One Story: Gospel

Goosebumps

I was really into reading when I was a young guy. I still am, but I definitely read more when I was younger and there was a few less distractions in daily life. Plus, my parents were really into supporting my reading habit, so I was able to get my hands on a lot of books as a kid. This helped set up my absolute excitement as I waited for an announcement of some really good news each year. Because at some point during every elementary school year our teacher would pull out a stack of colorful papers — the scholastic book fair pre-order forms.

The scholastic book fair was the holy grail. They had everything from Bernstein bears to Scary stories to tell in the dark. But most popular for me was Goosebumps. Ridiculously silly yet somewhat terrifying, these books were the greatest desire of every kid in school. And there wasn’t amazon where we could just get our hands on these masterpieces at any time. Plus our parents probably told us that we could only buy goosebumps once a year. I don’t know. Maybe you do… But once that order form came out, we knew it was game on for acquiring the stories we desired.

So each year we waited until that moment when the Good news was announced — The coming of the scholastic book fair.

I know it’s silly, but as a kid this was a super exciting situation. It was everything I waited a whole year for. Which if you are a kid is like 100 years in adult years. Maybe even 400 years. The book fair announced a new era of life — New adventures to embark on, new worlds to explore, new ways to escape my life and all the elementary school drama that enshrined it.

We left off last week with our Israelite friends desperately waiting for some good news of their own. See we’ve been working through the entire story of the Bible and seeing how it all leads to Jesus. So we’ve talked about how God created a good world, how humans messed that up pretty bad, but how God called one family to be the vessel by which he would bless the world. He liberated that family from slavery in Egypt, gave them a land and kingdom and the ability to bless the world. However, the people were unable to follow God’s law and they found themselves exiled to a land called Babylon. But, they were able to return and rebuild their home, however they were always subjects of another empire. So they waited in hope that a new king would come and lead Israel out of the oppression they faced under the Persian, Greek, and finally the Roman Empires.

The NT… Finally!

Its in this context that we finally enter into the New Testament. It only took us 6 weeks! But I feel like we’ve talked about Jesus every week so it’s not like we’ve been ignoring this part of the story. But here we are, finally at the Jesus part. Maybe the part you’ve all been waiting for, and certainly the part that these people called Israel were waiting for. The Good news!

So these first four books of the New Testament — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — are known as “The Gospels.” And each of them tells the story of Jesus’s life from a different perspective. But have you ever wondered what the word Gospel means? It’s a word that we use a lot in the church. It’s a word that has almost lost its meaning because we use it so much. But for the most part, what we mean when we talk about the Gospel is the message that Jesus died for our sins.

Now, I’m not saying that isn’t true. It is, but “Jesus died for your sins” is only a small part of what “The Gospel of Jesus Christ” actually is. So what is “The Gospel?” Well first of all, the gospel is Good news. It literally means good news.

So as an elementary school kid I was really excited about the Gospel of the Scholastic Book Fair… sounds weird to say that right? But technically, linguistically, it’s not incorrect. But certainly the Good News about Jesus has a much deeper connotation then the good news of my goosebumps dealer.

I want to jump into the book of Mark and show you something. So Mark doesn’t really waste any time getting into Jesus’s ministry. So in Chapter 1, Jesus is already all grown up. He gets baptized, tempted in the wilderness, and then jumps straight into his ministry. This is how Mark begins the story of Jesus’s Ministerial life:

Mark 1:14–16 (NRSV)

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

I’ve already told you that the term “Good News” is the word that we commonly translate as “Gospel.” So Really this says Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of God.

Now the greek word being translated here is “Euangellion.” It’s the word that birthed our modern day words “evangelism and evangelical.” And Euangellion is not a word that was unique to Jesus and his followers. It was a common term used to introduce the dawn of a new era, typically a term used to announce the reign of a new king. I’ve said this a lot, But Jesus was born into a time when Israel was ruled over by the Roman Empire. Specifically, he was born when Caesar Augustus was the emperor of Rome. I want to read you an inscription found in the Greek Region of the Roman Empire.

“whereas Providence that orders all our lives has in her display of concern and generosity in our behalf adorned our lives with the highest good: Augustus, whom she has filled with virtue for the benefit of humanity, and has in her beneficence granted us and those who will come after us a Saviour who has made war to cease and who shall put everything in peaceful order; and whereas Caesar, when he was manifest, transcended the expectations of all who had anticipated the Good News, not only by surpassing the benefits conferred by his predecessors but by leaving no expectation of surpassing him to those who would come after him, with the result that the birthday of our god signalled the beginning of Good News for the world because of him.” - Priene Calandar 150.40-41 Year 6 BC.

Look at what was being said about Caesar Augustus a few years before Jesus was born —

He is the Savior of the World

He caused war to cease

He put everything in order

He will never be surpassed

His birth signalled the beginning of the Gospel

Now look here, at what the prophet Isaiah said about the God of Israel:

Isaiah 52:7 NRSV

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

God is the one who is the saviour of the World

God is the one who brings peace

God causes war to cease

The Book of Isaiah is written in Hebrew, but Jesus’s contemporaries used a version of it called the LXX, which was written in Greek. That word for Good News is the same word used to announce the Gospel of Jesus, and the same word used to announce the Gospel of Caesar. And as luck would have it, this is the same word used to announce that David’s son, Solomon was king of Israel.

What is the Gospel

So what that means is that the Gospel is actually a royal announcement that a new king (or queen) has taken the throne, and that a new era is beginning. We have recently been exposed to this very thing right? Well maybe not us, but the UK and all of the regions that the British Monarchs rule over have gotten an announcement that with the passing of Queen Elizabeth, there is a new King — King Charles. We could call that “A Gospel Announcement,” complete with a ridiculous amount of pomp and circumstance in the weeks and months ahead.

