Archive for May 17th, 2007
From Now On
“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matthew 4:17)
I like things in context; this verse comes after Jesus and his disciple hear that John had been arrested, and soon after Jesus had his time of testing in the desert. I checked, this is the same thing that the writer of Matthew says John was preaching.
It is an interesting thing when one person picks up where another person left off. There is a tradition in some circles to pick up the banner and carry on. And that might be true in this case, except for the players involved. John was not just preaching about repentance, but preaching about one would come bringing the gift of repentance. John is the the prologue or the overture to Jesus. Jesus is not just carrying for the message of John but fulfilling it.
Yesterday’s verse talks about letting one thing go so that another can take its place. I think that a similar phenomenon is happening here. John’s time was done and Jesus’ time was beginning. And, at Jesus’ ascension into heaven, (and today is Ascension Day) the disciples were told to carry the message to all the nations. Let it be said of us then, that from this time forward we spread the word that the kingdom of heaven is near.
