c. scott andreas

As a kid, I remember walking by an auto parts shop in the town where I grew up. It was almost always closed, which made me wonder how they made money. A simple sign often covered the door — it said, “Closed. Please call again.” Apart from never opening the door, I thought they were pretty stupid for hanging that sign up. “Call,” I thought? I hadn’t called them — I just walked by the door!

My dad later explained to me that before the telephone was invented, “calling” someone meant that you went to visit them. I pulled my foot out of my mouth and said that they were still stupid for using words two centuries out of date.

Looking back on this experience, I learned that words are not “timeless, unchanging containers of meaning.” Different cultures use them in different ways, and over time, the connotations of a single word within a single culture can shift entirely.

It’s easy to get caught up in a single interpretation of a word when reading the Bible — and entirely understandable! But we must remember that the twenty-first century is far-removed from the first century.

The Book of Matthew begins by establishing Jesus’ genealogy, the circumstances surrounding his birth, then tells us of his baptism and temptation. Following this, we find a rather curious passage:

“From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying
‘Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.’”
- Matthew 4:17, ESV

Google is a great cultural thermometer.
An image search for “repent” turned up these three matches:

When we consider the word “repent,” we often think of altar calls, fire-and-brimstone rhetoric, and people with bullhorns shouting in the streets.

But is that was Jesus meant when he said, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand?”

Check back on Monday for part two.  In the meantime, leave a comment — I’d like to hear your thoughts.