Matthew 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Some people hang up at the various differences among even the synoptic Gospels, (Matthew, Mark, Luke) but that overlooks the point that they were all written from different viewpoints. Matthew was very much a disciple, and apostle, but he wasn’t one of the very first, so he just heard about this part from the others. For that matter, Mark just recorded Peter’s recollections, and Luke researched it all after the fact. I think the significant point here is that, before He had any followers, Jesus was preaching repentance. Every human being who has ever lived, with the sole exception of Jesus Himself, has things of which they need to repent. That includes every disciple, including those designated apostles. There is no room for pride in the kingdom of heaven! The theme of our readings is Training Disciples, but you can’t become a disciple in the first place without repentance. This isn’t the same as “doing penance;” it involves a change of heart and a change of action. We sometimes fall down on both sides of that. Sometimes we try to “improve ourselves,” without acknowledging internally that the old way was bad, was sin. Lots of “self-help” books try to get people to do that. Those books aren’t necessarily bad, but they aren’t repentance. The other side of that is when we acknowledge we were wrong, but don’t take any concrete steps to change. Genuine repentance can be hard! The epidemic of obesity is ample proof of that. There are environmental factors, such as the abundance of high-fructose corn syrup in practically everything, and sometimes genetic factors, but it ultimately comes down to knowing that your old way of eating is bad, and changing it. Various fad diets try to make it seem easy, but it ultimately comes down to lifestyle change. The same thing may be said of every kind of repentance. We can’t get by with just an “Oops!” The full blessings of the kingdom come only with genuine repentance.

I’ve walked through this from all sorts of angles. Every day I learn more about myself and more about my Lord, and as my father regularly said, I need to give all I know of myself to all I know of Christ. Just this past week I heard someone quote my father on that, and I was grateful. As a pastor, I seek to lead others into genuine repentance. To do that, I’ve got to model it myself. I’m not to run around accusing others, but rather speak the truth in love and allow the Holy Spirit to “convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement.” (John 16:8) (I really don’t like the way the latest version of the NIV renders that, because conviction is internal, and the NIV seems to change it to something external.) I’ve got to let the Holy Spirit be my compass, my guide, and genuinely forsake everything that doesn’t agree with Him.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me indeed live it out, as a true disciple, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!