In this season of revelation known as Epiphany we have heard
of the surpassing nature of the religious experience that propelled Jesus into
ministry, and John’s proclamation that Jesus’ life would reveal God’s purpose
for humanity, a liberator of the human
spirit – the lamb of God – and now we come to the crux of Jesus’ preaching.
If you were alive in 1st century Palestine and had
gone out to hear Jesus preach what would have been the core message?
Well we know pretty well from the gospels that his core message
was recorded as this;
“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” That was the “good news” that Jesus had for
the world.
As an observant Jew sensitive to Jewish readers Matthew
shied away from using the word God – Yah weh – and used the word heaven instead
of God but “kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God” are interchangeable.
That phrase is the “Good news”. This is the gospel of
the Lord! This is made more explicit in
Mark’s gospel where it is written “that
Jesus preached the gospel of God, and saying “The time is fulfilled, and the
kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”.
Indeed, later on in Matthew’s gospel when Jesus sent the
twelve disciples out to preach he gave them this instruction “And preach as you
go, saying “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 10:7). The apostolic message was to be,
and still is the same. If we are to remain true to the Jesus revelation we must
get to grips with and understand this message that was central to Jesus and to
his whole movement.
The main claim then is that the kingdom of God “has come
near” (NRSV) or “is at hand”(AV), or “is
close at hand” (New Jerusalem) or “is upon you” (New English).
To discern what all of these things mean we have to use
joined up thinking and peruse the whole Biblical record. Of particular interest
here is Luke 17: 21 where this exchange of views is recorded.
“Being asked by the
Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them “The kingdom of
God is not coming with signs to be observed nor will they say “Lo, here it is”
or “there” for behold the kingdom of God is in the midst of you”. Or in other
translations “The kingdom of God is within you”.
If you put this together with Jesus’ insistence that you
must be born again by the Spirit of God in John 3 where Jesus tells Nicodemus
“You cannot see the kingdom of God unless you are born again” which refers back
to Jesus’ own revelation at his baptism we edge closer and closer to the core
message of Jesus which is this;
God the Father is close, upon you, in you. You are his
child. Therefore repent.
My favourite concept in the Bible, because the word
translated “repent” is that wonderful word “Metanoia”. This word has been
called by some theologians the “greatest word or concept in the entire Bible
and the essence of Christianity. It has also been called, and I quote “the most
extraordinary mistranslation”.
Because repentence, i.e being sorry for our sins” as we
understand the word, is absolutely not what Metanoia means. Metanoia
means a change of heart, a going beyond your mind and seeing the world through
different eyes.
The mistranslation of metanoia as
repentance began in the 2nd century when the Greek (metanoeĊ) was
mistakenly translated into the Latin as poenitentiam agite, which does indeed carry
the meaning of being sorry for our sins
In biblical Greek, metanoia expresses that
mighty change in mind, heart, and life wrought by the Spirit of God.
Biblical scholars say that, in Metanoia, there is none of
the sorrow or regret contained in the English words repentance and repent. Repentance
denotes “sorrow for what one has done or omitted to do; especially, contrition
for sin.” Repent primarily means “to review one's actions and feel
contrition or regret for something one has done or omitted to do” In fact
Tertullian, the great 2nd century Father of the church protested the
mistranslation stating even then that “In
Greek, Metanoia is not a confession of sins but a change of mind”, but the
mistranslation persists to this day subtly changing the entire focus of
Christianity away from Joy and towards contrition.
This transformation of the heart is what happened to Jesus at his baptism and
that same transformation of the heart is what Jesus wants for us.
To be able to see the divine within life rather than apart from life, to see the world ablaze,
glowing with the glory of God, and have our heart turned and perception changed
by this revelation of God the Father’s unconditional love and forgiveness. Why?
To exact a change in our quality of life
which will bear fruit in our actions. This is the core of Christianity and
everything within our religion flows from that core. Know that you are loved
forgiven, accepted and safe in this life that is eternal. This is the message
of Jesus.
This IS the gospel of the Lord.
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