Well, good morning once again everyone. So, the dust is beginning to settle as I’m doing my best to figure out just how everything works around here… In fact, yesterday, George McDowell taught me how to turn the lights on and off here in the sanctuary… Also, worth mentioning, is I finally was able to unpack all of my books… They’re not organized… But, at least they’re on shelves… I think it’s interesting how things have sort of been settling into place… Because at various times in my life, that hasn’t been the case… I’ve often felt like a fish out of water or like a puzzle piece that somehow made it into the wrong box… To put it plainly, I’ve often felt like I don’t fit in… I am happy to report however, that this has not been the case here at St. Barnabas… From day one, I have felt the incredible guidance of the Holy Spirit, and I am confident that God has wonderful things in-store for us in the future.
So, looking at our gospel lessons today, I think that it is good to point out that this is the first time we hear the words of Jesus. This is where the red letters begin… And to be frank, what Jesus has to say is pretty incredible right from the start. Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.” This is, the good news, This is the gospel in a nutshell, and its quite a powerful statement. And there is a lot, to unpack here…
So the first thing I want to take a look at are the verbs our gospel writer used in the first half of Jesus’ opening statement… Side bar… Something that blew my mind when I first got to seminary and started biblical Greek was that there were different types of verbs. And you could tell which kind of verb a word was by the last couple of letters. Now, I think I would be doing you a disservice if I didn’t also mention that I was likely the worst Greek student to ever walk the halls of my seminary… I was so bad in fact, that my Greek Professor called my bishop on the phone and said something to the effect of “Yeah, I can get Kenn through the rest of this semester, but I think it would be best if he focuses on church history or something…” But really, when there is something like 143 different ways to parse out a verb, can you really blame me???
With all of that said, I was listening to a preaching podcast called “By the Well” where they explained that the verbs in the first half of Jesus’ statement are called “perfect verbs” Which more or less means that they are something that has been done, that can never be undone… They are something that have been done… so past tense… and can never be undone which means that the action was true when it happened, is true now, and will continue to be true indefinitely… Kind of like saying “My son watched cartoons this morning…” That is a statement was true this morning, is true right now, and will always be true…
So, if we look at Jesus words with this in mind, the gravity that they have is palpable… The time is fulfilled… And the Kingdom of God has come near… This… This is exactly what people had been waiting for, for their entire lives… And now, that day had come… The time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near… And nothing… nothing will ever change that…
The people who were listening that day would have heard Jesus and immediately understood that this was the good news that they have all been waiting for. You see, these were a people who had been oppressed for years now by the Roman Empire… These were people who internalized stories of exile and slavery as their heritage and identity… But these weren’t stories that were meant to be depressing, and keep people down… Instead, they were stories meant to underscore that our God is a god of liberation from slavery… These stories reminded them that God is a god who brings freedom to those in captivity… That is why Jesus’ words today… That is why the gospel is such good news… The kingdom of God is near… And this means it is time to repent and turn back to God…
You know, repentance is an interesting thing… So often we only think of repentance as recognizing and the things we have done, and the things we have left undone that are considered morally wrong… So often we only think of repentance as feeling bad about something we’ve done as we promise and hope to never commit that sin again… But I think repentance is soo much more than that…
You see, in Hebrew, the word for repentance is teshuva which literally means to stop, turn around, and go the other direction… So, in essence, Jesus is proclaiming that humanity had been going in the opposite direction from the kingdom of God for long enough… That it was time to turn around and live into the kingdom… And yet, Scott Hozee Writes, “For whatever the reason, the kingdom of God comes within us, long before it comes into view under the spotlights of the wider world.” It’s like that mustard seed… Tiny, but once it takes hold and starts to grow, look out… And because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we can choose to live into God’s kingdom every moment of every day…
And this is because God’s kingdom comes each and every time we join with God to be a blessing to others… You see, as followers of Christ… As Christians… It’s our job as to open our arms to embrace the oppressed and the marginalized just as Jesus opened his arms on the hard wood of the cross and embraced the entirety of creation… You see, the kingdom of God is near… The kingdom of God is near and it becomes reality every time someone decides to be a blessing to the poor… The kingdom of God happens every time a follower of Christ sees Jesus in the eyes of someone in need and chooses to turn from the selfish ways of the world and reach out in love… Because, you see, the kingdom of God happens every time someone shows love and compassion to a person in this world who so desperately desperately needs it…
The words of Christ in today’s gospel lesson boil down to our great calling to be kingdom builders right here, and right now… It is our turn to take up the mantle of Christ’s church here at St. Barnabas and love, as God loves… It is our turn to take the gospel forward… It is our turn to show the world the grace, mercy, forgiveness, salvation, love, and life that we have found in this church… Because it is here… The love of Jesus Christ is here in this church… And the church… The church isn’t these four walls and a roof… The church isn’t this pulpit, or the altar… The church… is the people… You are the church… You are St. Barnabas… And it is our turn to proclaim the good news… The time is fulfilled… The kingdom of heaven is at near… And those words are just as true today as they were 2000 years ago… And they will continue to be true… for ever and ever…
Amen…
Fr. Kenn