Text: Mark 1:15 (read 1:14-20)

I suspect some of the people who are making such a fuss about wanting to hang copies of the Ten Commandments in all sorts of public places really believe focusing on rules and rule-keeping is the way to live. Know the rules, keep the rules, make others obey the rules—reward them if they do, punish them if they don't—and everything will be okay.

Of course, much of Jesus' life and ministry was calling this rule-keeping way of living into question. His questioning this way of viewing life is one of the reasons the very religious people in Jesus' day were so upset with him that they wanted to get rid of him.

To be sure, Jesus knew rules have value. "I have not come to destroy the Law," he said, "but to fulfill it." It was just that Jesus also knew that the value of rules is always limited. "The Sabbath was made for human beings," he said, "not human beings for the Sabbath."

The wisest, most profound and fundamental rules in life can do no more than state what we should do and what we ought not do. Even the best rules in life, even the Ten Commandments, cannot transform life or make life better. All they can do is say how life ought to be lived. They are powerless to enable us to live that way.

What is more, if we focus too intently on the rules our living gets distorted. For example, if our primary goal in life is to live by the rules, and if we are skilled in keeping the rules, we will find ourselves tempted to be self-righteous—even piously arrogant. Why, we can even swell with pride about how well we are able to keep the rule about being humble. On the other hand, if we are focused on the rules and we see ourselves as persons who have not only broken, but shattered the rules, we will be tempted to hide from life in some sort of defensive behaviors and attitudes, or we will be tempted to wallow in self-contempt because of our many failures.

The Apostle Paul was aware of this problem. Perhaps you remember the often quoted passage from the seventh chapter of Romans in which he painfully confessed his own frustration at doing what he knew he ought not to do and failing to do what he knew he should. Paul was aware that by ourselves we human beings simply do not have the will power to keep the basic rules about what we humans know we ought and ought not do. He ended that passage proclaiming with joy what he knew to be true. His only hope and our only hope is what we have come to know in and through Jesus Christ—being forgiven and empowered by the grace of God.

Paul had learned from Christ that to build one's life on or around the effort to keep any set of rules—however wise and profound they might be—is to miss the point. It is not that the rules are worthless; it is certainly not that the rules should be thrown out or ignored. However, when we live focused on the rules and rule-keeping we miss the point. We miss the point so completely that living as God intends us to live becomes impossible.

We are called to focus on what is basic in living—not merely on the rules for living. This is the way Jesus lived. This is why when a man presented himself for healing on the Sabbath, Jesus violated some rules and healed him. Jesus was the embodiment of the grace of God, and Jesus is our primary role model for living. Our living is to be shaped by the grace of God. We are to focus on what is basic in living—namely, God's grace—rather than on the rules for living.

There is a big difference between being focused on rules for living and being focused on what is basic in living God’s grace. It is the difference between doing what I do because there are rules that tell me I must do it and that if I don't bad things might happen to me, and doing what I do because I care. It is the difference between giving my wife a valentine because there is an unwritten law that I should and some fear of retribution if I don’t, and giving her a valentine because I love her. It is the difference between doing what is right because there are rules and the possibility of lawsuits if I do not, and doing what is right because right is right—period. It is the difference between carrying around a heavy burden of "I should …," "I ought to …", and being set free to live, doing what I should—not because I should, but because I genuinely want to.

Jesus was not focused on rules for living; he was focused on what is basic—the grace of God. We can see this in the passage we read today. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." For Mark, this statement is the essence of Jesus' message. For Mark, it is the summary statement of what is proclaimed through the words and deeds of Jesus. "The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent. Believe in the good news."

"The time is fulfilled." Whatever else this means (and it means more than I can say), it means now is the right time. Now is the right time for each of us—you and me—to become the persons God intends us to be. The time is fulfilled. Whatever else Jesus was saying, he was saying (and is saying): "Now is the time, the right time. Don't start using all you have to do as an excuse to avoid taking the next step in your journey of faith." Jesus was saying to you and me: "Come on; be honest; isn't it true that much of what you say you have to do is merely what you have chosen to do—chosen for the sake of some kind of praise, applause, sympathy or money, and the truth is you really do not have to do it and the world will not fall apart even if no one does it? And how much of what you say you have to do is what you know in the depth of your soul you really have no business doing? As for the rest of what you truly have to do—what God knows you really have to do—it is not a barrier keeping you from taking the next step in your faith journey. The truth of the matter is, what God knows you must do is your personal pathway to fulfilling the potential God sees in you. So, do not tell me, now is not the right time for you to take the next step you know God intends for you to take. And don't tell me you cannot take that next step because you see the steps that follow the next one and you know you are not ready to take them. God agrees with you. You are not ready for all those other steps. But you are ready for your next step. The time is fulfilled. Now is the right time," Jesus said.

