Repent. The Kingdom is Near.

Why did Jesus come?  I mean, what’s the point?  What was his purpose?

“Well, to save us from our sins!” would be the automatic answer from most good, upstanding conservative evangelicals.  But I propose that, although this may be The Truth, it is not The Whole Truth, and it is most certainly not Nothing But The Truth.

Let us examine his own words.  The vast majority of Biblical scholars and critics hold that Mark was the earliest of the canonical gospels.  The first words attributed to Jesus in this Gospel are in Mark 1:15: “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!”

He is first depicted as declaring the advent of the kingdom of God, and calling people to repent. 

So, what is the kingdom of God?  And what does it mean to repent?  Because these two things are obviously central to Jesus’s earthly teachings.  And yet, they are often misunderstood by many Christians.

First of all, the phrase “kingdom of God” does not refer to heaven (although Matthew does insist on changing the wording of the phrase to “kingdom of heaven” in his account).  Rather, it refers to a new state of being, a new “the way it is” based on how it would look if God ruled (on earth, as it is in heaven, so to speak).  In a very real way, it is set over and against the “kingdom of Caesar,” as a way to live dependent on God rather than the power of this world.  It does not denote a place or location.  The concept as taught by Jesus in the Gospels reflects, rather, the “kingness” or “kingship” of God – what the world would be if God ruled.

So how do we get there?  There are no physical directions, since it isn’t a physical kingdom with borders and guards.  "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, `Lo, here it is!' or `There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:20-21)

The kingdom is Jesus’s announcement of something that had been described in the Prophets.  God is a God justice and righteousness, who desires a people of justice and righteousness, to live in justice and righteousness, in a land of justice and righteousness.

Basically, the kingdom of God is to be ushered in by. . . us.  We, who follow the teachings of Jesus, and how we live.  We, in partnership with God, are to bring about the kingdom.

There are many kingdom teachings in the Gospels, and some of them seem esoteric or symbolic, because they are speaking not necessarily of details of the kingdom itself, but rather how it will spread.  However, since, by his own testimony, the kingdom of God is central to Jesus’s purpose, I think it is to be revealed in his teachings about how we should live our lives.

So what are the main things Jesus taught about?  I will stick to the Synoptic tradition (Mark, Matthew, and Luke), because they are the Gospels that focus more on Jesus’s teachings about God, the kingdom, and how we are to live.  John is completely different, and should be treated so. (That's a subject for a future post.)

Jesus, by example, taught that we should welcome those on the fringes of society.  He met with them, shared the table with them, and, yes, partied with them.  The fringe in his society was perhaps different than the people on the fringe in our society, but the concept is the same.  He associated with the poor, the downtrodden, the despised, the rejected, the unclean.  Is there a group of people with whom you have little in common and would never welcome into your home or hang out with?  Those are the people you should be hanging out with.  Think about that the next time you post something angry on your Facebook page, or send a chain email decrying one segment of society or another.  (It seems strange to me that this kind of activity is seemingly displayed most by people who would characterize themselves as conservative Christians, a group who are most likely to view the Bible as the literal Word of God.  You would think that such people would take Jesus’s examples even MORE seriously than others, not LESS.  But I digress.)

Jesus taught total commitment.  Not commitment to attending church once a week (or even worse, once or twice a year – Chreasters, I’m looking at you!), and then doing whatever we want the rest of the week.  Following Jesus and serving the kingdom is a lifestyle, not something you turn on and off.  It’s always on.

We are to help those who need help.  That means comforting the broken-hearted, feeding the hungry, clothing the needy, healing those with illnesses.  Acting with compassion to EVERYONE, not just those who live like us, think like us, and vote like us.  And, if we are to use the parable of the Good Samaritan as an indicative example (which of course we should), we aren’t merely to give some assistance – we are to help as much as we can, WHEN we can, and make sure that the whomever we help continues to receive the help they need.  Dropping a dollar in a Salvation Army bucket at Christmas time is not enough.

Look at how he taught his disciples.  “Go!  I am sending you out like lambs surrounded by wolves. Do not carry a money bag, a traveler’s bag, or sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whenever you enter a house, first say, ‘May peace be on this house!’ And if a peace-loving person is there, your peace will remain on him, but if not, it will return to you. Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they give you, for the worker deserves his pay. Do not move around from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and the people welcome you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in that town and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come upon you!’ But whenever you enter a town and the people do not welcome you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this: The kingdom of God has come.’” (Luke 10:3-11)

They were to be reliant on God and the provisions he would provide through those they encountered.  They were NOT to be self-sufficient or self-reliant.  “God helps those who help themselves” is, and let me be absolutely clear here, NOWHERE TO BE FOUND IN THE SCRIPTURES.  Rather, bring the peace of God with you wherever you go and share it with whomever you meet.  Eat and drink that which is provided, and help those who need help.  In this way, “The kingdom of God has come upon you.”

