Matthew 4:17 is the quintessential sermon. “From that time, Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’” Here is the kernel of all Jesus’ teaching, the most central message of his entire ministry. Draw close to God, because he’s drawn close to you. In a way, it’s the only sermon that is ever preached, by Jesus or anyone else. It is also the essence of John’s preaching a chapter earlier (3:2). And it is the sermon he charges his twelve apostles to deliver in their own missionary work (10:7). Every sermon preached for the last 2,000 years is trying to copy this one. Preaching, at its core, does two things. First, it announces God’s presence, character, and action in the world. Second, it beckons an appropriate human response to God’s presence, character, and action. In other words – the kingdom of heaven has come near, so repent.
The “kingdom of heaven” is not what we usually refer to as “heaven.” Jesus isn’t talking about the afterlife. He’s talking about reality itself. God’s will and mission. God’s thoughts, desires, and priorities. What God considers to be real and true – that reality has invaded our space. What God thinks and what God is doing is not far away. It’s come to us. It is “at hand.” Just reach out and grab it. In the person of Jesus of Nazareth, everything that God is has come close to us. Also, let’s take “kingdom” at its most literal. The king of heaven has brought his rule into the world. God’s in charge, full stop. God’s will is being done all around us. The kingdom has come.
And what is the appropriate human response to this good news? Repentance, Jesus says. This is a lot more than feeling sorrowful over mistakes, even if that is a part of it. Repentance is conversion. Conversion is not primarily for those outside the Christian religion, but for us inside it. Jesus is calling on us to be converted out of our own false realities and into God’s reality. Repentance is not the brutal purging of what we hate about ourselves, but rather a joyful participation in God’s will. It is realizing that his desires for us are so much more lovely than our desires for ourselves. To repent is to turn, toward God and away from sin. And not just sin, but every pointless distraction that bears no kingdom fruit.
Repentance is nothing less than the complete changing of how the mind works, being formed by Jesus toward the transformation of the very way in which we think. The way we process information and stress. The way we interact with people. The kinds of things we find desirable and valuable. God’s kingdom is here to claim our hearts and imaginations. “Repent” here in its original Greek is a combination of two words: “behind” and “mind.” To repent is to let Jesus get behind our minds, to get past all the stuff occupying our imaginations, desires, and attention spans that don’t produce love and discipleship.
God’s reality is right here. Be converted.
God is this world’s true ruler. Don’t rebel against him.
God is rearranging all things, just the way he likes them. Let him rearrange your thoughts, words, actions, and behaviors, too.
In other words – repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.
That’s the sermon. That’s the reality of the situation. That’s the invitation. May our imaginations run wild with all the ways Jesus is making us like himself.