WHEN KINGDOM MEETS REPENTANCE

Reflections for the First Sunday of Lent (Genesis 9:8-15, 1 Peter 3:18-22, & Mark 1:12-15)

This Sunday’s gospel ends with the first words spoken by Jesus in Mark, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel”. George Soares-Prabhu (1929-1995), a prolific Indian Christian theologian and author, in his insightful exegesis of this verse (Collected Writings, vol.4, 2001, p.223-251), identifies two movements in action.

A. The Kingdom of God is at hand: 

The inauguration of Jesus’ public ministry sets in motion, a new phase of the revelation of God’s love, which is the foundation of the Kingdom reality. There is a marked difference in Jesus’ understanding and teaching of the word ‘Kingdom of God’ from that of the Old Testament. For Jesus, the Kingdom is not so much a military, political, moral or cosmic power. On the contrary, the Kingdom is a reality that is founded on Jesus’ Abba/Appa experience of God’s unconditional love. In announcing that the Kingdom of God is at hand, Jesus invites us to discover this Kingdom reality through our own Abba/Appa experience that he makes possible through his identity and ministry. To Soares-Prabhu, the Kingdom derived from his core experience of God as Abba/Appa also forms the foundation of his authentic Dharma (his understanding of existence and his way of life: CW 4, 258).

B. Repent, and believe in the gospel: 

The Kingdom ‘at hand’ seeks its appropriate response in our repentance, which is best described as our acceptance of God’s unconditional love. Thus, the Kingdom becomes both a gift and a task. It invites us to fresh possibilities and new responsibilities alike. The Gospel of Mark presents an interesting paradox, in that, it is not the disciples who respond appropriately to the Kingdom but the Gospel’s minor characters who only appear once. While the Gospel’s heroes fail in the task of responding to the Kingdom reality with the required repentance (metanoeite) and belief (pisteuo), the little ones seem to excel in it. The word ‘faith’ (pistis) is used five times in Mark and the paradox is evident in each of these five occurrences. The friends of the paralytic man (2:5), the bleeding woman (5:34), the father of the epileptic boy (9:24), and Bartimaeus, the blind beggar (10:52) respond with ‘faith’, while the disciples are criticized for their lack of faith (4:40).

C. When A meets B:

Soares-Prabhu insists that “when the revelation of God’s love (the Kingdom) meets its appropriate response in man’s acceptance of this love (repentance and belief), there begins a mighty movement of personal and societal liberation which sweeps through human history”. The season of Lent is a privileged moment of personalising this movement by enabling the encounter between the Kingdom and our repentance. Our fasting, prayer, and almsgiving are oriented towards helping us accept the generous offer of salvation in the paschal mystery, by prioritizing God over our cravings, subjecting ourselves to the difficult process of conversion, practising spiritual discipline, and participating in Christ’s passion and death.

What difference does this encounter make in our personal and ecclesial lives? Soares-Prabhu responds by proposing three tangible fruits that constitute the parameters of the Kingdom’s thrust towards the liberation of man (CW 4, 238-239):

1. Freedom: The Kingdom-repentance encounter liberates us from our inadequacies, the hegemony of the superficial, and the inordinate obsessions that imprison us. We are thus rendered capable to enter into our profound selves and discover God as Abba/Appa.

2. Fellowship: The encounter fosters fellowship by empowering free individuals to exercise their concern for each other in a genuine community. As children of the one Abba/Appa who loves us unconditionally, we realise we are a family of brothers and sisters.

3. Justice: It impels every true community to adopt just societal structures which alone make freedom and fellowship possible. The justice of the Kingdom of God penetrates the depth of our personal lives, families, and societies to help us join hands in the common struggle for equality and liberation.*

This lent, let our lives become the meeting place of God’s Kingdom initiative and our response of repentance and belief. Here is a three-fold Lenten path to this meeting:

• Let our prayers help us enter into the depths of ourselves to find true freedom in our encounter with our Abba/Appa. Prayer liberates!

• Let our fasting help us achieve a healthy distance of freedom from our desires and help us embrace solidarity and fellowship. Fasting facilitates fellowship!

• May our almsgiving help us resist the will to power and possession with a generosity that helps us grow in justice and solidarity. Sharing fosters justice!