Repent and Believe

Repent and Believe

January 14, 2013

Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Brothers and sisters: In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through the Son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe, who is the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word.  Hebrew 1:1-3a

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment.  The Kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”  Mark 1:14-15

Piety

The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad.  Cloud and darkness surround him; justice and right are the foundation of his throne. (Psalm 97:1-2)

Study

There are clearly places in the history of this blog where this author shared ideas like, "Jesus changed everything."  The revolutionary element of Jesus of Nazareth was certainly there and he stirred up the crowd for his preaching and against his preaching.  

However, there also was an evolutionary aspect to His message.  Today's readings point out that Jesus' message built upon the long tradition of the prophets as a way toward fulfilling what had been said.  Those historical prophets were not wrong.  The faith that they experienced and shared was true.  However, it was partial. Just last week our scriptures offered up one prime example when Jesus read from Isaiah in the temple.  While he shared a familiar reading (evolutionary), he also shocked the people by leaving out the part of the Hebrew Bible about vindication. 

Jesus comes along and completes the message in his life -- his piety, his study and his action.  Paul's letter to the Hebrews uses an interesting word to describe Jesus.  Paul says that Jesus was the "refulgence" of God's glory.  One the one hand, this term means that Jesus reflected the radiance and brilliance of God's glory and was the very "imprint" of God's being.  That was something that was not true of the teachings from the prophets in Hebrew history and tradition.  

However, there is another kernel of meaning in the word refulgence.  It comes from a Latin root word which means "to flash back."  While there are multiple meanings for this term (too), one is a memory that is suddenly and unexpectedly revisited.  Jesus was also building upon the collective memory of a God who wants to walk with us.  Jesus was also building on the words of the prophets which were embedded in the consciousness of the culture of the day. 

Yes, Jesus changed everything.  And the first call of the disciples promoted Peter, James, John, and the others to radically alter their lives when they encountered Jesus.  But today's scripture also tells us that Jesus also acted in the present moment of the lives of the people he met and within the cultural traditions of what they were expecting from their own lives of piety, study and action.  Building upon the foundations that people knew, he could lead them to a new understanding of justice.

Action

Next Monday is a national holiday for the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King., Jr.  Movements to mark the date not just with time off from work but also with community service have taken root.  How will you participate in community service next week?  If you have the day off from work or school, plan now.  Check with your parish or local volunteer center for projects in your area.  

(Note: If you do not have Monday off from work, many projects will take place on Saturday, January 20 the National Day of Service.)