How many of you are familiar with the song made famous by Joan Osborne in the mid-90s titled One of Us? Maybe you’d recognize it better by the lyrics. The first verse says:

If God had a name, what would it be?
And would you call it to His face
If you were faced with Him in all His glory?
What would you ask if you had just one question?

And the second verse is similar:

If God had a face, what would it look like?
And would you want to see
If seeing meant that you would have to believe
In things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints
And all the prophets?

And then the chorus belts out:

What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryna make his way home?

When this song first came out, it was rather controversial among Christians. The concern was that it seemed too irreverent. People didn’t like God being called a slob and a stranger. But what the song does is give us a picture of the incarnation, God made flesh. God WAS one of us in the person of Jesus. Jesus took on our flesh and blood, walked alongside us, suffered as we do, hungered and thirsted like we do, was tempted just as we are. Jesus was one of us in every sense of the way. Jesus became one of us to get near to us, to understand us, to show us who God is and what God desires.

In the gospel passage this morning from Matthew, Jesus had just returned from his temptation in the wilderness and was beginning his ministry. He has just learned that John the Baptist was arrested, and so Jesus flees to Capernaum. It is there that Jesus begins his earthly ministry. And the main message of his ministry? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Other translations say, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” God’s kingdom is very close by. So close we can touch it. Yet somehow we ignore it, we reject it, we even try to destroy it. Why? Because God’s kingdom drawing near to us means that we have to change. It means we have to admit that we were wrong about some things, and we need to be better.

Admitting our mistakes is a hard thing to do. I think as a society right now, we’ve forgotten how to do that. When a mistake we made is pointed out to us, we just change the subject or try to justify the mistake that we made in order to convince others (and probably ourselves) that what we did wasn’t actually wrong or that it was someone else’s fault. But Jesus’ message to all of us is “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

The Greek word translated here as “repent” is the word metanoia. Metanoia is the combination of two words: meta meaning ‘after’ and noia meaning ‘understand.’ Metanoia is a changing of our understanding of things. It’s about gaining a new perspective and doing things differently because of it. When I was a kid, I thought that vegetables were disgusting, so I didn’t eat many. After April and I got married, she started trying to get me to try new things, including vegetables. Our first full summer in Iowa, we decided to plant a garden. We bought seeds for some plants, and then we checked at the local greenhouses and garden centers for seedlings to add to the garden. Upon a visit to one such place, April decided that we needed to buy an asparagus plant. That sounded like a terrible idea to me. Asparagus is a vegetable, and as I stated previously, I didn’t eat many vegetables, particularly ones I’ve never tried and hadn’t really heard many glowing reviews. But April won out, and pretty soon we’d planted that asparagus and waited. We were told that it would take a few years before we could really eat from it. I was fine with that because I didn’t want to eat it anyway.

A few years later when the plant was producing we were able to harvest some spears to cook and eat. I don’t remember how April cooked them that first time, but I do remember that I tried them, despite great resistance. What I discovered was that I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would. In fact, it wasn’t half bad. We also began at some point to grow brussel sprouts in our garden. I honestly had no idea what a brussel sprout was, but I was certain, despite my experience with the asparagus, that I would not enjoy a brussel sprout. And as it turned out, I was wrong again. In fact, brussel sprouts prepared a certain way have become one of my favorite vegetables. I had to repent. I had to change my understanding.

Now, that’s a pretty small example of our need to repent. When the kingdom of heaven comes near, when Jesus enters our life, when the Holy Spirit unveils our eyes, it can upend our whole way of thinking, our whole life. And I’m not simply talking about when we make that initial commitment to following Christ. I know when I was in high school, every speaker at every Christian event that I attended with my youth group had to talk about their “conversion story,” the story of how their lives were changed dramatically when they found Jesus. The changes in their lives were amazing, and I don’t want to downplay any of that. But repentance is not one big change in our lives and then we are good to go for eternity. Repentance is something that happens over and over again throughout our lives as the kingdom of heaven continues coming near to us through the work of the Holy Spirit, which can be manifest in so many different ways.

The kingdom of heaven comes to us from unexpected places and unexpected people, from people near and far, from situations like nothing we have ever known. We are always in need of repentance because we are always making mistakes, always saying the wrong things, doing the wrong things, believing the wrong things, but that’s the way it has always been. Jesus saw the turmoil in Israel. He heard about John’s arrest, which came about because John was a threat to the emperor’s power. John was charismatic and influential, and Herod Antipas feared an insurrection. And when John criticized the emperor for marrying his brother’s wife, Herod became upset and called for the arrest of John. That is what earthly kingdoms do. They try to control their citizens, and when they can’t they lash out. But the kingdom of heaven is not like that. The kingdom of heaven draws near to us. The kingdom of heaven embraces us and shows us a different way.

As Jesus begins his ministry, we see what the kingdom of heaven is like. The kingdom of heaven is about people. Earthly kingdoms are often more about rules and power and prosperity, but the kingdom of heaven is about people. Jesus tells Simon Peter and Andrew that he will make them into fishers of people. He invites them to join him in his ministry, and that ministry is about people. The kingdom of heaven is about GOOD news. I’ll be honest that good news seems like an oxymoron in our current day and age. How much of the “news” that we consume is ever “good”? Not very much, right? It’s all about death and disease and violence. News organizations attack the people and groups that their readers hate in order to make their readers feel good about themselves. If the readers feel like someone is confirming to them that their beliefs are valid and good, then they will keep reading from that site or publication. But few seem to print uplifting stories or stories of kindness and love toward both friends and enemies.

Finally, the kingdom of heaven is about healing. Jesus ministry begins with healing: curing sicknesses and diseases. If we believe Jesus’ message that the kingdom of heaven has come near, and we believe that through the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of heaven continues to come near, then we should be a people of healing. We should be a people that help others, that seek the wellbeing of our neighbors, that protect the weak and do not give in to the temptation of power and control. We may not be able to perform miracle healings like Jesus did, but we can work to make sure people have access to the things they need for their healing. We can try to protect hurting people from further damage. And we can utilize the healing balm of love.

Repent, see life in a different way, through the eyes of Jesus, for the kingdom of heaven has come near bringing peace and love and goodness and healing. This week, may we not be afraid to admit our mistakes, repent and turn in a different direction. May we seek to love and protect our neighbors. May we seek to heal the sick and hurting. And may others experience the presence of the kingdom of heaven through our example. May we follow Jesus and walk in his ways. Amen!