It was a course on “systems theory.” We all develop patterns for our lives. A system or pattern is a series of interwoven habits that give life some order and stability.
If you change only one thing in the system, it changes everything in the system. You bring one tiny newborn baby home and everything changes.
Jesus spent most of his life in the quiet setting of his father’s carpentry shop. Then Joseph died and everything changed.
He’s baptized in the Jordan River, and everything changed again. Suddenly, John is arrested and another change.
Now, He steps onto a public stage and the first thing he does is go home to Galilee.
“And a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.”
— Luke 4: 14-15
In Galilee, without the temple, the synagogue was the church, the town hall, and the schoolhouse all rolled into one. Jesus went to where the people gathered and he preached a simple message beginning in Matthew.
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
— Matthew 4: 17
Now most of us mistranslate the Greek “metanoia.” We think “to repent” means “to feel guilt and regret,” but it originally meant “to change one’s mind” or “to change direction.”
My GPS translates “repent” as “recalculate.” I’m going the wrong way and neither guilt nor regret will help.
The only thing that helps is “to change direction” or “to turn around” and go in the right direction. It’s very simple, but it’s not always easy.
And the second part of his simple message was in Mark.
“Repent and believe the good news!” — Mark 1: 15
Again, most people under-translate the Greek word “pistis” meaning faith. It’s actually three words woven into one: understanding, agreeing, and trusting.
Imagine you’re considering investing in a company. You’d want to understand the company, then you’d want to agree with what the company was doing, and finally you’d want to actually buy the stock.
We might call it trusting the company or “buying into the company.”
And that would be a good way to express what it means to accept Jesus as the Savior and Lord of your life — to understand him, to agree with him, and to trust him.
Now the question becomes, have you already or will you now “buy into” the Christian faith?
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga. With wife, Mary Ella, they are missionaries to the Navajo Reservation.
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