THE GOSPEL

When you write a book, the most important line to get right is the first one. It sets the tone for everything else. It grips readers, creates intrigue and introduces what the book is about. When Mark wrote his account of the life of Jesus, his opening line leaves no doubt about his starting point: it’s all about the gospel of “Jesus Christ, the Son of God”.

Today, many consider the word ‘gospel’ to be purely a religious word. This was not always the case. In fact, when Mark used the phrase ‘the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God’, his words would have been all too familiar to his readers.

In the year 9 B.C. a famous calendar was inscribed in Priene in modern day Turkey that paid tribute to the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar. The calendar said this:

“The birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings for the world that came by reason of him.”

In opening his book, Mark chooses to echo part of this tribute to the Roman Emperor, but he states that its true fulfilment is in Jesus. In this subversive sentence, Mark makes the unavoidable implication that through this Galilean carpenter the whole social order would be overturned. Shockwaves spreading out from a tree on a Judean hill would bring down rulers and raise up the lowly. Caesar is not the hope of the world; Jesus is.

Gospel is not primarily a style of music. By definition the word simply means ‘good news’. Mark talks of the ‘good news about Jesus’. At the risk of over-simplifying, there are three things we must note: there is news, it is good and it is about Jesus.

The news is about the vindication of God. After making a glorious world in which he gave people the pride of place, endowing a unique responsibility on humanity and offering mankind a privileged relationship with himself, God saw his goodness thrown back in his face. The people he made turned away from God, turned on each other and turned to sin. When God gave gifts, they were seized without gratitude. When God rescued a generation from calamity, the next generation turned from him again. When God sent prophets, they were rejected and killed. In the act of ultimate mercy God sent his son, the Lord Jesus, to the world. Surely now, humanity would turn back to him? No. Jesus was falsely accused, betrayed and murdered. The news of the gospel is that God has reclaimed his world and made things right. A corpse in a tomb has a heartbeat rekindled. The Christ who had been slaughtered now stirs and the victory of God enters the world. Death is undone. Sin is defeated and Jesus reigns. The creation that had been seized and subject to decay is being restored, glorious and righteous and all evil is judged and defeated.

Though the vindication of God is news, in and of itself it is not particularly good news (at least not from our point of view). Any joy we feel at the idea of God vanquishing his enemies rapidly fades as we realise that we are numbered amongst those enemies (Romans 3:10-18 makes a particularly sobering read in this regard). If any one of us was to ask the same question Jesus asked in John 8:46: “Which one of you convicts me of sin” to a crowd that included our friends and our enemies, would we receive the same response Jesus did (stunned silence)? Unlikely. What makes the news good is that the sinless one, Jesus Christ, died for sinners like us. Romans 5:10 explains that, “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son”. Christ carried our sin and rebellion to the cross. He bore the punishment for it like a sheep being sacrificed and left us righteous, holy and clean before God. The news is that in Christ, God has re-established his rule in creation. What makes that news good is that in Christ, God has brought us into that victory.

Thirdly, this good news is about Jesus. This should be clear from what has already been said. God’s victory was won in the resurrection of Christ. He is the first born of the dead and the bridgehead of the new creation. Our participation in that victory was won in Christ’s crucifixion. His blood was shed for us, our sin was judged in him. The focus of the gospel is Christ. The gospel is all about him.