Thinking about how Romans speaks of "the whole creation groaning in anticipation of the revealing.......", I ran across this. Posted for your consideration and rational comments. (The last line sums up his thought.)
Our oversimplification of the Gospel into a message that we can escape hell and live forever in heaven is truly not found in the teachings of Jesus or the apostles. Is there postmortem hope held out in the Gospel? Yes, that of resurrection. The standard concept, though, that it all boils down to where will you spend "eternity", is not found at the center, nor on the fringes, of Jesus’ and His apostles' message.
Our simplifying of the Gospel into such a message, I believe, stems from our desire to make the story relevant to our lives, combined with a lack of understanding of the political climate and eschatological expectations of Jesus' day. Most in Jesus' day were not living in fear of eternal damnation, and awaiting a Messiah who would give them the secrets to making heaven. No, they were a people, essentially, living in exile in their own land, occupied by Rome, and desperately awaiting a King who would announce a year of jubilee and freedom to them, but a day of vengeance to their oppressors. Their hopes were extremely political, and dealt with the present world.
Jesus' message, similarly, dealt with very now issues. It was also political and social, only instead of proclaiming a warrior Messiah who would put Rome in its place and exalt the "people of God", it exposed and shamed the system to which Jerusalem had fallen prey. It showed that both they, and the empire they so longed to turn the tables on, were a part of the very same system, and that this system was void of hope. In Jesus, a contrary Kingdom is announced, and a new way of living revealed. It announces the hope that this world can be a different place, if we throw off systems of violence, domination and oppression, and embracing an others-centered life of love, generosity and altruism. It also announces the ultimate hope of the world being put to rights in a future resurrection.
Our problem, is that we're looking 2,000 years into the past, and see no relevance in the political issues Israel was facing, and then over-spiritualize many of the subversive parables and sayings of Jesus, causing them to appear as though they deal with the overly simplistic, heaven/hell issue. But this was not the problem Messiah was expected to rectify, and is simply not what Jesus was speaking to.
The Gospel's relevance lies in its call for us to abandon systems, be they religious, political, or a hybrid of the two, that move us to persecute, otherize, trample on, or oppress another human being. It calls us to see the whole of humanity as defined by Christ, and so to love, accept, and give to all equally. It announces salvation from "the present evil age" (Galatians 1:4), in which people are divided between "Jew and Gentile", "slave and free", "male and female" (Gal 3:28), for a "new creation", in which circumcision and uncircumcision, that is, human-made distinctions, mean nothing, and the only thing that counts is a faith that finds expression through love and service to others (Gal 5:6, 15).
In an era where the ideas of cosmic concentration camps and cloud cities (Bespin, anyone?) seem increasingly absurd to 99.9% of humanity, we have an opportunity to seize upon the true power of the Gospel. We have something better to offer than fear, fire and force, but a very real way of escape from present systems that destroy and lead to death. We have a message that doesn't call people to church attendance and hell avoidance, but to genuinely love one another, from the heart (1 Pet 1:22); a call and an empowerment to truly live in a new, and previously unknown way. This epic call is wrapped in an equally epic, poetic story of self-sacrifice, self-giving, enemy-love and forgiveness that has the power to move the heart in ways that mere political spiels and rhetoric cannot.
This Gospel, *the* Gospel, actually has the power to save the world, not just an individual.
Our oversimplification of the Gospel into a message that we can escape hell and live forever in heaven is truly not found in the teachings of Jesus or the apostles. Is there postmortem hope held out in the Gospel? Yes, that of resurrection. The standard concept, though, that it all boils down to where will you spend "eternity", is not found at the center, nor on the fringes, of Jesus’ and His apostles' message.
Our simplifying of the Gospel into such a message, I believe, stems from our desire to make the story relevant to our lives, combined with a lack of understanding of the political climate and eschatological expectations of Jesus' day. Most in Jesus' day were not living in fear of eternal damnation, and awaiting a Messiah who would give them the secrets to making heaven. No, they were a people, essentially, living in exile in their own land, occupied by Rome, and desperately awaiting a King who would announce a year of jubilee and freedom to them, but a day of vengeance to their oppressors. Their hopes were extremely political, and dealt with the present world.
Jesus' message, similarly, dealt with very now issues. It was also political and social, only instead of proclaiming a warrior Messiah who would put Rome in its place and exalt the "people of God", it exposed and shamed the system to which Jerusalem had fallen prey. It showed that both they, and the empire they so longed to turn the tables on, were a part of the very same system, and that this system was void of hope. In Jesus, a contrary Kingdom is announced, and a new way of living revealed. It announces the hope that this world can be a different place, if we throw off systems of violence, domination and oppression, and embracing an others-centered life of love, generosity and altruism. It also announces the ultimate hope of the world being put to rights in a future resurrection.
Our problem, is that we're looking 2,000 years into the past, and see no relevance in the political issues Israel was facing, and then over-spiritualize many of the subversive parables and sayings of Jesus, causing them to appear as though they deal with the overly simplistic, heaven/hell issue. But this was not the problem Messiah was expected to rectify, and is simply not what Jesus was speaking to.
The Gospel's relevance lies in its call for us to abandon systems, be they religious, political, or a hybrid of the two, that move us to persecute, otherize, trample on, or oppress another human being. It calls us to see the whole of humanity as defined by Christ, and so to love, accept, and give to all equally. It announces salvation from "the present evil age" (Galatians 1:4), in which people are divided between "Jew and Gentile", "slave and free", "male and female" (Gal 3:28), for a "new creation", in which circumcision and uncircumcision, that is, human-made distinctions, mean nothing, and the only thing that counts is a faith that finds expression through love and service to others (Gal 5:6, 15).
In an era where the ideas of cosmic concentration camps and cloud cities (Bespin, anyone?) seem increasingly absurd to 99.9% of humanity, we have an opportunity to seize upon the true power of the Gospel. We have something better to offer than fear, fire and force, but a very real way of escape from present systems that destroy and lead to death. We have a message that doesn't call people to church attendance and hell avoidance, but to genuinely love one another, from the heart (1 Pet 1:22); a call and an empowerment to truly live in a new, and previously unknown way. This epic call is wrapped in an equally epic, poetic story of self-sacrifice, self-giving, enemy-love and forgiveness that has the power to move the heart in ways that mere political spiels and rhetoric cannot.
This Gospel, *the* Gospel, actually has the power to save the world, not just an individual.
