Turning Toward the Light: Repentance as God's Invitation to New Life

When Darkness Turns to Radiant Light
AI-generated.

HOMILY FOR THIRD SUNDAY OF YEAR A

There has been a noticeable increase in the number of young people and adults requesting baptism across France for the past five years, but last year those numbers rose significantly. At the Easter Vigil, 17,800 adults and young people were baptized, including 2,625 in the Archdiocese of Paris. An equivalent number are preparing for First Communion and Confirmation, having discovered that although they were baptised, they never received a Christian education.

This movement is already transforming parish life. These new Catholics bring fresh energy and faith, and in some cases young people are even leading their parents back to the Church. Many speak of the crucial role their grandparents played in nurturing faith that skipped a generation but is now being rediscovered. The phenomenon is so striking that the Archbishop of Paris has convened a council to study it and reflect on how best to respond.

It is hard not to see a connection with today’s Gospel. In the most unlikely of places — Galilee — Jesus begins his ministry, preaching in synagogues and healing the sick. Matthew sees in this the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy: that in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, a great light would shine. Jesus settles in Capernaum, precisely in this region, and there announces his simple but profound message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.”

This one sentence contains the heart of the Gospel. It speaks of hope, healing, and renewal — for individuals, families, societies, and our wounded world.

The phrase “kingdom of heaven” in Matthew’s Gospel is equivalent to “kingdom of God” found in the other gospels. It is found 122 times in the New Testament. Of those 122 times, it is found 99 times in the synoptic

Gospels - those three Gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke, which detail so carefully the preaching and actions of Jesus. Of those 99 times in the synoptic Gospels, this phrase is quoted 90 times as coming from the mouth of Jesus.

This means that the kingdom of God was a major preoccupation of Jesus. It formed a major part of his preaching. So, what is the kingdom of God? Jesus’s entire work and preaching can be summed up by saying that he was gathering together a new people into the kingdom of God.

Understanding the kingdom of God is not straight-forward. Every time we pray “The Our Father”, we pray that God’s kingdom may come. We might think that it means with life with God in heaven. But, while that may be part of it, the kingdom of God has major implications for who we are and what we do in this life. It is true that the kingdom of God is not some place or nation in this world. The kingdom of God is God’s action and God’s reign here and now in this world. When Jesus preached: the kingdom of God is close at hand, he was saying: God is near, God is close to us now.

The kingdom expresses God’s active presence and reign among us. When Jesus proclaims that the kingdom is near, he is saying that God himself is close — near in mercy, compassion, and saving power. Jesus is God’s nearness made visible. In Jesus, God takes the initiative in reaching out to us to save us, to love us, to heal us and make us a new people. The fulfilment of this kingdom of God begins with us accepting it, inviting it, and allowing God to reign in our lives.

Receiving the kingdom of God is like falling in love. Fr. Pedro Arrupe, a 20th century superior general of the Society of Jesus, put it like this: What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know,

what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. To be in the kingdom of God is to be in love with the God who is in love with us, and it is a love the consumes us and occupies all our attention.

But this leads us to the challenging word in Jesus’ message: “Repent.” Repentance is not about fear or guilt. The Greek word metanoia means a complete change of direction — turning around to receive the hand God holds out to us. God’s nearness always invites a response. Conversion means allowing God to reshape our priorities, our attitudes, and our way of living.

Responding to God’s nearness means a completely new way of thinking, speaking, and acting. It means allowing God to direct our lives in the way of peace and hope. It means putting God, and his way of life, first in our lives. When we do respond to God’s initiative, to his nearness, we experience him as the great light shining into our lives and our world.

The reference to the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali in the first reading from the prophet Isaiah and quoted in the Gospel reading today is significant. More than 600 years before the birth of Jesus, this area had been plundered and overrun by the Assyrians. Many of the people were deported into exile, and many foreigners were settled there. So much so that the region was insultingly referred to as ‘Galilee of the Gentiles.’

And yet, it was precisely there that hope was reborn. This is a biblical pattern: That out of darkness, light shines. Out of the most gloomy, hopeless, and difficult situations, great goodness and joy comes. The pattern is repeated over and over again through the Bible, and it is a pattern that is also potentially repeated in our lives.

So, we might ask: where are the Zebulun and Naphtali places in our own lives? What difficulties and pain are we in? Where does hope seem absent?

Where do we experience darkness — marriage difficulties, perhaps financial difficulties, perhaps physical illness, perhaps battling with addiction or some persistent sin, perhaps wrestling with unforgiveness, perhaps struggling with an unresolvable personal situation or family situation? Whatever our darkness, the nearness of Jesus, the closeness of the kingdom of God to us, means that light will shine precisely out of these areas of darkness in our lives. We will experience God precisely in our lives where he is most needed and perhaps seems most absent.

God holds out his hand to us in our weakness. Our repentance, our metanoia, is simply the courage to turn toward him. When we do, the light of Christ breaks into our darkness, bringing hope, healing, and new life.