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“The time is fullled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15

Repent used to be a word that would make me inch. It always brought to mind condemnation, anger and eternal damnation. It was this “turn or burn” association that always made me hesitant to even consider using the word in a conversation of faith. But, repent is actually not that at all. The Greek word is metanoeó. Meta means “with”, “after”,”beyond”. Noeo is “perception”,”understanding”,”mind”. Literally it carries the idea of after perceiving or understanding to a moving beyond your current mindset – changing the way you think.

So, what Jesus is literally saying is “change the way you think and believe the good news“.

It is ironic to me that instead of changing the way we think, we have changed the meaning of the words. Instead of reasoning together what the nearness of God means to the transformation of our lives, we widen the gap between God and humanity by changing a word of enlightenment into a rhetoric of condemnation. Instead of drawing others into a conversation with an invitation to change the way you think about God, to believe the good news of “for God so the loved the world, we draw lines in the sand, creating our boundaries of conformity.

Allow me to share my understanding of Jesus’ words:
Right now is the time to recognize that God is closer than you realize. It is time to change the way you think. It is a new day! The old thinking of hatred, lack of forgiveness, condemnation and all those things that we have allowed to distract us from the Love God is, are no longer valid. This is good stuff – run with it and spread the word!

Mark 1:12-13 After that the Spirit compelled Him to go into the wilderness, and there in the desert He stayed for 40 days. He was tested by Satan himself and surrounded by wild animals; but through these trials, heavenly messengers cared for Him and ministered to Him.

It a beautiful thing how the same story can teach us very dierent lessons depending on the perspective of the teller. Isn’t it interesting that GOD did not inspire Mark to write more about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness? He just wrote, “He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.” Of course the other Good News writers expanded on the account, so we know more of the drama that unfolded which makes Mark’s lack of detail speak louder.

Perhaps there is a lesson in what is not said.

Our lives are surrounded by chaos and too often enveloped in the turmoil. If it is true that we become that on which we focus, giving those details our primary attention can drain our energy and empower the chaos to multiply – robbing us of the ability to see the GOoD that has been promised.

It is not a matter of ignoring the situation (that would be detrimental and unhealthy). Like Mark it is a matter of acknowledging the adversity (or adversary), but in the end finding our focus on “angels ministering”. For we know that all things work together for GoOD!

in surrender to the Love God is… p.Jeff

Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24 ESVi)

We need death in our lives. We cling to this idea of resurrection because we don’t want the “good things“ in our lives to end. We don’t want to lose our loved ones permanently, so we are encouraged by the idea of resurrection and being reunited. We don’t want our own lives to end, so we hold on to this hope of resurrection – continuation. But, we need death in order for life to be created.

Jesus equated death in the metaphor of a seed being planted much like a body is buried in the ground. The seed needs to be planted in order for the new life to realize growth. The fact that he said “unless” it falls it remains alone would seem to also indicate that death is a doorway to our connection – perhaps to God, perhaps connection to others.

Someday I will die and all that I am will “fall into the ground” in order for a new life to be realized. Until then, maybe all that I think I am can die in order to create the “much fruit”, the connection of the eternal.

Perhaps at some level fear of death stems from not knowing what that new life will actually look like. This is the importance of living in the now. The “good” memories that we cling, to or the “bad” ones we so desperately cannot seem to shed are the antithesis of new life. They’re an ego driven struggle to hold on to that which needs to die. “Good” or “bad” everything at some point in our journey needs to die in order for the cycle of life to continue. In the words attributed to the prayer Saint Francis, “It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

I believe in the power of the resurrection. I believe that resurrection power courses through every human being and we realize that power as we deepen our connection with God who energizes the entire cycle as Love. But, you can’t experience resurrection without first experiencing death.

So then the question is what in my life needs to die in order to realize the more that already is?

Happy Easter & Blessed Resurrection.