believe in the Good News.”
So what is the Good News that Jesus came proclaiming? And how does it go with repentance? We usually think of repentance, as being about what changing the things we do. “I gossiped. So I repented, and stopped gossiping.” But the word repent, is not as concerned with what we do, as it is with the direction we are headed. Let me say that again. The word repent, is not as concerned with what we do, as it is, in the direction we are headed. And the question, “what direction are we headed?” is one of the most important questions we ask of life.
For example, how many students have asked the question over and over again, “Why are we learning this?” What value is there in learning grammar? Or the multiplication tables? … Or geography? What possible use will I have for these things? And the fact of the matter is that often, one can live their life just fine, not knowing what the capital of Missouri is. And if you need to know what 15 times 8 is, use a calculator. And if you read the communications of people on social media sites like Facebook, you can see that people are able to communicate their ideas without any sense of proper grammar. So why do we bother learning all the stuff we are asked to learn?
Because in our society, the direction we are headed in life is very closely tied to our commitment to learning. If my grammar is all wrong, there are some jobs I’ll never be considered for. If I can’t add, subtract, multiply or divide, there are some jobs I’ll never be qualified for, even if I know how to use a calculator. So we as a society put tremendous energy into setting our children on the direction of being competent learners, because that’s a direction in life we value. Learning the capitals of the states isn’t going to get you there, but it’s one piece of a very large puzzle that sets us on a course to learn and enjoy learning.
Individuals, businesses, organizations all ask the question often, “What direction are we going? Where are we headed, and will we get there if we keep doing what we are doing?” That’s the question that we as a nation will be giving special attention to with the elections. We will be asking over this next year: “What direction are we going as a nation, and what do we need to do to get to where we want to go?” And elections are about people trying to the right direction we should be going.
So, are we going in the right direction? That brings us to the concept of repentance, and let me repeat it again: The word repent, is not as concerned with what we do, as it is, in the direction we are headed.
Repentance is a word that suggests that we are headed in the wrong direction, and we need to change direction. Repentance is: a change in our course. I was going that direction, but it’s not taking me to where I want to go, so I’m going to change and go a different direction.
Being a normal male driver, I have been known to get lost when driving in unfamiliar areas, but I certainly am not going to stop and ask directions. The result is that I’ll just kind of wandered around for a bit, going in many wrong directions. Well, finally, I have, from time to time, given in, and stop and ask for directions. The asking for directions is not the repentance. Repentance is when I get new information and get back into my car and change directions, and start driving in a way that will get me to where I want to go.
And you know something: Repentance is Good News. Repentance means I give up the futility of going in the wrong direction, and I start going in a direction that will get me to where I want to go. When I give up some of my pride and ask for direction, again, that’s not yet repentance. Repentance is when I actually change my course, and start driving in the right direction. And when that happens, it feels good. It is good news. Now I feel good about where I’m going.
Continuing that example: If after church, you leave the church parking lot, and you want to go to Miracle Mile shopping center, but you leave the church parking lot, and turn south on Wooddale Avenue, you will not get to Miracle Mile shopping center. It’s the wrong direction. Your going the opposite direction from what will get you to Miracle Mile shopping center. But if, as you’re driving south on Wooddale, someone gives you the information that Miracle Mile shopping center is only a block away, but you’re going the wrong direction, in order to get to where you want to go, you have to “repent”, turn around, and go north. The good news is that then, it’s right there. You’ll arrive at your destination in no time at all. That my friends, would be Good News.
And that’s what Jesus ministry was all about. Jesus could see people going in all kinds of directions that were destroying their lives. He looked on the people, the Bible says, “with compassion” because “they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” If we are aimlessly going through life, with no direction, repentance is the good news of finding a direction in life. Good News is discovering a path that will get me to where I want to go.
Education is good news. Often it is also hard work, but always good news as well, in that it sets a path towards the goals we might have in life. And being a follower of Jesus sets us on a course to learn a path that is keeps my life on a positive course, to get me to where I want to go.
So, time and time again, following Jesus means, “I am going to turn from this, which is destructive and is leading my life nowhere, and maybe even getting me into trouble, and I am going to go in this other direction instead; the direction God wants me to go.”
That’s not always easy to do. That’s not necessarily easy to recognize. We may have to give up some of our pride in thinking we can do it all ourselves, but repentance brings us to the Gospel, to the “Good News” of God’s love, not to the bad news we too often associate with “repentance” and the Gospel.
Martin Luther talked of “daily repenting”, not as groveling in the dirt and feeling crummy, but as a joyful exercise of daily seeking to turn in the direction that God would have me go, doing those things that God would have me do, and saying those things that God would have me say.
So what direction is God inviting you, as an individual to go? What direction is God inviting us, as a congregation to go? Those are not always easy questions to answer. Knowing for certain, what the will of God is, is a challenging question to answer, but when we discover a direction to life, as individuals and as a community of faith, the result is always Good News.
