The Best Spelling Mistake Ever Made: the Fruit of "Little Kind Ones" ~ Romans 2:4; Titus 3:3-6

 

 

In the Gospel of Mark Jesus starts his ministry with this announcement: ¹⁵ “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” And I want to zoom in on an odd word for a sermon that’s about kindness – “repent.” Such a churchy word, right? And yet, I believe that this word is terribly important to Jesus and the Apostle Paul and also one that the church has gotten totally wrong for quite a long time. What do I mean? If you’re like me – you probably grew up thinking of “repent” like this - that it’s  about being really sad.

 

Or experiencing it like this 

 

 – that, at its worst, it’s about self-loathing, or even hurting or hating yourself. Now, we only need to pay careful attention to Jesus’ announcement to know that this understanding can’t be right. Why must I feel bad or guilty in order to “believe the good news”? Why would Jesus, who was called a glutton and drunkard, who made wine at weddings, and hung out with sinners, need me to hate myself? The Apostle Paul will add to this mystery by offering us an intriguing claim that “God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance.” And if that’s true – then what does repentance mean and how does it connect with kindness? And to answer that question we’re going to discover that kindness invites us to (1) a bigger vision of God, (2) a better story for us, and (3) a broader human connection for all.

First, a bigger vision of God.

The word “repent” is one of the most misunderstood words in all of Scripture. The Greek word is “metanoeō” which is a compound based on two words joined together: meta (beyond) and nous (mind). It means something like “go beyond the mind that you have” or “awaken to a new way of thinking.” (Advance) Or as I’ve heard millennials say “going meta.” It’s not so much a moralizing word but an invitation to wake up and change your way of seeing and knowing who God is and what God is doing through Jesus to transform the world. Repentance is awakening to the bigger vision that God is always and forever kind and that good news is how the world is changed.

The Spiritual director, Caroline Oakes, offers a great object lesson to express Jesus’ meaning of repentance. She invites us to make the letter O by touching our thumb with the tip of our forefinger and then making a telescope of sorts by bringing the other fingers in line. Now, close one eye and look around through the telescope. You can see but you are limited and hindered. Now, while you are still looking through the hole, open all your fingers and open both eyes. Look how much more you can see. That opening of your hand and acquiring better vision is what Jesus and Paul mean by “repent.” And that new way of seeing begins when we understand the good news of Jesus and Paul that God is kind.

Kindness invites us to “Wake up!” not necessarily “Feel bad!” (though tears still may be shed). And what are we to awaken to? That what motivates us to change, to open our hands and our eyes to God and one another, is when we recognize that God isn’t keeping score, holding grudges, waiting to drop the hammer. We discover a bigger vision that God is always and forever kind. And that (1) bigger vision of kindness is the 

 (2) better story for us that Jesus came to tell.

Jesus’ signature story of kindness and repentant-awakening is found in Luke 15 when he was gently talking to the hurting and the harmed and being judged by religious people for doing so. It’s a story about a son who selfishly demands his inheritance before his father has even died, and then squanders it on “wild living.” But when famine strikes, the son desperately finds a job (horrifying Jesus’ audience) working for a pig farmer – so hungry that he even considers eating their slop. But he “came to his senses,” Jesus says, which is a fantastic way of explaining repentance, when he realizes that his father his generous and kind, and feeds everyone. At which point, the son returns home and before he can even begin to apologize – while he is still a long way off – his father, filled with love, runs to him and embraces him. Jesus’ story reveals that repentance doesn’t make the prodigal a son. It meant awakening to the fact that he always was. His sorrow filled confession isn’t why the Father welcomes him. He was already welcome. His coming to his senses was itself a gracious awakening to the kindness of his father who patiently, lovingly, waited.

Friends, our sin, shame, and guilt, punish us enough. Guilt and judgment are not punitive acts required by God BEFORE he can be kind. Unlike punishment which narrows our vision with fear and shame, kindness is a story that helps us release our fear and embrace a God who is always kind even when we’re not. Jesus’ story of kindness widens our vision because it tells us that we always have a home. The Apostle Paul writes in Titus 3, that the kindness of God through Jesus appeared “not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” So (1)  kindness awakens us to a bigger vision of God and (2)  better story for us, but, it also does one more thing . . .

(3) Kindness creates a broader human connection for all of us.

At this point, it’s important to talk about the origins of the word kindness in English. Originally, it meant the duty of goodness toward one’s own family, one’s kin. Kindness originally was kin-ness, get it? Jesus will upend this notion and declared that everyone is kin and thus everyone deserves kindness. And it turns out that the kindness of God announced by Jesus is more than the source of repentance, more than simply a better story about who we are and who God is, it is also our biological reality given to us by God. Kindness is what we were made for.

We truly awaken when we recognize that the God who is kind is the one who made us kindly. Scientists tell us that oxytocin, sometimes called "the love hormone," or “cuddle chemical,” plays a role in forming social bonds and trusting other people. It's the hormone that mothers produce when they breastfeed, cementing a bond with their baby. It’s also released when couples are physically intimate. But here’s the kicker: acts of kindness, like breastfeeding and sexual intimacy, also increase levels of oxytocin making us more trusting, more generous, friendlier, even lowering our blood pressure. And these biological realities occur in both the giver of kindness and the receiver of kindness. So kindness, biologically, helps us mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally. It’s a fruit that reproduces every time it’s eaten. 

So we’ve seen that (1) kindness awakens us to a bigger vision of a God who transforms our way of seeing with kindness. (2) Kindness is a better story that Jesus wants to teach us about ourselves – we deserve it. And even that (3) kindness connects us – intimately – to one another. But I’ve saved the best for last. Kindness is also the best spelling mistake ever made.

In Greek the word “kind” is χρηστός / chrēstos, which is almost identical to the word Χριστός / christos meaning “anointed." It’s one letter of difference yet both letters sound the same resulting in Jesus the kind One versus Jesus the annointed. For Greek Speakers in the first century, who weren’t Jews and had no notion of a “messiah” or “anointed one,” this caused a lot of confusion. In our oldest fully intact version of the New Testament, called the Codex Sinaiticus, each time the word Christian appears (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16) the copyist (the one copying the New Testament by hand), instead of writing Χριστιανός / Christianos, meaning “little Christ,” wrote Χρηστιανός / Chrēstianos, meaning “little kind ones.”I pray that people would make that spelling mistake again. 

I invite you today to repent and become a little kind one, to awaken to the reality of a meta-story of a kind God who invites people to change by blowing people’s minds (that’s my definition of repentance). I invite you to awaken to the reality that kindness is what you were made to offer others, what you were made to receive, and what you were made for. I invite you to awaken to the reality of leaning on the Holy Spirit to bear the fruit of Jesus Chrēstos, Jesus the Kind One. Amen.