Reframing The Gospel

by Tim Keel

The exodus story begins in Genesis and spans the Torah, coming to a close in Deuteronomy with the death of Moses and Israel’s arrival on the edges of the Promised Land. The exodus story is a massive drama that chronicles Israel’s oppression in Egypt and the way that God acted to save her from that oppression. Hearing her cries, God raises up Moses and uses him to confront Pharaoh. Through many interactions, God demonstrates his power and the reality that it is he, not Pharaoh, who reigns. And so Pharaoh finally, though temporarily, relents and releases Moses to take Israel from Egypt to the land that God promised them. Two events dominate the exodus narrative: the Passover and the crossing of the Red Sea. Even though the events of the exodus story play out in the first five books of the Bible, its significance continues to be felt throughout the rest of the Old Testament (especially in the Psalms) as this story is narrated again and again in Israel’s ongoing liturgical life. Jews in the time of Jesus continued to celebrate the Passover and would go on pilgrimages to Jerusalem reenacting the journey of faith that Moses led Israel on as they followed God from slavery to freedom.

We have already discussed the third story, the exile story, in light of Israel’s time in Babylon, as well as God’s intent to restore his people to fullness and blessing. The story of Israel’s struggle to remain faithful to their covenant with God is recorded in the book of Joshua and continues through 2 Kings. It includes many of the prophetic books, both major and minor. The books of Nehemiah and Ezra tell of Israel’s return to the land and the reforms that religious leaders instituted to ensure that Israel would never again transgress God’s law and so come under judgment. We can see the impact of these reforms continuing to play out in the New Testament through the teachings of the Pharisees, a holiness movement that sought to keep Israel pure by adding to God’s laws additional restrictions meant to deter Jews from the possibility of sin. Jesus continually crashes up against the Pharisees and the way they see the world and the purpose of the law. The weight of the exile story and God’s deliverance of Israel from the margins back to a place of fullness and restoration cannot be overstated for the first century Jewish world. That the Jews were still awaiting this story’s fulfillment figures enormously in the life and ministry of Jesus.

The final story that gave shape to Israel’s identity as God’s people was the priestly story. In order to make provision for Israel’s sin, God instituted a system of sacrifice as the means of atoning and cleansing the people and the community from their sin. This system was enacted by a family of priests, the tribe of Levi, given the task of mediating the fractured relationship between humans and God. The book of Leviticus describes this sacrificial system, though the laws and terms of God’s covenant with his people are found throughout the Torah. This system of sacrifice offered for sin continued into the time of Christ.

I believe that the church has been obsessed with the priestly story. As a result, we have framed the gospel and Jesus exclusively in the priestly story. This is then how the good news of God’s salvation is presented: that our sin has made us unclean, but through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, we have been cleansed of our sin and the guilt associated with it. And like I have said, that account of salvation is true and good as far as it goes. But it doesn’t go far enough, nor does it focus on that which interested Jesus himself. Of the four framing stories of the Old Testament, the priestly story seems to be the one that Jesus spends the least amount of time engaging. When he does interact with it, he engages it in a way that subverts the conventional wisdom of his culture regarding who is clean and unclean, what is holy and unholy. And he infuriates many in the process.

REFRAMING THE GOOD NEWS

As we reread the Gospels, allowing them to be framed by a deeper understanding of their Old Testament context, we begin to see that Jesus was up to something much more robust and dynamic than we might have originally understood. He was not merely satisfying the demands of the law in order to make people clean. That rendering of the good news is too small and doesn’t do justice to the accounts of his life and ministry. Nor does it account for the different ways in which salvation played out in the different stories that framed Israel’s imagination. Jesus constantly engages the stories and themes of creation, exodus, and exile. He then reframes them in light of the announcement of good news: that in Christ, God’s reign has begun. John’s gospel is fascinated by the creation story. His account begins by echoing Genesis 1: “In the beginning...” His writing is rife with imagery and language that demonstrates that through Christ, God is recreating all things and restoring people to the garden. Indeed, twice John tells us that Christ rose on the first day of the week (20:1,19): a new creation week has begun! Mary, in that same account, stumbles unaware into Jesus, mistaking him for the gardener (20:15). Mark and Matthew seem more focused on the exodus story and how Jesus is reconstituting Israel and leading her on a new exodus. Their accounts record different instances where Jesus symbolically reenacts critical moments in the exodus narrative that would have been obvious to those around him.

