The good news of the kingdom of God
In the gospels (the Christian Scriptural writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), Jesus describes his mission as proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. As the story of Jesus’ earthly life unfolds, it is revealed that Jesus, himself, is the fulfillment of the good news of God’s kingdom. Simply put, Jesus’ life was received as good news to those who received him.
We get a little more insight into the good news that accompanied Jesus life in Luke 4, where Jesus indicates that he is the fulfillment of the prophecy from Isaiah 58 and 61, where it says, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
How Jesus was good news
Jesus indicates that his life is good news to the impoverished, the imprisoned, those who can’t see, and the oppressed. And as one reads or listens to the gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), you get a sense in which Jesus was welcomed good news for all of these life-robbing situations. Jesus provided food and health for people who were impoverished, where the societal-human systems failed to provide. Jesus freed people imprisoned by tax burdens, or crippling disease, insanity, or even death, where nothing else could do so. Jesus brought clarity of sight for people who physically couldn’t see, where nothing else could restore their sight; and clarity of thought for people who struggled to understand the world around them, where they were held in the dark about such things by other authorities or narratives. Jesus brought purpose and meaning and belonging to people who were ignored, left out, or scape-goated for another’s benefit, where nothing else made those realities possible.
More than here-and-now
And while there were direct, physical, here-and-now ways in which Jesus provided for these life-robbing situations, it was not the only way that Jesus brought good news. Jesus opened people’s eyes to the reality of God’s eternal kingdom. Jesus forecasted what fullness of life is like when all people live under God’s authority. Jesus showed that in God’s kingdom, provision of food and health is broader than mere food and medical treatment. Jesus also showed that poverty is correlated to a separation from the source of all things: God.
Jesus showed that in God’s kingdom, imprisonment was more than just shackles, jail bars, and physical disease. Jesus also showed that imprisonment is correlated to a world that is feeling the butterfly affect of years upon years of choices made apart from the way that God created us to live - from the compounding of hurt feelings acted out toward others, to the compounding entropy of disease and natural phenomena that have resulted in the broken world that we experience today.
Jesus showed that in God’s kingdom, restoration of sight is more than just correcting the structure of the eye; or that clarity of thought is brought about by more than mere rules and regulations. Jesus also showed that blindness is correlated to seeing things as they really are - from the perspective of the creator of the world; and that clarity of thought is correlated to seeing the world beyond the here and now and our singular perspective, to seeing the world from the perspective of the Lord who has existed and been present throughout all time.
Jesus showed that in God’s kingdom, meaning, purpose and belonging are more than just being in a social, human group that is accepted. Jesus also showed that meaning, purpose, and belonging are correlated to inclusion into the life of God, as a child in the family of God.
While there were tangible intersects of the good news of Jesus in the here and now on earth, the good news of Jesus was about something far greater than just immediate needs being met. The good news of Jesus was that God is the better provider, giver of freedom, healer, or place of belonging than anything else that a person could turn to on earth.
You may be thinking, well that is all well and good for those who encountered Jesus in the first century, but what does that have to do with me today?
What about today?
The reality is that we all find ourselves with needs; and sometimes those needs change based on circumstances. For example, you may have lost your job. And while provision of another job is something that God can help provide. The even greater reality is that, as a follower of Jesus, as a child of God – you can never lose your job as a partner in bringing to bear God’s kingdom on earth. That job is the job that will continue beyond your nursing, accounting, manager, laborer, entrepreneurial job in the here and now. For God’s kingdom is coming to bear in reality for eternity, and that is where your work will have lasting value; and it’s where your particular skills will find their ultimate value and utilization.
Or take another example, failing a test at school or during a work training. While God can empower you to persevere through the work that is needed to eventually pass that test, that test does not ultimately bear the value of who you are as a participate in the test of life. The ultimate test of life is to faithfully follow in the footsteps of Jesus, and allow him to train you to live life to it’s fullest. And the added benefit is that God promises to fit us for eternity with a perfected body that enable us to live faithfully into the fullness of God’s life. Beyond the tangible ability to pass a test here on earth, in the here and now, the good news of Jesus is that we have a greater test to pass, and with greater resources to be able to pass through it and benefit from it.
Essence
All of this can simply boil down to the reality that Jesus, God in the flesh, is the essence – the “n’th” degree, the fullness of every reality that we encounter in life. He is the ultimate: boss, parent, teacher, provider, healer, freer, helper, defender, judge, enjoyer of life that there is. Any category of life that we can think of, Jesus offers us the best and fullest experience of living into it. And that is good news that we all long for. And it’s that good news that we are seeking in things, people, places, and realities other than Jesus. Apart from him the good news we are offered, never lasts as sustainable good news. But the good news of Jesus does.
Telling others that Jesus is good news
If you’re not yet a follower of Jesus, I invite you to consider how Jesus is the good news you’ve been searching for in your life. If you’re already a follower of Jesus, you’ve already begun to experience Jesus as the good news that you’re life longs for. As a follower of Jesus, I encourage you to help others see Jesus as that good news as well.
To do so, is not just riddling off doctrinal statements about Jesus to people (although that might be involved along the way); and it’s not just telling people that Jesus is good news (although that reality is true in statement form). No. This work will involve more than rhetoric. It will involve spending time with people, to listen and hear what they are enduring in life – to discern where their life is longing for good news in a particular way. And once those longings start to become apparent, you now have the opportunity to offer Jesus as the fulfillment of those longingings.
This is the work that Jesus did. Each person he encountered was different, and dealing with a different set of circumstances. And people today are not different. Each has a unique situation and story of experiencing a lack of the fullness of life – to which, Jesus wants to be the good news that fills that void, and in even greater ways than any of us could ever fathom.
This is how Jesus is good news!