OTKC 02: Repent

From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17 ESVUK)

There’s a wonderful word to get someone’s attention in the area where I grew up in England. That word is “Oi!” Even typing it makes me chuckle as I recall the times hearing it. It’s not something that sounds right in a whisper. It’s best uttered as a shout or bellowed with full force. You use it to grab someone’s attention. You say it right, and people’s heads will turn from whatever they were doing to discover more of what is happening with that summons.

After His time, when tempted by the devil, Jesus returned and discovered that John the Baptist had been arrested. We’re informed that from that time, He had a message. That message carried on what John the Baptist had declared previously. The big difference between John and Jesus was that John was a town-crier talking about someone to come, whereas Jesus was the one to come.

Jesus didn’t need to say, “Oi!” but that first word He uttered in the declaration was a command. The kind of command is designed to grab someone’s attention, to turn people’s heads to turn from whatever they are doing to discover what is happening with that summons.

The call to repent is the call to turn from whatever people were doing and turn to what is being displayed as an alternative. The call to repent boldly states that people need a course correction. At times, when I’ve heard people talk about repentance, it’s phrased as though it requires someone to make a 180-degree turn because they were going in a totally different direction to God. (I remember some people thinking it required a 360-degree turn and often chuckled at that in the same way I’d chuckle if someone told me to “turn around”.) There is the sense in which we are positioned in a way opposed to God. I’m certainly not dismissing the experience some need to make, which is the equivalent of a 180-degree turn.

Yet the call to repent is about a course correction. That course correction means that you could be off by just a few degrees from what God is doing, and fully engaging with it requires a shift in focus and action. What that means to me is that there could be people who are well-meaning, pleasant and relatively harmless. They could be ticking the right boxes for being a “decent” person. Yet, as far as the gospel of the Kingdom is concerned, they’re not centred on the Kingdom. It’s not their total hope and preoccupation. Something or someone else takes up more of their time and controls most of their attention. They don’t hurt other people, and they can be generous regarding charity, but it’s clear that their car is essential to them. They’re very polite and friendly with strangers but consumed with retail therapy. In those cases, the call to repent might not require a total overhaul, but certain aspects of life need to be treated.

Whatever the level, however, the call to repent as it is about course correction does require change. It is a command that says adjustments are necessary. It is an instruction that will cost something to reconstruct life with a different focus. The call to repent from Jesus is a wake-up call. It’s an alert that there’s something that needs our immediate attention. It’s also essential to hear at the start of our walk with Jesus and a call that will be an ever-present part of our walk with Jesus. We are prone to wander; it’s not difficult to distract us, and the presence of the rod and the staff from the Good Shepherd is to keep us in line. We abide by the nudge of the rod and the staff by repenting, turning from the slight detour and returning to the focus on what matters to God.

I can relate to episodes in my life where it was clear that I’d wandered far from the set path for me and that yielding to the call of the Lord required great acts of repentance. That’s not something that happened just at the start of the journey but at various stages. That wasn’t down to me being a rebel who didn’t want to do what God said; it was down to seasons where I could get caught up with a part of the deal and take my focus off the whole.

To live in pursuit of the good, perfect and acceptable will of God, to truly focus on the Kingdom of God and His righteousness every day, we’ll need to hear Jesus grab our attention with a loving “Oi!” so we can turn from our missteps and take the steps He’s ordered for us. To follow His course correction.

For His Name’s Sake

C. L. J. Dryden

Shalom

Q & A – Questions and Actions

• What does it mean to repent?
• When do you recall first understanding and applying the command?
• Why is the command so important?
• How will you teach others to observe this command?