Repentance Isn't So Bad...

This morning as I opened my Bible, my eyes were immediately drawn to the first statement that Jesus makes in Mark's Gospel - found in Mark 1:15 NIV
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Yesterday I spent a bit of time on his fist sentence - "the time has come" - and today it was His third sentence that grabbed me. We often read the word repent, and immediately assume He is talking about sin, as we commonly only use repent in that context. The Greek word translated repent is Metanoeo:

Definition
1. to change one's mind, i.e. to repent
2. to change one's mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins

Further breaking down the Greek word, it is a contraction of two other Greek words, Meta and Noeo. Meta means after, and Noeo means thinking, pondering and understanding something. So the Greek word Metanoeo could be translated - after thinking about this and understanding it more - in other words hind-sight.

So going back to Jesus statements, He says:

1) The time of Israel's waiting for a Messiah has been completed.
2) God's kingdom is approaching, coming near, soon to be seen (demonstrated by healing, signs, miracles, etc.)
3) Because of these two facts you need to change the way you are thinking. You are no longer waiting, but rather are now experiencing that which you have waited for, and you must believe, accept the good news, and spread the good news.

I like what Graham Cooke says about the good news, "its so good its almost too good to be true!". I think that is the context that Jesus makes His statement in. The people are overwhelmed by what He is saying! They are in a daze, saying to themselves, 'this can't be happening, this can't be the Messiah can it?'. Jesus is speaking very clearly and makes sure that they perceive this correctly, bringing their hind-sight into the foreground and helping them change the way they are thinking.

That is in reality what repentance is, being convinced of something, often because we have had a chance to think about it and recognize we are wrong, and then choosing to change our mind, and then our actions. Whether the issue is sinful behavior, or just some wrong thinking, it is usually in hind-sight that we gain our perspective, and see things more clearly. It is a great gift when our hind-sight is pulled forward into our present perspective, which is what I think what the Holy Spirit does when He brings conviction. Oh, that I could live more of my life being guided in the present by hind-sight concerning the present situation. I think that is what we receive if we ask for the gift of repentance, or metanoeo.

I guess, in this light, repentance isn't so bad! So let us repent and believe the Good News! God is here, He is present, and His Kingdom is in our midst! Not only that but He wants us to be active participants in His Kingdom, not just observers. If we have been waiting for some sign, this is it! He is here!

This is what we are really celebrating in this Christmas season, the real and present Jesus, Christ the King! Its time for us to live our lives in line with this reality - change the way we think and believe and live accordingly. Repent! Amen!