What is the Gospel?
You may have heard the Gospel is the good news that if you ask Jesus to forgive your sins and save you that you will go to heaven instead of hell when you die. That message, that framing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, would have been totally foreign to the Christians of the New Testament and the first century. That way of talking about the Gospel comes out of the post-Reformation era. That's another way of saying its new and its not original (in the grand scheme of Christian history that is).
So what is the Gospel?
It might be the good news that Jesus is risen. He is not dead, he is risen.
It might be some version of 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, in the words of St. Paul:
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God."
Some scholars, though, believe that the original Gospel, the original message of Good News proclaimed by the first followers of Jesus, was some version of:
Jesus is King.
Jesus is King. This phrase sums up a lot of ideas. Jesus is King, so Caesar is not, and Rome is meaningless, powerless. Jesus is King, and that means he's the anointed one, the Christ, the Messiah. Jesus is King because he is not dead, he is risen. Jesus is King, and so now we are ambassadors of his kingdom, his message of reconciliation.
Modern people so easily miss the hyper political dimensions of the New Testament language. Even the word Gospel had political dimensions, because it was the word used to describe an emissary of the Empire coming to town to proclaim the good news of Caesar's defeat of his enemies and victories in battle. Except the disciples came as ambassadors of God proclaiming the victory of King Jesus.
The Gospel of John gives us a really intriguing look at the way Christians would have processed these themes in a few generations.
The reading for Christ the King Sunday, a feast day created while Christian nationalism was on the rise in Europe in the early 20th century to remind so-called Christians that the kingdom and nation of Jesus is bigger than any country and that their allegiance out to be to Jesus alone, takes its Gospel lesson from John:
"Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”" - John 18:33-37
This text leaves off Pilate's famous response to Jesus, "What is truth?"
We see in this text that Jesus avoids answering Pilate's question directly. He never names himself a king, but he does say his kingdom isn't from or of this world. If it were, then his followers would be using the tools and the language of Empire, of violence and power-seeking. They would be fighting to free Jesus. But the followers of Jesus do not use the tools and language of the world. His kingdom is something else.
Pilate is unable to understand Jesus or see him for what he is, because in John's way of thinking about it, Pilate is in the darkness not the light. He is not in relationship with Jesus, God's Son and Eternal Word. The tools and even the language of God is beyond him, he can only understand the language of Empire. He cannot see or understand Truth.
In John's Gospel, Jesus kingship is revealed on the cross, his enthronement is on the cross. Pilate uses the power of the Empire to declare Jesus the king, putting him in a purple robe, crowning him with thorns, and putting a sign on top of the cross declaring him King of the Jews, a claim he never made on his own. Pilate makes him King of the Jews and then crucifies him. This is what Empire does. It makes an example, a mockery, and uses violence and death to create fear and keep people in oppression. This is how the world views strength, dominance, and power. This is what a king looks like to the world.
However, only Jesus can finally hand his spirit over to the Father. Jesus is the true and only arbitrator of life and death. Judas Iscariot, the Pharisees, the temple leaders, and Pontius Pilate all believed they had the authority and power to hand Jesus over to death. Jesus reveals their powerlessness as he submits himself to death and hands his own life over to the Father, so that by his Death and Resurrection he defeated sin, death, and the Devil and showed the powerlessness and emptiness of the world's Empires.
Rowan Williams argues in Christ on Trial that the whole of John's gospel might be seen as a trial narrative. Throughout the gospel, Jesus is being questioned and accused by the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders. However, the Gospel turns the questioning around. In the end, it is not Jesus on trial, but all of us. Jesus might not have come into the world to condemn it, but the world condemns itself again and again. The question for us today is, where will be place our allegiance? Whose authority will we recognize?
Will we abide in Jesus, will we obey his teachings, will he follow his Way, or will we submit to the authorities, powers, thrones, dominions, and Empires of the world?
The true allegiance of a Christian is only to Jesus the Christ. Jesus is God's only anointed. Jesus is God's only consecrated rules. His cross is the only throne that Christians submit to. God's law is the only law over us. No nation, no Earthly kingdom, no human Empire has power over followers of Jesus. We know that Jesus is King and so Caesar is not.
But the Church has again and again abandoned this Gospel for false gospels. We put other kings, lords, rulers, and powers over us. We acquiesce to the powers and principalities and dominions and thrones of the world to gain safety, control, and security. Anytime we think we can count on the safety and security provided by the world, anything other than God, we are mistaken. Only God can give those things to us. Only Jesus has the power over life and death.
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus is King, not because he resembles kings as we know them, but because he chooses to claim that for himself. He claims all things for himself, and makes them all right.
As our country, the United States of America, turns toward a new Presidential administration, Christians everywhere ought to take a hard look at ourselves and where we've placed our allegiances, where we've placed our hopes and aspirations. Do we put hope in the powers of the world to make things right? Do we expect to be able to do good through political power and control?
Do we claim that political leaders carry God's authority or come in God's name?
Jesus warned us that many would come in his name and claim "I am he!" and that these were "anti-Christs" as in false anointed ones, ones other than Jesus that claim to be anointed or consecrated by God to lead or rule.
Christians must repent of our acquiescence to human authority. We must repent of trying to consecrate people to lead us over God. We must repent of using the language and tools of the Empire, and putting our hopes and reliance on the kind of safety, control, and security that the world provides rather than only looking to God for these things. We must repent of the evil and sin committed on our behalf, the violence and war, the death rained down with American bombs on children and innocents in places like Gaza, in our name.
We need to continue to follow the Way of love Jesus taught us, to follow Gospel principles, and the law of God. The law of God teaches us to love and welcome immigrants and refugees. The Way of love tells us to forgive our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, and to proclaim freedom to the imprisoned and captive. The Prince of Peace teaches us to reject violence and war, and be ambassadors instead of reconciliation.
What authorities do you recognize? Where do you give your allegiance? Who is King, Lord over your life? Is it Jesus, or is it another? I welcome your questions, thoughts, and reactions in the comments as always.
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