‘… The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the
good news’ (Mark 1:15)
Mark
1:9-15 (Year B: Lent 1)
The Chief
economist at the Bank of England has commented that
The rising incidence of attention deficit disorders, and the rising
prominence of Twitter, may be further evidence of shortening attention spans….
Fast thought could make for slow growth.
Twitter – in case we didn’t know involves online messages of no
more than 140 characters (about 25 words on average per tweet). It is estimated
that media ‘soundbites’ are now down to 9 seconds in the USA. This implies
approximately 12 words in which politicians, advertisers, homelists, parents,
teenagers, etc convey their ‘message’. Hardly an academic thesis bite
discourse. Still, if for example you find yourself on a bus, in a taxi or in a
lift (elevator) somewhere and have 9X10=90 seconds to convey your ‘message’ to
someone who seems interested and inquisitive you might want to check out the
first chapter of the gospel of Mark.
So, what 12 words could be used? Here they are: ‘The kingdom
of God is near. Repent and believe the good news’.
Here are the 12 words:
The Kingdom of God
The phrase ‘kingdom of God’ had deep resonance in Jesus’
milieu. It may be a little lost on the world today, unfamiliar or unfriendly to
human notions, metaphors and institutions of royalty. But, the idea of the
Kingdom still has currency and relevance if we understand it as a spiritual
reign or ruling over minds and hearts freely accepting of this. It signifies a reign
of personal and social freedom and justice. The two go hand in hand. It implies
that those who are poor, oppressed, excluded are brought into the centre of our
communities and listened to and empowered. There, peace and love are
established where, before, suspicion, resentment and factionalism prevailed.
For Faith works, People matter and God reigns.
And the kingdom belongs to those who received it with
childlike simplicity, trust and openness (Luke
18:17). It is a common practice to associate the term and the idea of the
kingdom of heaven with the world that it is to come, or, simply that which is
after death. But, it is clear from most usages of the term in the Gospels that
the kingdom is also in the here and now in our midst – very near and about to
break into our little world.
The late theologian, William Placher, put it this way in
relation to Mark 1:14-15: “What
Jesus is beginning is the transformation of this world. That is why those in
charge of this world as it was ended up killing him.” (Placher, 2010:35): Mark
Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible.
A particular emphasis to be found in the Gospel of John is
rebirth from above and from within as the way to ‘seeing’ and ‘entering’ the
Kingdom of God (e.g. John
3:3, 5). This suggests that entry to that state is not just something far
off or in the future or even just ‘near’ but within those who welcome the Holy
Spirit and experience a rebirth based on trust and love. The writer of Luke’s
Gospel speaks of the Kingdom of God as something among us as well as within (Luke
17:20-21)
Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would
come, Jesus replied, ‘The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that
can be observed, nor will people say, “Here it is,” or “There it is,” because
the kingdom of God is in your midst.
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom
of God is within you.
In the life of the Christian community there
are times when Jesus’ followers over-identified or reduced the Kingdom of God
to the ‘Church’ (and that very often in strictly party denominational sense).
Others over-identified or reduced the Kingdom of God to some interior,
subjective state of feeling or reasoning. The truth is that both perspectives are
valid and needed!
Is near
It may be a question of time or place. In truth we can say
that our lives are short and the day we anticipate is nearer now than was the
case yesterday.
Repent
To repent is to turn away from something. It means turning
away from all that is harmful, poisoned, destructive within us and around us.
This is difficult because we seek refuge, sometimes, in falsehoods, riches and
comfort – the comfort of our systems of thinking and association that surrounds
us all the time. We are invited to return or turn back to the basics of
- - Doing what is right
- - Believing in what is true
- - And avoiding what is evil for ourselves and others.
It is as simple as
that!
And Believe the good news
The good news is what we wait for every day and it seems to
elude us. Luke spells it out (4:18-19):
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the
prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.
The good news is one of liberation for those who are outside
the centres of religious, political and social domination.
But it is not for us to communicate the good news if we have
not received and digested it, first. We must be open to receiving the good
news. This news concerns the worth that
is placed on us and others by a God who loves us beyond human imagining.
In the ‘Synoptic Gospels’ (those of Matthew, Mark and Luke)
there is a three-part movement towards the beginning of the good news story as
follows: testing and trials in the desert followed by the first very public
announcement of the good news and then the calling of the first disciples.
Jesus retreated to a barren place where he prayed, fasted and was tested.
Hence, the link from this episode to the Gospel of the first Sunday of
Lent. When Jesus stands firm in his
mission and commitment he proclaims his agenda. It is to bring good news of
freedom and liberation from oppression. It means healing and new life for those
ready to receive it. On the basis of this proclamation others are drawn to his
company and so develops the first band of friends or ‘disciples’. Jesus had
honed his purpose, his commitment and his mission in the barren and testing
place of the desert.
Our role is not to go about confronting people with the
language and a system of ideas that means nothing to them. Rather, we are
invited to gently lead others to where they are ready and willing to go in
their own time at their own pace. Ultimately, we are called not to announce the
word so much as to live it and thereby draw others into the family of trust,
belonging and purpose which is the community founded on the example, teaching,
death and resurrection of the Jesus who continues to live in our midst.
This lent let’s take that prayer, Our Father, seriously and
practically meaning what we say and putting it into practice day by day. And
‘Your Kingdom Come’ will be reality more and more as we walk towards Easter.
And we will be amazed to find that it is indeed true that ‘For the Kingdom, the
Power and the Glory are yours’. Put another way it means:
- - Power is everywhere
- - Change if possible
- - Hope is vital
That makes exactly 9 words and might suffice at a bus queue,
on a taxi or in a lift! (Note that this blog contains 1,337 words and 7,383 characters and at a reading speed of 207 words per minute takes 6 minutes and
30 seconds to read!)
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