Dear Cornerstone Family,
Rereading a section of the gospel of Mark this week, I was struck afresh by the power and authority of Jesus Christ. At one point, Mark tells us Jesus is the plunderer of the strong man’s (Satan’s) house, and he is the healer of the high fever of Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 3:22-30). These two healings, one spiritual the other physical, one comic the other individual, are together a picture of the good news Jesus came to bring, to usher in the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19).
At the heart of the “good news” is the Kingdom of God. Throughout the gospels, Jesus describes his whole mission in the terms of the Kingdom. His teaching and miracles—especially the cross and resurrection—is the inbreaking of Christ’s Kingdom in the world.
We learn that the kingdom Christ brings is not like any worldly kingdom. For to enter this kingdom, we must repent (Mark 1:15; Matt. 3:2), which is the leading theme during the season of Lent.
What is repentance? We could answer that question several ways. But at its most basic level, repentance is turning from sin unto God. If you look at the phrase, “turning from sin unto God,” you can see that repentance is essentially a transfer from one power, rule, and authority to another power, rule, and authority. In repentance, you are switching allegiances. Paul put it this way, you are being “delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His Beloved Son” (Col. 1:13). Said another way, we are no longer citizens of earth. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). We answer to Jesus Christ alone.
Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is to place yourself under the authority of Jesus Christ in increasing measure, to live according to the pattern and priority of the Kingdom that He is establishing. In the gospels, we are coming face to face with the pattern and priority of Jesus’s ministry, and we are being called, as his disciples, to join him on mission.
He preached the truth, opposed the Evil One, healed sickness, fed the hungry, confronted religiosity, revealed his glory, made disciples, raised the dead, and much more. He did all these things, but he left plenty for us to do. In John 14:12, Jesus says this, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” God has chosen us to be his witnesses and disciples, not to live selfishly but selflessly—to do the good that Jesus did.
In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously wrote, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Bonhoeffer was right of course, but the Christian knows the secret power lying underneath that call to die. The Christian knows that to die the way Christ died is the way of resurrection. To enter the Kingdom of Christ and to live under His rule is to be free enough to die. When you are free enough to die, then you can really live.
As we enter the last half of Lent and hasten toward Holy Week, let this season be one that is marked in the way the whole Christian life should be—by repentance.
Your servant,
