ニューイングランドの母校から、今年もアドベントの日々メッセージ その18DECEMBER 19, 2018The Good News and the Good God Mark 1:1 , Isaiah 40:9

ニューイングランドの母校から、今年もアドベントの日々メッセージ　その18
DECEMBER 19, 2018
The Good News and the Good God
Mark 1:1 , Isaiah 40:9
“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (NRSV).

“Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’” (ESV).

News. Good News. Bad News. Fake News. In an age when information is readily available at our fingertips, we don’t always appreciate the impact of the announcement that something happened in history. Society is saturated with news and very often numb with the sheer volume and sometimes frivolity associated with this so-called “Age of Information.” When was the last time you heard some news that had the potential of changing the world—or changing your world? When was the last time it actually did?

In the first century, people didn’t have the Internet, and news traveled at a slower pace. But there were competing ideologies propagating their “news.” The most important at the time was the emperor’s news. News of his accomplishments and victories was celebrated as euangelion— “good news” for the world.

But for most of those living in Roman-occupied Palestine in the first century, Caesar’s news was not good news at all. For a people under the dominion of a foreign political power, forced to pay taxes in their own land, watching the invasion of an unwanted culture altering their way of life, the most popular euangelion was definitely “bad news.”

“Behold your God!” was the good news announced by the prophet Isaiah. With a sense of ongoing captivity, the only news that would be truly good was the proclamation that the God of Israel was breaking his silence and coming to manifest himself in the middle of history. And then it happened. He came, just as the prophet announced. But when the people looked, they saw a man, coming from Nazareth of Galilee. Good news? Bad news? Fake news? Is this the news that is going to change the world? A rabbi of modest origins? The leader of a band of fishermen? A crucified Messiah?

Good, bad, fake. It is all a matter of perception. What some call good, others call bad. And in the age of skepticism and relativism, some are quick to cry “Fake!” But the gospel is not good because of people’s perceptions of it. The good news of God is not susceptible to the evaluations and definitions of history’s bystanders. God’s good news is good because it is a projection of his character. The gospel is good news because it is the announcement of the self-disclosure of the good God, in whatever way he deems to be good. And he chose to show all his goodness in the surprising advent of the wandering rabbi of modest origins, calling a group of inconspicuous individuals, giving himself on a cross as a ransom for many and rising on the third day.

Some may still call it bad or fake news. But all those who have experienced his goodness still look at him in awe, crying: “Behold, our God!”

Mateus de Campos, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of New Testament