So what makes the Gospel of Jesus, so different from the Gospel of Caesar Augustus, The Gospel of King Charles, and even the Gospel of the Scholastic Book Fair? Well, it begins and truly ends with the fact that the Gospel of Jesus is truly Good News for everyone.

The Gospel of Caesar was only good news for Roman citizens, those who truly benefitted from the atrocious oppression that Caesar’s militarized and iron fist “peace keeping” efforts benefitted. Caesar’s Gospel was not Good News for the poor, for slaves, for orphans, or for really anyone other than those back in Rome.

I have a friend from England, and He said that we’ll see who the Gospel of King Charles is good news for. Many will not benefit from the policies that he imports.

And as much as I loved the Scholastic Book Fair, you know that thing wasn’t good news for everyone. It wasn’t good news for kids who struggled to read but didn’t have any support or help either at home or from the school. It wasn’t good news for kids who left that day empty handed because their families truly couldn’t afford to spend money on silly stories.

But the Gospel of Jesus, the Gospel of Jesus was and remains Good News for all, because the Gospel of Jesus is a universal gift that is offered to all people regardless of their nation of origin, citizenship status, housing status, financial status, social status, etc.

The Gospel of Jesus is the announcement that there is a new King in charge, that a new era has come upon humanity. The kingdom of God. This pronouncement stands in direct contradiction and defiance to what his world was saying about Caesar.

Rome said: “Caesar is the savior of the world”

John 1:29 says: “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Along the same lines Matthew 1:21 says: “She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.””

Rome Said: Caesar brought peace and order and none will come who surpass him

Isaiah 9:6-7 says: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

Everything about the Gospel of Jesus is a direct refutation of what everyone believed about Caesar. The Gospel of Jesus overturned the faith that the people were being told they should put in the king of Rome. It said “you have heard it said that you should declare your allegiance to Caesar and Rome, but I tell you — put your faith and your allegiance in Jesus. Rome will let you down. Rome is not for everyone. But Jesus, Jesus comes for everyone.”

And the good news, the Gospel that Jesus brings is that not only has a new era begun, but all are invited to come and live into what this new era in human history has to offer. It is a new way of living. A transformed way of seeing and interacting with the world and its people. Living in God’s kingdom meant a radical rearranging of how the world operates: like selling everything you have and giving it to the poor, or laying down your arms and seeking peace through radical forgiveness.

Things that still to us today sound insane. Things that we wouldn’t believe were possible, let alone practical, if Jesus had never done those very things when he took up the cross. Jesus was not a man who owned much, but what he had was his life. And he let Judas sell it for 30 pieces of Silver, so that he could lay it down for all who might believe in him.

Instead of raising an army to protect himself, he willingly gave himself up, rebuking his disciples when they resisted the authorities that arrested him, and then — when he hung from the cross — cried out “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

This new era, this new kingdom, this Gospel that Jesus came to proclaim is unlike anything that the world has ever known, and unlike anything that the world will ever see again until Jesus comes back in his glory to take his earthly throne forever.

This gospel offers a new way to live. Not a way that is forced upon us by rules, regulations, law codes, armies, or fear. But a way of living that is offered to us through the grace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. It’s a way of living that reflects the very heart of God, where the real leaders are servants who look after all of the people that Caesar and all of the governments and ways of living that have come after him have left behind. It’s a way of life that is made avaliable to everyone through faith in Jesus and the fact that he conquered sin and death on the way to becoming the cosmic king.

A New Hope

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to be good news. It’s meant to tell the story that we truly desire, much like goosebumps stories did for me as a little kid. Jesus himself said that he came to proclaim good news to the poor and to set the captives free. And for a long time, that’s just what he and his followers did. After Jesus came up out of that grave and unleashed his apostles on the world to build the church, the announcement of the Gospel spread from nation to nation. The announcement came 2 fold: an invitation to repent and turn their allegiance to Jesus as well as a real and tangible understanding of what God’s community looks like.

They fed the hungry, and cared for the poor among them. This is what the early church looked like according to the book of Acts:

Acts 2:43–47 NRSV

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

The Gospel was truly good news. And so what we have to ask ourselves is how we, as persons who continue the tradition of announcing the Gospel of Jesus are embodying that work. Is our gospel truly Good News?

And I mean good news for everyone. Good news for the poor, good news for the captives, good news for the sick, the hungry, the hurting. Good news for those suffering with depression and anxiety and have other mental health concerns. Good news for those who are shut in their homes, for those who have no home at all. Good news for those who have experienced trauma, for those who have been inflictors of trauma. Those who have and those who have not. Is our Gospel good news for those in power and those who are powerless? Does our Gospel show favor to any particular group?

Because if our Gospel shows favor then its not truly the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It shows that our allegiance is somewhere other than to the reigning cosmic king, King Jesus.

And so I’ve harped on this relentlessly, but the Gospel that we preach had better be good news to this neighborhood and this city that surrounds us. It had better invite others to come and see the life promoting and life sustaining work of God in this world. Because the Gospel is how God gets what God wants here on this earth. What God wants is a humanity that is reconciled with him. The Gospel is how God’s kingdom spreads, creating a life promoting and life sustaining world while we wait for the king to come.

This is good news for us, because while it might seem like the Caesar’s of this world, the leaders who are coronated and inaugurated with lavish parties and celebrations, who rise in power with promises that rarely come true will Stop at nothing to let us down — we hold fast to the knowledge and eternal hope that the real king is on the throne. And the gospel becomes the best news when the Jesus’s people live out their loyalty to him. When we, the church decide that we will stop at nothing to see that the Good News of Jesus is truly Good News for all who will hear it.