While we tend to associate repentance with remorse for something we’ve done or said, John was actually calling his hearers to something much more revolutionary. He was calling them to change their minds– to change their understanding about the coming of God’s kingdom. John was inviting them to see that the kingdom of heaven was not the political reality they were expected, the kingdom was not only going to be for the Jews, but for everyone. Additionally, the kingdom was not something solely to be longed for in the future, it was here and now.