The English term “gospel” – Old English “gödspel” – is a translation of the ancient Greek word “εὐαγγέλιον” = euangelion. Euangelion means good news or a message that brings joy. But what exactly is it about the message of Jesus that is joyful and good? This question arises because the outcome of the story of the Jewish healer and itinerant preacher, Jesus of Nazareth, seems anything but good. Accused, condemned, tortured and executed on the cross at the instigation of his enemies, he died shamefully the death of a criminal. Thus, Jesus‘ mission can probably be considered a failure. This article is about what is nevertheless joyful, good and consoling about what Jesus taught and what He himself consistently lived.
The Gospel of Luke contains a remarkable story from the time when Jesus began His work as a healer and teacher. It makes it clear that Jesus not only understood His mission in the context of the Old Testament, but also emphasised the consoling, uplifting and joyful character of His gospel from the very beginning:
And he came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath. And he stood up and began to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. And when he had opened the scroll, he found the place where it was written,
‘The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’
When he had done this, he closed the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. At that moment all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him, and he began to interpret the scripture. ‘Today,’ he said, ‘this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ And they were all agreed that they knew him and were amazed by the unheard-of words which he was saying. And they said, ‘Is not this the son of Joseph?’ Luke 4:16-22
In His interpretations, parables and explanations, Jesus always returns to the basic message that His teaching gives cause for joy to those who receive it, internalise it and believe it.
Consolation in suffering by finding meaning
In the Sermon on the Mount, a summary of His teaching, Jesus emphasises the consoling aspect of His message:
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5,4
But what exactly does this comfort look like? In order to understand the consoling and comforting thoughts of His message, a fundamental insight is needed, which is:
The cause of our entire reality is hidden in God, for God creates all things without exception.
In this respect, nothing can happen that is not determined by God, since, as already mentioned, nothing can escape or oppose God’s will.
In this respect, it is not the things themselves that worry, displease, threaten, harm or offend us, but it is our assessment of these things, whether they happen to us pointlessly and in vain or whether they are recognised as significant through a changed state of mind, which makes them so.
John the Baptist and Jesus‘ first call to action was: Metanoia! which means something like: ‘Change your mind!’ The gospel – the good news is that just by changing our minds, the difficult and painful things in our lives can be fundamentally changed for the better. Not by taking violent action against evil or what displeases us, but by accepting the inevitable, the world is overcome in the sense of Jesus.
You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek. Matthew 5:38-39
That even the smallest thing, an apparent arbitrary act, our powerlessness or our being at the mercy of something lies within the divine will, provided that we trust in this law, Jesus illustrated in the following parable:
Do not men gather two sparrows together for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall to the ground without the will of your Father. But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So fear not, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31
Admittedly, this insight will be of little help to us when we are directly affected by misfortune and frightened by it. Nor is it of any use to us if we see no way out of our misfortune. When we are confronted with weakness, illness, injustice, fate, suffering or death, we will hardly find comfort in the thought that God deals with all these things. Rather, the opposite seems to be the case, and we then perceive God as cruel and unjust. The consolation that Jesus offers to those who suffer will only reach those who can trust that even in painful and unjust events, there is a hidden meaning that wants to be sought and found by us:
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. Matthew 7:7-9
This meaning found lies in God. That is the gospel, that all things that have found their cause in God in this way, have life and spirit inherent in them.
God is the giver of meaning – to recognise God means to live
In this respect, the consolation that the good news Jesus is able to give is based on a further fundamental insight, and this says:
All reality, the cause of which we recognise in God, is based on a deep meaning by virtue of this knowledge.
Why is that so? Because the concept of God is a synonym for spirit and meaning, and because a reality whose cause has been recognised in God can and will only bring good to us.
Insofar as we recognise God as the cause of even the senseless events that directly affect us, these things will be able to take on meaning – no more, but also no less.
In this respect, the good that happens to us in evil depends exclusively on the extent to which we are able to recognise God even in unjust, evil and painful events. In order that we may also recognise God’s activity in difficult, unjust and painful events, Jesus was willing to accept injustice, suffering and death. He did this in the awareness that this state of mind alone signifies and confers immortality.
Why is this so? Because God cannot and will not withdraw from the things for which He is recognised as the cause but must reveal Himself as their cause. This means that everything in which we are able to recognise God, takes on the nature of God and thereby comes to life. In this sense, Jesus taught:
„This is eternal life, that they may recognize you, as the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.“ John 17:3
Overcoming the world
Now, it is true that God brings forth all reality even if He is not recognised by us as its cause. But without the realisation that God oversees all things for the good, the arduous, the unjust and the painful, must remain meaningless to us. In other words:
God carries out all things even without our recognition, but He directs those things in which we do not recognise any meaning, past us.
For if we cannot inwardly consent to the painful events, we must perish in accusation. Accusation can only be raised where a world of guilt exists. That is the gospel of Jesus – the glad tidings of Jesus, that in God no guilt exists.
Overcoming guilt
As long as there is a world of guilt for us, we will seek out the guilty, and by looking for guilt and the guilty, we too must be found guilty, since no one is free of guilt.
In the realm of the spirit (God), however, the idea of guilt is finally overcome, since all events find a deep meaning there. This means nothing other than that no guilt can exist in God. The world of guilt is the world of separation, contradiction and sin. Such a world has no place in God. Where the principle of sin, i.e. the principle of accusation and retribution, reigns, death and dying prevail. In this sense, Jesus taught:
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that it is me, you will die in your sins. John 8:24
Jesus Christ came into this world so that we would not have to perish in blame by events that we perceive as unjust, sorrowful and burdensome. It is precisely for this reason that he willingly took upon himself injustice, suffering, and death for us. In his passion, He showed that God does all things for the best, without exception, where He is recognised as such. The gospel of Jesus is based on this knowledge.
