1st Monday of Advent (December 1) Repent and follow Jesus

Prepare to listen.  Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.
 
Prayerfully Read Matthew 4:17-22
17From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  18As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishers.  19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.”  20Immediately they left their nets and followed him.  21As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them.  22Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
The brothers immediately left everything and followed Jesus.  What do you imagine they saw in him that made their response so radical?
 
It’s significant that the call to follow him begins with Jesus’ demand: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  Repent is an important word, often misunderstood.  It isn’t the same as confession, admitting we’ve done wrong and seeking forgiveness.  It literally describes “a primal change of mind, worldview, or way of processing,” [1] which will result in changing how to live, what to believe, to whom and to what to be loyal.  Repentance, when from the heart, is an essential practice for Jesus’ followers since it has to do with change.
 
Jesus changed everything for these four men.  One day they were loyal to fishing for their livelihood.  In a moment, their loyalty changed.  They left it behind to become “fishers of people.”  This isn’t a call to evangelize the lost.  Fishing is a biblical symbol of God’s judgment on those who refuse to repent, that is make radical changes to bring life more in line with Jesus’ demands.  The four men became loyal to Jesus’ mission to turn the world upside-down, or rather, right-side-up.  His coming into the world wasn’t about warm fuzzy feelings we so often get at Christmas.  It was to bring in radical change to everything.
 
When we repent and follow the Jesus of the Gospels, not one of our imaginations, we’ll change our mind about how to live.  Repentance isn’t a once-off action, but a regular practice, since we so often slip back into the comfortable ways of the world.
 
Examine your loyalties, be that political, theological, social, or other.  Where they are not in line with loyalty to the Kingdom Jesus ushered into the world, repent, change your mind and thus how you live.
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, train my heart to follow you more closely, courageously making all the changes I must for the sake of your Kingdom.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Repent and follow Jesus his way.
[1] Rohr, Richard.  The Universal Christ.  New York, NY: Convergent Books.  2021, p. 92.