Ministries all have a beginning. Even the ministry of Jesus Christ. Today’s passage follows right on the heels of the temptation in the wilderness and indicates that He began His earthly ministry shortly thereafter. Jesus, being God, actually knew exactly what message God had for the people. When Jesus, the begotten Son of God started to preach, He was going to be able to preach something truly important and amazing. He would be able to preach God’s words exactly. And here’s what we read that Jesus preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
That doesn’t seem so earth shattering, so amazing. In fact, it wasn’t even a new message. But it was the simple message God wanted the people to know. And it is an amazing message. In those 8 words in English (7 in Greek), Jesus summed up the whole message of how God wants us to live. Really, most of what God has been teaching us since He first made our ancestors Adam and Eve is encapsulated in those few words. “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” holds all the various admonishments about sin from both the Old and New testaments, all the rules for how to live. By asking some simple questions, we can see how this message holds all that is truly important for right relationship with God.
First question: From what should we repent? First answer: all our sins. After all, what does one repent from but sin? And what constitutes sin? Well, that’s where all those lists and admonishments start to come in. If you want to read a bunch of the lists, check out Leviticus – it’s like a whole book of lists of what to do and what not to do and how, exactly, to do it and when. But the message wasn’t focused on details as Jesus began. It was basic and the most basic definition of sin is turning away from God and His ways to our own base desires. So we are to repent from failure, and we are to turn away from putting our own understanding above trusting Him and His wisdom, and we are to turn from doing whatever happens to amuse us in the moment. In so doing, we will be turning to God, trusting in Him, and following in His ways. It isn’t easy to repent, so we have to do it many times, but it is what God asks of us.
Second question: Why should we repent? Answer: for the Kingdom of Heaven is near, which should really scare the dickens out of us. “Near” can mean a couple of things in this context. It can mean soon or it can mean close by. If we read this as soon, then it means that God’s Kingdom, which also means final judgment, will happen shortly, at least by God’s standard of time. If we know something important is going to happen, then, generally speaking, we try to prepare for it. We don’t wait till the movers come to start packing. We don’t wait till the dinner guests are seated to make the grocery list or shop for ingredients or begin preparing food. We don’t wait till graduation to apply for colleges or to start seeking a job. So we shouldn’t wait till God’s Kingdom is upon us before we get ready for it by turning away from sin and following in the ways of the Lord. If, on the other hand, near means that the Kingdom is close by, then we need to be sure our behavior is appropriate. Not unlike students who know the teacher is close by or children who know that Mom is just around the corner or employees who know the boss is in the building, we need to be on good behavior. How much more do we need to be on good behavior if God’s Kingdom, where He lives and reigns, is just around the corner, or next door, or right next to us? Whether we read near as a function of time or distance, the impact is the same: we need to be engaged in behavior that is pleasing to God. We need to be turned away from sin and toward His ways.
Both readings of the word near not only could have been true, but are true today. We don’t know when God’s Kingdom will break into the world again with the second coming. We don’t know when God’s Kingdom will come. That’s one of the reasons we pray for it to come each time we say the Lord’s prayer. We do know that it is not our job to know and that it will come like a thief in the night – without warning. We also know that Jesus promised that where ever two or three are gathered in His name, He is there. And we know that God’s Spirit dwells within us. Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is always close by. So for both reasons – the nearness of the Kingdom of Heaven in terms of time and also in terms of distance – we must repent. We must turn from our sins. This is what Jesus preached.
And where did Jesus preach this message? Did He, the most important preacher that could ever be, preach it from the holiest of places, the Temple in Jerusalem? Did He, in effect, go to the best attended and wealthiest house of worship with the latest equipment, the best choir, the most beautiful stained glass, the most talented praise band, and the best broadcast to the most homes? Did He preach where His words would fall on the ears of the most important leaders of the day, influencing them that they might influence others? No, Jesus preached in a part of Galilee, not even His hometown, but a small town in Galilee called Capernaum. There was nothing particularly special about this town. It wasn’t famous or anything. As Wikipedia phrased it, “Capernaum has no obvious advantages over any other city in the area.” It was an anytown. But it did fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah that indicated, “the Messiah would be a light to the land of Zebulun and Naphtali.”1 The ministry began with what seems like a whisper in a place that seems unimportant on its face. But this town was not chosen by chance. It fulfilled the prophecy and it opened up a new concept in God’s plan for ministry - including the whole world in His plan of salvation. Highlighting that Jesus began in a place that could have been anytown, “foreshadow[s] Jesus’ mission: He came to preach salvation by grace to the entire world.” No longer would God’s plan be limited to those He had chosen and their descendants. From the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the plan was revealed to be for the whole world.
This was the message of hope and the message of love that the long-awaited Messiah brought to the world. And it wasn’t even a new message. If you recall John’s preaching in the wilderness as He waited for the Messiah to come, his message was the same: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. It’s not the message that was expected. It’s not a message that was brand new. It is a message that has been with us for ages upon ages. It’s a simple message, but a message in which the hope of salvation for the whole world is encapsulated along with the most basic directions on how to realize the hope of salvation given in love. Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Trust in God, not things of this world. Turn away from sin and live as you were meant to live – as a holy and beloved child of God.
With this beginning, Jesus ushered in an ending to the way ministry had been done. He began the ending of the long system of rules and regulations that had to be followed to earn one’s way to right relationship with God. He began the ending of earthly battles to conquer enemies of the Lord and instead ushered in an era of trying to win them over by sharing the peace and love and mercy of God. Jesus took the focus of faithfulness to God’s word and God’s plan away from works that could be checked off on a list and moved it to works of and in the heart.
As the Psalmist wrote in the passage we read earlier, it is not about war horses or earthly powers. It was not about a Messiah who would inaugurate an earthly kingdom. And it was not a one-time thing that took care of all the wrongs of the world in one fell swoop and put everything to right. Instead, “the culmination of the Kingdom of Heaven will not be fully realized until all evil in the world has been judged and removed. Christ came to earth first as the Suffering Servant. When he returns, he will come as King and Judge to rule over all the earth. The Kingdom begun with Jesus’ birth would not overthrow Roman oppression and usher in universal peace. The Kingdom of Heaven that began quietly in Palestine was God’s rule in people’s hearts. Thus, the Kingdom was as “near” as people’s willingness to make Jesus King over their lives.”2
The Kingdom of Heaven is near. The ministry of God’s own Son has begun and His earthly ministry has ended and the call of God to His people to repent and turn from their sinful ways goes on. The Kingdom of Heaven is near and we must be ready for the beginning of something new and the ending of what is familiar when Jesus comes again. We must not be like those who refused to have eyes to see and ears to hear. Instead, we must be like those Jesus called from their regular lives and turned into disciples. We must be ever vigilant, ever ready, ever seeking the will and way of the Lord, ever repenting from our oh-so-human tendency to sin and seeking God’s forgiveness and mercy. That’s the simple message of beginnings and endings that is wrapped up in the few words with which Jesus began His preaching. Powerful words indeed.