What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ – Part 2 – Brad Jersak

Part Two: The Gospel Jesus Preached:

To read Part One: What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

When we refer to the gospel according to Jesus, we need to speak in two registers: (i) the gospel Jesus preached with reference to the kingdom of God, embodied in his mission and focused on how he came to save; and (ii) the gospel of Jesus preached by his apostles, focused on the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. These were not two different gospels but are one message delivered by Jesus in first-person and by his disciples in second-person accounts. We’ll begin with the Gospel Jesus Preached:

Jesus preached, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand, re-Turn and trust the good news!”

When Jesus preached his gospel, he called his listeners to “repent and believe the good news.” His call to repent is infused with loads of action: turn or re-Turn, come (he comes to us and we come to him), trust (with your very life), and be transformed (by him).  

1. Gospel repentance to Jesus is to return home to the joy of the Father’s house.
   Come to God’s banquet, all are invited.
2. Gospel repentance is coming to God by coming to Jesus.
   Come to ME. I will give you rest.
3. Gospel repentance is trusting in Jesus to come save you.  
   The Son of Man is here now, seeking the lost and the stuck, those enslaved and oppressed—tangled sheep and buried pearls who cannot come… until he finds them all.
4. Gospel repentance is the transformation that occurs through the grace of the One on who the Spirit anointed to preach good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, cleansing to the leper, and liberation to those enslaved by Satan, sin and death.

Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

There’s no doubt at all that Jesus’ gospel includes a response, a return, a conversion… that’s not at issue. But the return home doesn’t make the prodigal son a Son. He was already a son. His pitiful act of repentance was likely sincere but isn’t why the Father welcomed him. He already was already welcome. And even his return home was a grace-awakening—he could re-Turn to his Father whose only reason for waiting is that love waits so as not to violate agency, threaten, or coerce our re-Turn. Even so, our Father is always faced toward us while we’re still a long way off, running to us the moment we’re ready for divine love. God knows our consequences and our conscience punish us enough. And we needn’t make our repentance punitive either.

The gospel of Jesus recognizes that the disease of sin lies much deeper in our soul than bad behavior that can be rectified by wrath. Sin is a disease of the soul in need of Christ’s redemption, restoration, and salvation. The Great Physician has come to seek and to save all those who are lost, not IF they repent… just the opposite: don’t forget that God’s kindness leads to repentance, not the reverse (Romans 2).

And fine: when people like me wake up (by grace) and begin to see (by grace) the harm we do and mourn (by grace), when we see (by grace) our self-inflicted condition and recognize (by grace) our perishing, and tears begin to flow… yes, that too is part of repentance. But it is in no way a contrived precondition that earns my way back into God’s graces. The tears ARE the grace of God, transforming our godly sorrow and grief into a salty liquid expressed from our bodily eyes and wiped from our cheeks by Love. Every one of those tears—yes, even those shed at the last judgment. Even those who, at the end, weep and wail and gnash their teeth—will have their tears washed away in divine mercy, “like tears in rain.”

Watch for Part Three:

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