And Luke? Luke’s priority resonates with the themes of Israel returning from exile, that Christ is restoring to wholeness those who sit on the margins. In fact, Luke allows us to peer into how Jesus himself conceived and understood his calling. Near the beginning of his public ministry, Luke tells us that Jesus stood up in a synagogue in Nazareth and read from the Scriptures.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (4:18-19, TNIV)

Luke’s account says that Jesus rolled the scroll back up, handed it to the attendant, and sat down. Then with all eyes locked on him, he drops the bombshell: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:21, TNIV). Perhaps by this point we should not be surprised to discover Jesus was quoting Isaiah, from the very section that describes what life will be like when God restores Israel from exile and they begin to live in harmony with his purposes for them. Jesus says to them that that long-awaited time has come to pass and that they are witnesses to the in-breaking of God’s kingdom and the arrival of the Messiah. Luke’s gospel goes on to describe the many ways that Jesus went about fulfilling his proclamation of good news as he interacted with the marginalized people inside and outside of Israel.

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Comments

David W Johnson

There seems to be an aspect of the "Priestly" segment of the story that can be valid today. In Lev. the priest served to determine the health of individuals, especially those outcasts, the lepers. He condemned them to exclusion from the community, and pronounced them "clean" when they could come back.

Fast forward to the NT and Jesus is pictured as our Great High Priest (Heb 4:15), who restores the outcasts, the leper, (Luke 5) and brings him back to community.

In 1 Peter we are described as priests, (1Peter 2:9-10) who declare His glory.

We, His people, are tasked with this priestly job of restoration to relationship to God, His people, and His creation.

There are many implications to the "Priestly" picture. I have used it in speaking to the Churches role in involvement in "social" issues such as HIV/AIDs in Eastern Europe where there exists both a need and an aversion.

BRAD BUTCHER

I think your concern for not doing a bate-n-switch with church events is very valid. But I wonder if it might reflect our uncomfortableness with the Gospel as we understand it. If the Gospel is the power of "God" for salvation to everyone who believes, then it's actually God using the proclamation of the Good News about what He has done to reconcile us to Himself. Could it be that the way the Gospel is presented as a product and not as a message from God to them personally that causes the rub?

I find that when I am personally experiencing God's presence and salvation, I share who Christ is in a very genuine, sincere way that comes across like someone sharing about their favorite book or movie. When it's shared in this way as a friend sharing the best that is in their life, it tends to warm the soul of the guest knowing they have been honored to know such precious things from those they are visiting.

Of course, I don't have to look long into scripture to see that God has set up "events" where the Gospel as preached...Acts 2. Romans 10:13-17 seems somewhat irrelevant if what you are saying here is that we shouldn't declare who Christ is and invite others to talk to Him and start a relationship with Him. Is that really bate-n-switch if the the Gospel given and the Gospel lived is what we are truly all about without apology?

I could tell you many other stories of friends who grew up at churches where the Gospel was never presented and they were angry and resentful that this amazing gift of calling on the name of the Lord and being saved was withheld from them for so many years by those who they trusted in community to teach them about God. They grew up trying to be someone they could only be if they were 'born again." They had a "form of godliness" which denied the Power.

If preaching the true Gospel of Grace and relationship with Jesus is inhospitable, I'm not sure we have the same Gospel.

This probably won't show up on your essay response area for all to see, and I understand that. The last thing anyone wants is conflicting views frustrating readers. But hopefully this can start a conversation.

Israel Cook

I don't think he meant for us not to proclaim the "gospel". But to not just push for the priestly aspect of it but to shoot for the whole picture.

Any who, great essay! God is working through Q ideas and I'm grateful for the lessons that He has taught you all and in return He's teaching me!

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