'Repent and believe in the gospel' were, in Mark's Gospel, the first words out of Jesus. On Ash Wednesday, this is one of the formulas used by the person administering the ashes, translated in the new missal as, 'Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.' I prefer the 'repent and believe' version.
Mark's 'repent' has been confused with penitential practices during Lent, like giving up candy, movies, less TV etc.. While these things are good and have a role, the verb 'to repent,' according to contemporary scripture scholars, refers to a change of mindset. The English word 'repent' has moralizing overtones that suggest a change in behavior, whereas Jesus' term hints at a more fundamental change. First century Christians would have understood it to mean a change in their way of knowing, their way of perceiving, their perspective and manner of grasping reality. In a word, I think Jesus was calling his followers to transformation of heart and soul and spirit and mind.
If there is to be a new way of looking at things, are there new things to look at? The reason why Jesus called his followers to repent and believe in the gospel was that the 'kingdom of God is at hand.' It's in the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, in a forgiving father welcoming home a wayward child, in dining out with sinners, in shepherds minding heir flocks, sweeping the house, sharing bread in the middle of the night, in loaves and fishes, in healing the sick, in a late night meal of bread and wine, washing feet....
When Jesus came along a novel state of affairs arrived, the human and divine met and mixed in him. Minds, ears, eyes, senses, perceptions - all were challenged to be opened, turned around, revitalized. 'Repent and believe' was Jesus' early morning call to transformation of life. And that's something more than giving up chocolate for Lent. Jesus' call is to a more meaningful, more fully human way of life. Like his own.
The reality of who Jesus is, the Incarnation, is not something to be venerated from the outside - like putting Jesus into a glass case and throwing pious sugar at him. The Kingdom of God, Christ among us, is an energy in which we are called to participate. It's the power of God's creative love coming alive in us so we may kindle it in others. In John's Gospel, Jesus speaks of himself as the vine onto which we are grafted like branches, and he compares himself to food which we are to take into ourselves. These are powerful organic images of what happens when we repent and believe the gospel.
Like the word 'repent', the word 'believe' has been impoverished over the centuries and has come to mean a dry assent to doctrinal propositions. The other day I happened upon a TV chat show where religious faith was being discussed. One young lady, a member of an atheistic organization, said she had no faith because she was not an idiot! This evoked howls of laughter from the audience which obviously saw faith as the last refuge of fools and uncritical people.
For Jesus, to believe is not so much a way of knowing as a way of being known. Knowledge in the biblical sense is a full human experiential knowledge, like that of spouses for each other, and not something confined to the intellect alone. To believe is to allow ourselves to be overtaken by the power of God's love, to permit the divine energy of the kingdom to reign more completely in our hearts, minds, strength and spirit. It's a surrender to the God who wants to become incarnate in us. I think it was Christian philosopher Paul Tillich who described faith as being grasped by 'Ultimate Concern.'
All this may sound more like spirituality than theology. And it does. Jesus and his followers taught theology in the form of spirituality, and for the next thirteen hundred years there was no split between the two. The gospel message of Jesus was taught, preached and celebrated in the form of what the late Benedictine historian Jean LeClerque called wisdom or 'sapiential theology.' Unfortunately, for complex historical reasons, a split began to develop between the two with the development of the great European universities in the fourteenth century. The result? Dry as dust theology and cold, impersonal tenets to be believed by Christians, and on the other hand, devotionalism separated from its biblical and theological roots. Augustine or Aquinas would have been at a loss to separate their technical theology from their 'spirituality.'
Lent is upon us. 'The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.'
PASTOR EMERITUS
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