The power of salt
In the parable of the salt of the earth, Jesus illustrated the law according to which everything weak, burdensome, unjust, sick and painful, is overcome only by the power of the spirit:
You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled on by men. Matthew 5:13
What does this mean? ‘You are the salt of the earth’ means that our true identity and existence lie in the spirit. It also means that our true identity is a hidden one. Why? Because the salt of the earth, unlike the salt of the sea, is hidden in the darkness of the earth. In this respect, the salt of the earth is a symbol of the spirit, which is hidden in the earthly.
Adding flavour to the flavourless
Just as salt gives flavour and substance to bland food, the spirit can give meaning and significance to mindless things, enabling us to ‘taste’ this ‘food’. And what has found content and flavour in this way, we will be willing to eat. That is, we will be able to accept, absorb and internalise it, because it has found meaning and significance for us, even if it previously seemed bland and unreasonable to us.
In other words, all human attachments and events whose meaning we cannot grasp in our minds because they appear to us to be obstructive, sick, sorrowful, embarrassing, unjust, senseless, mindless or evil make them unacceptable to us.
Through the power of the spirit, all attachments and events, without exception, can now be given meaning and significance. This is the gospel; this is the good news that Jesus proclaimed:
The power of the spirit is able to give meaning and spirit to all things that we, according to human judgement, consider meaningless or spiritless, by leading them back to God as their origin.
For all things that have God as their author must be and become good. If we live from this certainty and knowledge, then the gospel of Jesus has reached us.
Omnipotence in powerlessness
Things take on meaning and significance through the certainty that, even in the face of embarrassment, hardship, injustice, arbitrariness and suffering, God’s will is enforced on us and that His will is for our own good as soon as we trust in the law of the spirit. Why? Because only good, only life and spirit flow from God. Even defamation, persecution, meanness, lies or injustice, all these things experienced in this spiritual attitude, undergo a fundamental change, as they find meaning and significance in this conviction.
„Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, your reward will be great in heaven for in this way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’ Mt 5,11
In the moment of realisation that we do not encounter such events by chance, but that in all things we encounter God Himself, we become joyful and consoled. This will also enable us to look forward with confidence to events that, according to human judgement, would break us. But whatever we take upon ourselves according to the will of God can no longer happen to our determent. For by consenting to the will of God, we are united with God. But when we are united with God, we also take on those qualities that God possesses: life, love, spirit and immortality.
The Passion of Jesus – the unexpected stroke of luck
Jesus, in His suffering, is exemplary in this state of mind, in that He takes it upon Himself and bears hatred, hostility, betrayal, slander,accusation, condemnation, suffering and death according to the will of God – knowing that God controls all things without exception, in which He is recognised. Jesus did it with the certainty that He taught before. It is the inner certainty that nothing can harm or hurt the one who, according to the will of God, takes upon himself and bears the spiritless, the senseless, the unjust and the evil (sin). Why is that so? Because the spirit cannot extinguish itself. All that the spirit is recognised as working in, it works for its and our own good. That is the gospel of Jesus – the good news.
It is the spirit that dwells in us all, that is able to give meaning to all events. We should use this spirit according to its power. If we do not use the power of the spirit, it will become powerless. A powerless spirit will not be able to give meaning and significance to difficult and painful events. And so we will have to break under such events.
In the parable, it is the powerless salt that is ultimately thrown away to be trampled on by the people. The feeling of being thrown away and trampled on is not a punishment in the human sense, but it is the consequence of a spirit whose ability has not been used – it is the consequence of a salt that has lost its power.
If we do not use a power or ability in a way that suits its nature, we will weaken and lose it.
To the extent that we appreciate and use the ability of the spirit, we will maintain and increase it. And by appreciating, increasing and strengthening the spirit, the spirit in turn will appreciate, increase and strengthen us. Why is that so? Because the spirit does not extinguish itself. This is the gospel – the good news of Jesus, that the spirit recognises itself, that is, that it recognises what is its own.
The test by fire
No one can escape the fateful pages of life. Every person is confronted with the arduous and painful sides of life. This confrontation is like a touch with fire, namely a touch with the painful sides of the spirit. Here Jesus draws an analogy to the ancient Jewish sacrificial cult:
For everyone will be salted with fire, just as every sacrifice is salted with salt. Mark 9,49-50
Just as the animals in the temple were prepared for sacrifice with salt, so we too should be prepared for the sacrifices that life demands of us. If we have salt with us, our sacrifices will be able to find spirit, meaning and significance. For God cannot and will not break a spirit that trusts in the Spirit (God). The Spirit does not extinguish itself. And in the same way that the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross was for him a spirit-filled, meaningful and necessary sacrifice, our sacrifices will also cease to be in vain and prove to be necessary.
I will conclude with a word from the Apostle Paul. Here he once again clarifies the idea that, in the spirit that Jesus taught us in His passion, all events will serve us without exception, and we will find inner comfort.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Rom 8:28
If we view all things that adhere to us or that we encounter in this spirit, then nothing can happen to us that separates us from the cause of life, which lies in the spirit that Jesus Christ taught and consistently lived. That is the gospel, the good news of Jesus, that nothing can separate us from God, from whom all life flows, if we understand our existence in the way Jesus understood His own existence.
‘But in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Rom 8:38-39
Schreibe einen Kommentar