a beautiful mess

all morning long i had been looking forward to a phone interview with a church i have been following (from a distance of the web/podcast/etc) for almost seven years. not quite stalking, but you know, it’s always been on my list of local churches to check in with, download the podcast, and seek creative inspiration from whatever they might be “doing” that season…

so the phone rang. and one of the first things out of the bag was: we have about 30 minutes. now, i am not blaming the pastor of said local church – but i am hereby declaring my reason for just unloading a monstrosity of verbiage on the poor guy. anyone who knows me knows that i am a word addict; who are we kidding, nearly every barista at sbux knows this about me! but the fact remains, i came with a fury and, truth be told, i am not even sure i remember much of what i said.

i feel like i just tried to pour every ounce of my passions, story, life, and knowledge through the droid and across state lines in less than thirty minutes: the result was, at one point, a bit of vernacular confusion: maybe i misunderstood a question, or maybe i read in to the question something that wasn’t there…i don’t know. but i have since read through their entire membership packet, reread some portions of scripture in relation to the question, spoken, albeit briefly, with trisha (too briefly in fact. she is a deep well of knowledge, and a fantastic thermometer in discerning truth), and have been meditating on it pretty much since i hung up the phone.

the question was simply, “WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?”

now, now. don’t go getting all in a huffy criticizing me for not understanding the question. i have been a follower of yeshua – not always the closest follower, but always back there somewhere – for pert’ near a dozen years now. so i KNOW what the gospel is…but my overreactive little brain got the better of me, which isn’t entirely bad, and i processed his question as, “WHAT IS THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS?” i heard one thing, but it came through a filter – as everything does. and i am not ashamed to say that, apparently, after so many years, i am beginning to have a somewhat eastern/jewish filter*. i heard one thing, but i reformed the question and responded to: “WHAT IS THE GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM OF YESHUA?” let’s break this down:

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?
for starters, gospel is the english equivalent of “good news” or euangelion in greek. eu = good + angelion = message. it’s how we arrive at evangelize, evangelist, and evangelism. and let’s be clear, all of these terms were redeemed and recreated by the mouth of yeshua – they are not christian terms. for example, we read from a roman account in 6 B.C.,

“Augustus has been sent to us as Savior. . . the birthday of the god Augustus has been for the whole world the beginning of the gospel.”

wow! it’s vitally important to understand that there were evangelists before paul: there was a gospel before yeshua: the feet of other messengers were bringing a a different gospel to peoples and nations proclaiming the way of rome: specifically a message of victory and peace through war, strength, and domination – complete with all of the roman hierarchies, ways, and systems of that kingdom.

so. that’s how i made the jump to, “GOOD NEWS.” and then of course, i just presumed he meant the good news of yeshua. which leads to the next deal,

WHAT IS THE GOOD NEWS OF YESHUA?
this is sort of a tricky question because, 1) the grammar can sneak up and bite ya! and B) because it invokes an enormously rich sense of wonder/history in the very name, yeshua/jesus.

are we asking what the good news about yeshua is? or are we asking what was the good news yeshua proclaimed?

and this is a critical difference.

most local churches and individuals find their default in the former: they understand the gospel of jesus to be, at least finding it’s beginning place in, his virgin birth, his sinless life, his atoning death, his very real burial, and his miraculous resurrection. and this, you need to believe in order to be saved. that is the gospel. that is the good news of jesus. i do not disagree with any of this, and in fact, proclaim it and live by it, in essence, with every breath i take: for i no longer live, but christ lives in me!

but understand this very real difference. that is not the good news yeshua proclaimed. it’s not even why he says he came. don’t stone me yet. hold on tight, this will be short and sweet**.

mark records at 1.14,15:

. . . yeshua came to the galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of GOD/heaven, and saying, ‘the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of GOD is at hand. repent, and believe in the gospel.’

matthew, after yeshua’s baptism and subsequent temptation in the wilderness records at 4.17:

from that time yeshua began to preach and to say, ‘repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

luke also records as yeshua is in a solitary place with people trying to keep him from leaving at 4:43:

but he (yeshua) said, ‘i must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of GOD to the other towns also, because that is why i was sent.’

so we see that yeshua’s good news (gospel) was in keeping with the vernacular of the day, it was about a kingdom: the kingdom of GOD/heaven. yeshua’s good news of the kingdom is then proclaimed, announced, and continued by a few different expressions: through parables/teaching, through miracles/healing, and through various fellowship experiences.

his message is that there is a new kingdom at hand: and what is this kingdom like!? it’s like…a pearl. dot, dot, dot. it’s like a woman who conceals yeast in dough. dot, dot, dot. it’s like, hey watch me as i am fully dressed in traditional jewish clothing proclaiming my cleanliness while i eat with matthew the tax collector and our friends who the religiously corrupt are proclaiming unclean. it’s like, healing the blind and raising the dead. it’s resurrection and redemption in every breath and at every turn and for every thing.

oh, and here’s the kicker: it comes not by way of the tyrannically oppressive powers, but through the meek: it’s like a mustard seed. it comes not by force and violence, but by service and love. it doesn’t even need to defend because it always protects. it doesn’t have to kill because it will die. and on and on and on.

the good news of the kingdom of heaven is what yeshua taught, shared, and lived. it was not actually about his birth, death, and resurrection: though this certainly became a prominent part of the teachings of the apostles and certainly needs to be proclaimed today. it’s what makes it possible for us to LIVE LIKE YESHUA: that is, to proclaim the same good news of the kingdom as yeshua, we have to be citizens of that kingdom! and there is only one way in to the kingdom and in to the family, through yeshua: and that, because we, too, have died with him, and are raised by that same power! he has made us righteous. messiah makes all things new!

okay. so maybe not so short. but still. pretty sweet, no?

needless to say, that’s how i arrived at, “WHAT IS THE GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM OF YESHUA?”

exhale. breathe. so again, in the interest of clarity: there is nothing wrong with the phrase, THE GOSPEL OF YESHUA/JESUS/CHRIST, and i will still use that phrase, share that gospel…but it is not the same as THE GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN THAT YESHUA PROCLAIMED…for example.

and, to be honest, the way i read the old and new covenants, i think it’s fair to say, the gospel of christ is contained within the gospel of the kingdom of heaven and not the other way around. no matter what, it finds it’s purpose in CHRIST. for as john 1.1 declares, in the beginning was the logos, the word, and the logos was with GOD and the logos was GOD – where yeshua is that logos! and paul writes in colossians 1.17 that in him (yeshua/christ) all things hold together.

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so. i don’t know if i will have a second interview with this pastor/local church – but i am incredibly thankful for the pursuit he pushed me toward this afternoon. i have no doubt we believe the same thing(s), but, at the time,  i had something else in mind, haha!

i welcome your thoughts, questions, and insight. what say you?

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*by beginning, i mean, i recognize there is a wealth of history and knowledge and resources and prayers that i have yet to even crack. but. i also know that my heart is slowly becoming aligned with GOD’s heart for israel and i have developed a humble appreciation and respect that warrants more study of the ancient eastern histories, people, and the jewish people as a whole.

**you’re not really expecting this to be short, are you?