Sermon All Age Communion 18 February 2024 – Lent 1 – Mark 1:9-15

May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

What do you see? Who can see a duck? And who a rabbit? Who can see both? Or neither?

Those who saw rabbits, there is some research that points out that during the Easter period people are more likely to see a rabbit first.

For many of us, it is really difficult to see the other – either rabbit or duck – in any case, to also see the other, we do not only need to look again, but we need to look at the picture in a different way, and often, we need someone else to point out to us how.

This is very much what Jesus is talking about in the message he is preaching in today’s Gospel reading, when he says:

“The time has come,” [he said.] “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Repent and believe the good news! 

But what does Jesus mean with this word repent? It’s a tricky word that many of us may have unhelpful associations with. It means more than, as one Dictionary puts it, ‘to be very sorry for something bad you have done in the past and wish that you had not done it’. This is part of it, but repentance has a bigger and better meaning.

The word that Jesus uses is from the verb μετανοέω (metanoeo), which means something like to turn around. But this Greek word is made up of two parts. Μετα (Meta) in this context means change, and νοέω (noeo) comes from the word nous – the word used for mind. So literally, the word repent means, changing your mind, or, alternatively, changing your purpose.

While this may include feeling bad about our choices in the past, and while it includes a recognition that the direction of our past life was wrong, it is first and foremost about changing our mind and our purpose. To change it to, as Jesus follows on immediately, to believing the Good News, the Good News that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, who has come to his people and who has come to bring his kingdom.

It also means turning away from everything else, everything that is not God, and turning to God. 

But, like with the rabbit and the duck, this is not just about changing an opinion. It is about changing our way of thinking and even the categories we think in. Whereas first we only thought there was one animal, now we can see the other as well, or even both at the same time.

Likewise, whereas we first may have thought Jesus was just a man, recognising that he is also God, opens up a whole new way of thinking. And turning to Him means changing our whole way of thinking: Instead of having ourselves, the things we like, and the things we would like to do or have at the centre, we place God and the other at the centre of our lives.

This is a promise that we made at our baptism and our confirmation, and a promise that people (six adults and four teenagers) from our church are hoping to make on Easter Eve at our Baptism and Confirmation service, committing themselves to turn away from everything else, and to turn to and to follow Jesus.

But for all of us it is a challenge to actually live this promise. So, from time to time we need to shake things up, and we need to be reminded that we are called to think in a different way. And that is the purpose of the season of Lent, that started last Wednesday.

Because last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the season of Lent, the time in the church year that we prepare for the events of Holy Week and Easter, of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem where He is to suffer, and to be crucified, before he rises again on Easter morning.  During the services on Ash Wednesday there was the possibility to be marked by an ash cross, with which the words ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ’ were said. We were reminded of our mortality, and of our calling to turn away from sin and to turn to Jesus Christ.

The time of Lent is a time of repentance, and traditionally a time of fasting, praying, and giving. It is a time that we give up something that we enjoy, something that we spend time on, and redirect that energy to praying – spending time and energy on our relationship with God – or to giving – spending time and energy with and for others. In this time we try to consciously adopt Jesus’ new way of thinking in our lives. By taking away time, the energy, and resources from ourselves and spending it on others. So, the goal of Lent is not to achieve certain goals and show how zealous and disciplined we are, but the goal is to grow in our love for God and neighbour, and to grow in changing our mindset to God’s mindset. To see the world, and to see other people as He sees them.

And this is actually quite challenging, especially if you’re like me, and you become a bit grumpy, or hangry, when you give things up. It is not always when I feel at my most loving.

But if we have given up something for Lent, every time we are longing for that thing, whatever it is, is an occasion to pray, because this season is about turning to God and to Jesus, and to his way of the cross. And to remind ourselves that in the light of Jesus and his cross, all the good things of this life, that are given by God, and that are there for us to enjoy, are not the things of ultimate significance.

May our journeys this Lent lead us to follow Jesus more closely, and to love Him and each other more.

Amen.