From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea – for they were fishermen.And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. [Matthew’s Gospel 4.17-20]

One of the most quoted (and misquoted) poems in recent times is Yeats’ The Second Coming. Some would see it as prophetic, with a word for our times, as though it arose untainted by context. However, Yeats published it in 1920, in the ashes of the World War, when everything which was unbroken was changed, changed utterly.

Perhaps the words which are consistently accurate since Yeats’ crafting remain “The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity.”

One of the stains on modern social discourse is the apparent inability of people to admit fault, to stand corrected, and to change our minds. Adamantine certainty and polemic are the weapons we carry into our conversations, with no option but victory.

We assert how the world works and what needs to be addressed.  

Thus, poetry like that of Yeats.

Jesus arrives in Galilee and announces that everything is transformed; the reign of heaven is brushing against us. Change your minds!

What we translate here as “repent” has less to do with bad behaviour than it has to do with understanding everything anew. In the midst of our polarising world, God has appeared in Jesus Christ; nothing is what it was. Change your minds.

What you imagined about God, aloof and omnipotent, is turned on its head. What you have proclaimed about our brokenness as human beings, beyond the reach and embrace of God, is tangibly untrue. When we have insisted that all our efforts must be exercised in seeking God, we discover that God insists on seeking us, in Jesus.

Change your minds.

Change your minds, you preachers, you party politicians, you social media polemicists. Change your minds, you who believe we are destined for despair. Change your minds you who believe only people like us can know the hope and heart of the living God.

When Jesus commands us to repent, to be converted, to feel the brush of God’s reign, what will it mean for how we speak and act about those things on which our minds are made up? What about the way we vote, or speak about others? What about Gaza, and Israel? What about those who are different from us? What about reconciliation with our First Nations?

What if we have been mistaken? What if Jesus is inviting us to new life?

Are we courageous enough to repent, and ask God to lead us, or are we simply content to have our biases burnished and our loyalties confirmed?

Two people leave their lives behind to follow Jesus. They bring their weakness and their prejudice, because repentance takes a lifetime. They bring their hope and their obedience. They bring themselves, and a willingness to repent.

God insists on finding us, and bringing us life. Repent, the reign of God is with you!