The Gospel

Literally Gospel means "good news", but within the context of Scripture, the depth of the good news is life changing. But what is it really? The technical definition is the message of God's redemption in Jesus Christ. In the New Testament it is, first, the proclamation by Jesus that the Kingdom of God (Heaven) has drawn near and, then, the proclamation by his disciples that in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection the Kingdom has been established and that salvation and forgiveness are offered to all who believe. Later it came to be used for those early Christian writings which tell the story of the unique manifestation of the "good news" in the person and work of Jesus Christ (i.e. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Today, we Christians use the word as an ambiguous term to describe evangelism—"preaching the Gospel"-or as an experiential revelation of Jesus which leads to piety and devotion—"hearing the Gospel". And while these ideas are valid and give us deeper insight into what the Gospel is, for those of us amazed by its grace, we know that we are only holding onto a piece of the elephant (to borrow the atheist's metaphor). The whole elephant is still unexplored.

This doesn't mean that the Gospel isn't simple, just that it gets bigger and deeper everyday we are changed by its message of grace. If we were to stop and meditate upon the implications and consequences of the Gospel in history, in theology, in our very own personal lives, I think we would be awestruck by its impact on every aspect of creation. Simply the fact that the Gospel has been at the forefront of God's mind since before creation and has been woven into the threads of history and creation—even unto the end of this age when God will create a new heaven and a new earth. It is staggering, and yet, despite its philosophical and theological girth, it is presented to us as a free gift, given by a loving Father.

However, it is not a gift meant to keep for ourselves, nor is it a chunk of information we know in our minds. It is the life we live and the hope we share. It is praying for a stranger and being a good friend. It is caring for the fatherless and single mothers. It is living with the understanding that no person deserves the grace of God and then giving it indiscriminately and without consideration of personal cost. And most importantly it is living with the understanding that you don't deserve the grace of God, but receiving it with humility and faith in Jesus Christ. It is the life lived apart from Sunday mornings worship with all of its ritual and high-minded charades, where blood and tears are shed everyday because it is a real world bound by addiction and abuse, hate and fear, pain and suffering; where real people fail at life. The Gospel is that Eternal Life that we live out today in the midst of everything else because there is more than this. The good news is the hope greater than all of us and greater than our despair and struggles. That hope is simply Jesus and his Kingdom. The Gospel is the promise to us that we can live in spiritual abundance in a world of poverty.