The converted lifestyle can be understood by looking back through the Gospels and reading what the authors had in mind as they wrote. This takes a more intuitive (meditative?) approach in synthesizing from the author’s words what is to be understood. Matthew's recording of Jesus’ message of “repent” and “follow me” was all a part of his mission to “the people dwelling in darkness…and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death” (4:16-17). The “great light” that has “dawned” on them would shine on the “narrow gate” and “the way [that] is hard that leads to life” (7:13-14). The people’s repentance was from some very specific things—the easy yet destructive way that many were traveling on. Being born a Jew, being Moses’ people or being Abraham’s people was not going to be good enough for entrance. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (7:21-27). Connected to doing the will of the Father is “being known by Jesus” and is contrasted with being “workers of lawlessness.” The one who puts into practice the words Jesus spoke is like “a wise man who built his house upon the rock.” This passage seems to be a bookend to the disciples’ command to be “teaching them to observe [lit., ‘keep’] all that I have commanded you” (28:20). The fact that Jesus is speaking to the Jewish people to repent and follow him brings a paradigm shift in “kingdom” understanding. This “faith shift” will move them to a “rock founded life” where the winds, floods and rains may beat but never move. The non-Jewish centurion reveals such faith.
The centurion’s “only say the word” confession revealed
his heart’s faith and understanding in Jesus though he was opposed by a
“flooding” situation in his life—his servant’s paralysis and great suffering
(8:5-13). “When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed
him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith” and he
continues with kingdom teaching: “Many will come from east and west and recline
at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the
sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness.” It was never about
being “sons” of an earthly “kingdom” but of being heirs of a “faith kingdom.”
There the merciful Son of Man can heal the sick AND forgive sinners. Jesus said
much to the scribes and Pharisees about their shutting “the kingdom of heaven
in people’s faces” and do not even enter it themselves (23:13). The “sons of
the kingdom” needed a “faith shift” to move from their darkness to light when
Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever
does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his
life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”
(10:37-39). Is this paradigm shift one of conversion? It seems so.
Perhaps these well-known words Matthew records of Jesus
speaking more poignantly demonstrate conversion in 11:25-30. After thanking his
Father for revealing hidden things to “little children” as a part of His
“gracious will,” Jesus speaks of “knowing him” once again: “no one knows the
Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” This
“knowing” needs to be revealed and “little children” are prime suspects for
such a revelation! That revelation brings people into a relationship with Jesus
as his “brothers and sisters and mothers” when they are doing “the will of my
Father in heaven,” Jesus said (12:50). And then Jesus (or Matthew) issues an
invitation: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my
burden is light.” Is “coming to Jesus” a ‘conversion’? What is the change from for this audience when one
“comes to Jesus”?
Matthew records Jesus’ words of conversion using a tree
metaphor: “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad
and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How
can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaks” (12:33-34). Furthermore, “it is not what goes into the mouth
that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth”—because it comes from
the heart (15:11-20). The “tree” is the heart and its “fruit” are the words
that come out of the mouth. Good tree/heart = good fruit/words, and eating with
unwashed hands just makes food taste a bit off. In the least, all “tree
conversions” happen when one “comes to Jesus”—not when one washes his or her
hands as good manners. The invitation is extended to each heart when the “word
of the kingdom” is sown on it and it “hears” and “understands” that word and
“bears fruit” some “yielding” many times over (13:3-23). Is this parable
teaching that conversion can be measured? The one who truly hears and comes to
Jesus and puts into practice his words will bear fruit and there is a change in
what they are yoked with, carrying, and speaking.
Matthew makes much of the parable of the sower and in the
middle plants the passage from Isaiah—one that is utilized more than any other
about conversion. There is urgency in finding the kingdom of God and of the
alternative--being separated by the angels at the close of the age and thrown
into the Furnace of Fire (13:42). Being a part of the kingdom takes ‘eyes that
see, ears that hear and hearts that understand’. When the word of God takes root in the heart
in this way, it is motivated to sell everything to obtain it! Therefore,
conversion seems to be an enabled yet purposeful response to a revelation of
God. Those who see but do not respond are continually called ‘blind’ (15:14).
Conversion also seems governed by a ‘treat others as you
were treated’ principle. At the end of the story of the wicked servant Jesus
states, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not
forgive your brother from your heart” (18:35--ESV). This motif is picked up
again in 25:40 where Jesus tells his followers, “as you did it to one of the
least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Conversion has a tremendous
impact on one’s eyes and how they see others.
After Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, Matthew
records Jesus’ final command as his closing words to his Gospel--to make
disciples of all of the people--“All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the
end of the age” (28:18-20--ESV). It would seem a disciple is a growing
convert—no matter who she or he is or from what country or what age. Growth
comes from being taught to observe Jesus’ commands midst a group of
fellow-baptized learners. The promise of Jesus’ presence with them confirms and
affirms each of his disciples. This is the way of the easy yoke.