If we all lived like this, what would the world look like?  It would be transformed.  It would be completely different than the way it is now.  It would usher in the kingdom of God.

The other thing Jesus called us to in Mark 1:15 was to repent.  What does repent mean?  Contrary to popular belief, it does not mean to say that you’re sorry or to ask for forgiveness (although I’m not saying not to do those things).  To repent is to change course, to stop the way you are currently traveling and change direction, to travel the correct path. 

Jesus paired “repent” with his announcement of “kingdom” because the two must necessarily go together.  If the kingdom is to be ushered in by us and how we live, we MUST repent.  If it could be ushered in by the way were already living, it would already be here.  For us to live in such a way, with such commitment, that our lives help to bring in the kingdom of God, repentance must be a foundational piece of the equation.

We often see caricatures (or even real-life examples) of street preachers who proclaim “Repent, for the end is near!”  I can’t help but think that these guys have got it wrong.  Repent, for the BEGINNING is near.  The kingdom can’t really arrive until we repent, change the course we are on, and live our lives in such a way that the kingdom draws near those we encounter.

Repent.  The kingdom is near. Or, it could be near.  It's really up to you.

The Light of Hope

What does Christmas mean to you?

(And here I must confess that by “Christmas” I mean “the greater Yuletide season, marked by Christmas, Hanukah, Diwali, or just a secular celebration of the winter solstice”.)

To me, the meaning of Christmas is, and always has been, hope.  This is reflected in the imagery of the original stories, and the similarities of that imagery in the religious observances of other cultures is a bold reminder of how connected we really are to each other.

The strongest metaphor for the hope of the season is light.  A light shining in the darkness is symbolic of hope standing strong against despair, of standing fast against all odds.  Light plays an important role in all of the stories associated with Christmas.

Remember, if you will, the story of the wise men from the East, who, as told in Matthew’s gospel, followed a star in search of a long-promised king.  The light from the star was their hope that the king had finally come.

Further, in Luke’s gospel, we have the light of the angels who announced the birth of the Messiah to a band of lowly shepherds.  Again, light signifying the long-awaited hope of deliverance.

Even in John’s gospel, which has no formal Christmas story, there is an account, of sorts, of the beginnings of things.  And it includes this passage: “In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it.” (John 1:4-5)

What a thrilling concept!  The light shines on, against the darkness!  The darkness is helpless before the light!

That light is hope.  Hope for the future.  Hope for a struggling relationship.  Hope for the truth.  Hope for much-needed help during desperate times. 

Another Biblical text often used at Christmas time also uses this metaphor. 

“Arise! Shine! For your light arrives!

The splendor of the Lord shines on you!

For, look, darkness covers the earth

and deep darkness covers  the nations,

but the Lord shines on you;

his splendor appears over you.” (Isaiah 60:1-2)

Again, this powerful, recurring symbol of light against the darkness, of long-awaited hope.  This, in a nutshell, is what Christmas is all about for me.

And let’s not forget our Jewish brethren.  At this time of year, they celebrate Hannukah, the Festival of Lights.  They do so in remembrance of a miracle during the cleansing of the Temple.  There was only enough oil to keep the Temple Menorah burning for a single day, but it burned for 8 days.  This symbolized hope renewed, and they celebrate it with the festival of lights to this day.

The Hindus also have a festival of lights, Diwali, in which they celebrate the triumph of good over evil.

Light against the darkness is a strong motif, celebrated in culture after culture.  In our case, the birth of Jesus symbolized the triumph of hope over despair.  That hope rings anew every year, as the darkness grows ever longer with the onset of winter.  And we are reminded again that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness STILL has not mastered it.

Maybe your hope is for a broken relationship to be restored.  Maybe it is for a new job.  Maybe it is for the health of a loved one.  Maybe your hope is a simple one, or perhaps it is a desperate one.  Maybe it is hope for all of mankind.  As Stephen King wrote in his masterful novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

I don’t know your background, and I don’t know what your hope is this Christmas season.  But I hope your darkness is held back by the light, and I hope that the light you seek shines on you.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Jeremy Hefner

Love my neighbor? What?

I am very grateful to live in a country where our religious freedoms are so vast.  I am free to worship in any style of my choosing, to any god(s) of my choosing, or not to worship at all.

