Throughout history there have been men and women who found it necessary to speak the truth that God placed in their hearts. The prophet Jeremiah said it well:
or speak any more in his name,”
then within me there is something like a burning fire
shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot. (Jer 20:9)
Jeremiah goes on to say that those around him, his friends, denounce him and hope to see him fall. And tradition has it that he was eventually stoned to death–amongst other things done to him throughout his.
Today in our gospel, John speaks out. He speaks truth to all people. The poor and the rich, the weak and powerful. Scripture tells us that God is indeed no respecter of persons. There is truth to be told and the prophet must not be silent. We know that John was beheaded.
Jesus also spoke truth to all people. Throughout his life he did not hold back. And of course we know how that story goes.
And the legion of truth tellers goes on and on throughout history. Stephen, Paul, Peter, and plenty more.
So what is it that they found so important to tell that they put their lives on the line to speak it? It would seem to me that whatever it is it may be worth considering. We are born with the impulse for self preservation. What is it that usurped that drive in these people?
I won’t hide that they all spoke warnings to those who would not listen. But the call was not one of condemnation as much as warning. Ok, John calls them a “Brood of Vipers” but he still assumes that there is always hope.
And where does that hope lie? In true, honest repentance. What is this repentance of which Jeremiah, John, Jesus and others spoke?
We might guess that it is more than the “I’m sorry, I”ll never do it again” sentiment. It is one that John tells the Pharisees and Sadducees produces fruit. You may have heard this before but at the price of their lives they felt it was worth repeating. And so I will as well.
Repentance means to turn around. It means a change of mind and a change of heart. It means that it is not just the action, the behaviour that changes, but instead the internal workings, thoughts, understandings that change. It is not just about feeding your neighbor, clothing the poor, visiting those in prison, as Jesus talks about in Matthew 25, but rather doing all of those things and more with love. Repentance is a complete change of heart.
Paul writes to the Corinthians:
If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. (1 Cor 13)
This is true repentance. This is what martyrs laid down their lives to preach.
And out of that repentance is formed the dream that Isaiah offers us.
the leopard sleep with the kid.
Calf and lion will eat from the same trough,
and a little child will tend them.
Cow and bear will graze the same pasture,
their calves and cubs grow up together,
and the lion eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child will crawl over rattlesnake dens,
the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent.
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill
on my holy mountain.
The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive,
a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide. Isaiah 11 :6-9 (MSG)
Such peace comes in the midst of a repentant world. The one who devours befriends the prey. The powerful lay down with the meek. Even the most vulnerable are no longer afraid. This is the kingdom of God.
And John knew that such change can come no other way but through the baptism that Jesus brings. The baptism of that most Holy Spirit of God. The igniting of the image of God within each of us. The fruition of the Kingdom of God described by Isaiah and Jesus tells us is within us. (Luke 17:21).
Repentance ignites that fire. Repentance resurrects the image of God within us. Repentance causes us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and our neighbor as our self.
Luther reminds us that it is only by the Holy Spirit that we can truly turn to God. And the first words in his Thesis are “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said “Repent,” he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.” It is always on going. Perhaps you have heard it said that the church too must always be reforming. Always repenting, turning around. Too easily we get caught is our own self righteousness.
Say yes to the fire the Holy Spirit brings and be changed. Allow that fire to burn away the chaff within your hearts that keeps you from love. Receive that repentance and turn around to see and receive God’s kingdom right here, with us, within us.
Many have died speaking this truth so that we might truly live! “Repent, for the Kingdom of God has come near” in the birth of our Lord.
Join me in a moment of silence to feel that fire.