It can be hard, sometimes, especially if you aren’t in the habit of following the gospel lectionary at home, to have a mental picture of the overall story or context. Two weeks ago we had the story of Jesus’ baptism in the Gospel of Matthew. Last week we had the calling of Andrew and his brother from the Gospel of John. Today we’re going to ignore last week because today we are back in Matthew with the calling of Simon & Andrew and James & John.
Here's the context for today: Jesus was baptized by John and then led into the wilderness where he spent 40 days fasting and being tempted by the devil. Immediately after this Jesus hears that John has been arrested, whereupon he begins his earthly ministry. Jesus begins the same way John did: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” And his first act of his public ministry was to invite four fishermen to leave their business and their families and follow him as he changed their lives.
As with any good story, Matthew doesn’t just write random thoughts down willy nilly – there’s an order and a reason for what he writes. He weaves a story about Jesus that incorporates references, allusions, and prophecies from Judaism into something Christians see as God’s fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. From the genealogy in the beginning of his gospel to Christ’s promise that he is with us to the end of the ages, Matthew’s story flows in a particular direction with one thing leading to and supporting the next.
Jesus’ first statement is, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Immediately after that he calls four fishermen to follow him. The implication, at least for Matthew, is that repentance leads to a substantial change in behavior. Through our act of repentance we leave behind our old ways of doing things for a new way of being. That new way is following Christ through the intentional act of discipleship to become more Christ-like in our daily lives.
Our baptismal covenant mimics this when it says, “Whenever you sin, will you repent and return to the Lord?” The Ash Wednesday absolution says that God desires we turn from our wickedness. And the Exhortation asks us to examine our lives and conduct that we may acknowledge our sins with full purpose of amendment of life. Repentance, then, isn’t just something we say because it’s printed in the BCP. True repentance leads to a change that makes us more Christ-like. If we are unwilling to do that, why are we here?
I bring this up because last week I was made aware of the story of Mike, a parishioner of St. Elizabeth’s Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. Earlier this month Mike got on his social media account and proudly recorded himself telling how he refused to receive Communion from an Indian woman. Instead of receiving from the person appointed to administer the Sacrament to his side of the church, he crossed to the other side of the church to receive Communion from their white priest. He goes on to say that he will not receive Communion from anyone who’s non-white. And he closes his video with, “I’ll go confess to my priest, but I’ll continue doing it.”
Confessing a sin to your priest with the full intention to continue doing what it was you’re confessing without changing is not repentance. That is not following Christ. What that is is allowing your own hatreds and racism to rule your life. It’s elevating hatred and racism to the position of your own personal god. It’s creating an idol out of a belief that white people are better and deserve more than everyone else. And it’s making a mockery of the Christian faith.
If we claim, like Mike does, to confess our sins but without the intention to amend our life, we are living a lie. We are also continuing to live in the sin for which we have supposedly confessed.
Whether it’s the sin of racism in all its forms, or misogyny, or abuse, or xenophobia, or the sin of remaining quiet and allowing hateful attitudes and behaviors to fester and grow, Christ and the Church are calling us into repentance – true repentance. That repentance requires us to make restitution and reparations where needed. That repentance requires us to see all people as created in the image of God. That repentance requires us, like Simon & Andrew and James & John, to leave our old ways behind.
If our acts of repentance are tempered excuses for why we aren’t that bad, we’re doing it wrong. If our acts of repentance are simply performative such that we go through the motions without any real change, we’re doing it wrong. If our acts of repentance don’t cause us to question our thoughts, words, and actions toward others, we’re doing it wrong. If our acts of repentance don’t cause us to seriously evaluate whether our thoughts, words, and actions align with the thoughts, words, and actions of Christ, we’re doing it wrong. If we are looking for absolution without repentance, we’re doing it wrong.
We either serve Christ or we serve our own desires; we can’t serve both. We either respect the dignity of every human being, or we support rules and actions that continue to separate and dehumanize others. We either love God above all else, or we love all else above God. We can’t have it both ways.
In today’s gospel, Jesus calls people to repentance. He then invites four fisherman to leave their old ways behind to learn a new way of being that will drastically change their lives.
It’s the same for us: Jesus issues a call to repentance. He then invites us to follow him in a way that will drastically change our lives and how we behave.
Because, really, if we aren’t willing to change for the sake of Christ, if we aren’t willing to do the hard work of intentional discipleship and become more Christ-like, what are we doing here?
Jesus asks us to repent and follow him into a new way of being. And for some people, like Mike, that is too much to ask. We all have a choice – let’s not choose to be like Mike, but like Christ.
Amen.
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