That is why it makes me so nervous that so many of my Christian brethren would willingly limit the religious freedoms of everyone else if they could.  In fact, many of them are so convinced of their worldviews (which they can, of course, back up with clear Scriptural references) that they feel they should be made into law, so that others, even if convicted of different religious tendencies, should have to obey them.

This level of hubris is disturbing.  To think that you can know the mind and will of God to such a great detail that you know what he wants for everyone, and for the nation in general.  To think that, in this country of all places, that MY religion is so much better than YOUR religion (or your LACK of religion) that all citizens should be affected by changing the laws of the land, so as to fit MY religious convictions, making some things  illegal that are currently legal, and preventing other things from becoming legal, even if they amount to more freedom - which seems strange, since, according to the apostle Paul, "where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:17).

It seems especially strange to me that my fellow Christians should take such concern in the laws of the land, especially since Jesus said "My kingdom is not from this world" (John 18:36).

Of course, all of these Christians behave this way out of the best of intentions.  I realize that.  But their efforts seem misplaced.  Their certainty in these matters also seems misplaced.  Yes, they can point to Scriptural examples to explain their stances on certain subjects, and I would never presume to say that those passages aren't real, or that they are misreading them.  However, being able to point to Scripture for precedent isn't necessarily all that it's cracked up to be.

After all, Job's friends certainly had evidence and conventional wisdom on their side when they argued that God rewards the righteous and punishes the transgressors, so OBVIOUSLY Job was misstating the truth when he insisted he had done nothing to deserve his various calamities.  All Job did was continually question God.  So when God finally shows up and blows Job's mind with a glimpse into the length and breadth of his perceptions, what does God say to Job's friends?  "My anger is stirred up against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has" (Job 42:7).  They had all of the written and spoken evidence on their side, and Job only questioned God instead of making pronouncement about him, but they were wrong and he was right.

Also, the Pharisees and Sadducees  had a virtual monopoly on Scriptural exegesis in first-century Palestine; no one knew the Bible better than they did.  But Jesus countered them on every turn, telling them over and over again that they were wrong in their teachings.

I think that if we Christians just followed the teachings of Jesus (go figure), everyone would be better off.  Look at this passage from Luke 10: 25-37:

Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?” The expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said to him,“You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”  

But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem  to Jericho  and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man  he passed by on the other side. So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan who was traveling came to where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him. He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.’ Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” The expert in religious law said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” So Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

The story of the Good Samaritan is often thought of by many Christians as a wonderful example of how to help those in need, but that isn't the point of the story.  The whole point of the story is to provide an answer to the religious expert's question, "And who is my neighbor?"  And the answer is radical: your neighbor, whom you should love as yourself, is the person whom you most despise, with whom you disagree the most, whose lifestyle is one that you in no way approve or condone.  THAT is what a Samaritan was to a first-century Jew, and vice versa.  And THAT is who we should be neighbors to in this current age.  We should love our neighbors, not try to legislate against them.

Christians can still be the examples for the nation (and the world) that many of them so desperately want to be.  But for that to happen, we have to stop representing the worst facets of human nature, and instead represent the best.  We should live our lives in the Way that Jesus taught, by his examples and words, and stop browbeating our neighbors.  "You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. . . In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14, 16).

Here I am...

My name is Jeremy Hefner, and as 2012 is nearing its end, I am waking up to a new beginning in my life.  I find that as I grow older, many of the things I thought I knew don't seem to be true anymore, and other things that I had earlier dismissed are in fact as real as real gets.  I have a lot of unlearning to do.

Part of that unlearning is a re-evaluation of my life in faith.  You see, I was raised in the church, and like so many others in that circumstance, much of my life in faith went unexamined; many people don't know the reasons for the things they think they believe.  As I grow and change, I see that my faith must also grow and change.  In addition, I think that the church in general must grow and change, or it, like all other living things that don't grow, will eventually die.

This blog will be about the things I have learned and continue to learn along the way.  It will look at the intricacies of life seen through the lens of an evolving faith.  It will look at mistakes I have made, and will continue (I'm sure) to make in the future.  This blog will deal with life lessons with which I am coming to terms, and the adjustments in perspective I am occasionally forced to make.  It will also deal with things that are seemingly unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but which still seem to occupy so much of our time here in the 21st century.

Walking the Path Today will remain an open-ended experiment in relating my thoughts, ideas, and experiences to others.  I am hopeful that it will be found useful for some, and entertaining for others, but at least a little bit thought-provoking for the majority.  But for now, just remember that sometimes, the questions are more important than the answers.