The time is right because the kingdom of God is at hand. To speak of the kingdom of God is to talk about where God reigns. To be in God's kingdom is to live with God in charge of our lives. To be in the kingdom of God means we have stopped trying to rule the universe, or at least our little part of the universe, and that we are striving to live our lives obeying God. To be in the kingdom means God reigns in our lives.

How near is God's reign in your life or mine? Jesus told us the kingdom of God is at hand. The possibility of God's reign in our lives is as near as the next choice we have to make. What do we want? Do we want what God wants or merely what we want? What will we do? Will we choose God's will to be done or our wills to be done? God's reign is very near, but it is wise to remember these old clichés: "To say it is near is not to say it is here." "Merely getting close wins no cigar." "Missing by an inch is the same as missing by a mile."

Change is called for, if God is to reign in our lives. This is why Jesus said: "Repent." Jesus was not asking us to apologize to God. Jesus was calling for a whole lot more from us than merely the good manners of saying, "I'm sorry" when we have offended God. Repentance has to do with turning around, making changes in the way we view life, making changes in our values, making changes in our priorities, making changes in the way we use our time, making changes in our daily schedules, making changes in our social calendars, making changes in our dreams and goals, making changes in our use of money, making changes in our ways of thinking, making changes in our attitudes and in our ways of talking. On and on the list can go—this long, long almost endless list of changes called forth in the simple command: "Repent."

But in what I said earlier, Paul reminded us that we human beings do not have enough will power to do all this changing by ourselves. We do not do the good we intend to do, and we find ourselves having done what we knew we should not have done. This is why Jesus went on to say: "Believe in the gospel; believe in the good news."

When we live believing in the gospel, not merely having beliefs about the gospel, but really believing in the gospel so that it shapes our living, our living is not a duty-bound obedience to rules. Our living is transformed when we truly believe in the good news that God is for us and not against us. We are like new persons when we believe in the gospel that God not only loves the world, and not only "them" and not only "you", but also "me", when we believe in the good news that God knows each of us and each of us matters. It is like being given a new life when we believe in the merciful love of God; it is then we are able at long last to forgive ourselves for our past failures, and we find ourselves being set free to be our best selves.

Some of you have shared personal stories about some transforming experience that was a turning point in your living. You have told me about your experiencing the presence of God and God's love in a powerful and personal way. Sometimes merely telling about the experience filled you with such awesome joy and wonder your eyes filled with tears and your voice cracked with profound emotion. And in telling your story, you did not merely tell me about what happened to you on that mountain top; you went on to tell me how when you came home you saw your life in a new way; you saw your challenges and problems in a new light. You made changes in your living, not in obedience to some rules, but in a joyful and personal response to the grace of God at work in your life. And you found yourself doing what you knew you should be doing, even what you never thought you could do, even doing what is painful to do, and doing it in a joyful obedience to God's love.

This is what abundant living is all about. This is what Jesus was and is offering. It is what he was trying to teach us when he said: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

God, help us be aware that the time is right. Enable us to be aware that your reign in our living is a close as the next choice we must make. Make us so aware of your amazing grace at work in our lives that we joyfully repent and go about the business of making the changes we need to make so that we can be the persons you intend us to be, doing what you want us to do. Amen.

God, we need you to help us keep our focus on you because there are so many distractions and temptations that cause us to veer off course without us even noticing that we have gone off in the wrong direction. Even in the process of doing what we need to do, what you want us to do, it is easy for us to become so focused on what we are doing we forget about you so that when the task is done we wander away like a distracted child.

God, when we are distracted we begin to act as if we are in charge—or at least we begin to act as if we thought we ought to in charge. Before we are aware of it, we start behaving as if we are in boss of the universe and we find ourselves upset because other people and the rest of the world will not do our bidding. From a distance it must appear to be a hilarious comedy, but from our involvement in the mess, it feels like anything but a comedy.

God, we need your help. Keep us focused. Protect us from being distracted. Each day, enable us to live the prayer Jesus taught us: "Our Father …"