Good News!
Good News - Part 1
Sunday, January 7, 2024
Mark 1:1, 14-15
The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, God’s Son…
… After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”
Mark 1:1, 14-15 (CEB)
Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:
_______________
When I was a teenager, I received a small pamphlet called a “gospel track” that laid out what was called “The Gospel.” In summary, it went something like this:
You are a sinner and separated from God.
If you believe Jesus died for your sins, you can be covered by his blood and forgiven.
Only if you pray this prayer of salvation can you be in heaven with God when you die.
I was told this was the “Gospel” or “Good News”. Over the years I struggled more and more with how this was “good news” for people born in a context where they had never heard of Jesus, or worse yet, who grew up in settings where Jesus was presented in such horrible and unloving ways that no one would want to “accept him as their Lord and Savior.”
I also struggled with the fact that the default position is that we are sinners bound for the eternal fires of hell unless we just happen to be fortunate enough for some well meaning evangelical Christian to come along our path and lead us in the seemingly magical words of the “sinners prayer”, which I have found nowhere in Scripture.
What happened to Genesis 1 and 2. What happened to “And God created humankind in his own image… and it was very good (Genesis 1:27, 31)?
If so few people in the history of creation would actually even hear the words that would supposedly get them into heaven, how was this, as the angels said, “Good news of great joy for all people” (Luke 2:10)?
Mark begins his account of the “Good News” by saying this is the beginning of the good news about Jesus. Jesus’ first recorded words in this gospel do invite us to repent of our sin and prepare our hearts and lives, but they do not say anything about our eternal destination or offer us a simple prayer to “get saved.”
One would think if the prayer in those gospel tracks is the only way to avoid eternal damnation, perhaps Jesus might have started with that. But no, Jesus begins by declaring that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand… It has come near. The kingdom of God is right here, right now… and later he will teach us to pray for the Kingdom to fully come on earth as it is in heaven.”
In other words, the Good News isn’t an inheritance check we pick up at the pearly gates after we die. The Good News, the Gospel, the Kingdom of Heaven, the Reign of God… is a present reality. It is here and now!
What does the Good News of Jesus mean for you today, in this moment, here and now?