A Changed Mind

 

Text: Mark 1:4-11

Focus: Repentance

Function: to help people see that God is constantly helping us to grow.

⁴so John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And the whole Judean region and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. ⁸I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him. ¹¹And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

There are two different men named John in the gospels. The first one is Jesus’ cousin through Elizabeth, a man who was born to a woman in her 80’s and shared a brief time of pregnancy with the mother of the Lord.

The other John is the one who was called the beloved disciple and he wrote the gospel of John, 1, 2, 3 John Epistles and the book of Revelations at the end of the Bible.

Today, we are looking at the message of Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptizer and he came on the scene as a predecessor to the Lord preaching this message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

He instituted a new ordinance for the Church. Baptism. Paul talks about it in Romans 6 as being the beginning of this new life where the Spirit reigns in us. Remember, it is a symbol.

1. Here is the verses: 3 Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

It symbolizes that we have our sins forgiven as they are washed away through the water. It then also became a symbol that we died to selfish living and have chosen to live for the good of everyone.

That is what is meant by John preaching repentance.

That work repent is a theological term and to some, it might have a negative connotation.

When I picture the word repent, I picture an angry preacher with a red face, all blustery, pounding the pulpit with one fist and pointing a finger at me telling me that I must repent or I will not make it to heaven.

Actually, his message is, repent or burn in hell.

It isn’t a very attractive way to bring people into the abundant life that Jesus came, lived and died to give to us.

Now don’t be alarmed. The image I get in my head is almost cartoonish. It is completely imaginary and a very wrong understanding of the message that John the baptizer was preaching about repentance.

What DO we think of when we hear the word repent? The word in the Greek is metanoia. It literally means to transform or to change your mind.

So, here is John the baptizer, on the scene getting people ready to receive Jesus and he is preaching about the new kingdom that Jesus is bringing to them and he is telling them to get ready for it by changing their minds.

His message is: Stop being closed minded and open up yourselves to new possibilities. God is here and is going to make things right.

If you want to be forgiven for your sins, then change the way you are thinking. John tells them that his baptism is merely human, in water but Jesus’ baptism is with the Holy Spirit. He is telling them that the Spirit is coming to transform their minds and their thinking.

I think one of my biggest problems is that once the Spirit began a good work in me, I thought I was finished.

But the point of the passage and the message that John is preaching is that we are people who are constantly being transformed by the Spirit in our lives.

God keeps on transforming us as the scripture says line upon line and precept upon precept. God’s goal is that we be transformed into people who will bear the image of Christ to a world that needs to embrace the redemption that God is giving us.

So, here is John the Baptizer saying “Jesus is coming to forgive your sins” and you need to be ready to change your minds in order to join this new kingdom.

When Jesus stood before Pilate at his trial, he said: “My kingdom is not of this world…” He indicates that it is again, a different way of thinking.

I look at what the apostles did with the teaching of right after he ascended into heaven and left them to build the community known as the Church.

The first thing they did was set up a new system, I guess it was nothing less than an ancient commune, where the rich shared their blessings with the poor because they realized that loving their neighbor as themselves meant that one person cannot hoard goods while another person starves.

1 John 3:17 implies that to see our brother in sister in need and have the resources to help them and refuse is sin because we are not loving our neighbor as ourselves.

I don’t think those are hard words. We see a need and we are filled with compassion and we meet the need depending on God to pay us back because Proverbs 9:17 tells us that giving to the poor is a loan to God that God will indeed repay.

If not in this life, then in the life to come.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating a commune and the Bible doesn’t command it. But what I am talking about is our relationship to our wealth and the way that we use it to be the blessing that God wants us to be.

Genesis 12:2 gives us the biblical principle that God blesses us to be a blessing to others.

Again, I am not advocating socialism, we live in a capitalistic society.

Maybe this is where we need to change our mind as we place these values into our capitalistic society: Deuteronomy 8:18 reminds us that if we are blessed financially, it is God who blessed us. If we earned our wealth through hard work, it is God who gave us the strength and the luck to have succeeded.

John is telling them to allow their minds to be changed by the Holy Spirit as they enter this new era of God’s blessings and power in their lives.

He is calling us to live for the kingdom of God and remember that our reward is in heaven.

I believe it is the same for us.

John’s message to be ready for something new in their lives still resonates with me.

I think of the way that the Holy Spirit has led me in my life. That cartoonish image that I have in my mind is based somewhat on the reality of hearing angry preachers when I was young.

The Holy Spirit has moved me from a God of wrath to a God of love and is inspiring me, us, to be loving and kind people who depend on God and each other and recognize that we belong to God and to each other in this life.

And all of this is done, I believe, by the power of the Spirit that John promises will come to us who trust in the Christ for our redemption.

So, praise God there is a real beauty to this. I complained at first about my perception of what the word repent means. But when we look at it, it is completely different and it is God, by the Spirit setting us free. One of my favorite verses by Paul is 2 Corinthians 3:17: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom.”

I was raised with a “don’t sin” mindset. Sin was the focus. In this passage, the people confessed their sins and then moved on to this new life. John isn’t shaming them with the past but promising them the future driven by the Spirit of God.

So, my take away is to not be afraid to let the Spirit keep on transforming us into the people who demonstrate Jesus’ love.