Yes, the good news is salvation. Salvation not only from Hell, but from meaninglessness, from emptiness and despair. Jesus came to a world where many had lost hope, due to skewed views. The poor and downtrodden, those who had sinned and saw no hope of repentance, those who were outcasts, all of these people felt rejected by God.
Due to the popular thought in Israel at the time, it was thought that if you were a good person, if you were Heaven-bound, God would give you signs of it in this life. So if you were headed for a good eternal reward, you would know it because you were wealthy and blessed in this side of eternity. Likewise, many attached a permanent stigma to certain sins. If you had committed certain sins, like adultery or prostitution, you were virtually condemned for eternity in the eyes of the powers that were at the time.
Now imagine the despair this would sow in the lives of the poor, the sick, the rejected? Those whose lives were materially dark and sorrowful? They would have had the impression that their lives were bad because of something they had done, that they were outside of God’s favor. And those who really had sinned would feel as if it was no use trying to come back to a God whom they likely supposed found them just as irredeemable as their fellow citizens.
Along comes this brilliant, miracle-working Preacher, proving Himself by His many miracles to be more than an ordinary man, and He tells these hopeless people that there is indeed hope for them. He tells them they are blessed, not cursed, and in fact says that the curse belongs with those who–due to their secure lot in life–sit back and rest (falsely) assured of their salvation while looking down their noses at everyone else. He promises that people from all walks of life can attain salvation, not only the privileged, who in fact might find their privilege to be a stumbling block if it leads to pride and favoring their riches over God. He says that sin, even serious sin, can be forgiven, that there is hope for even those whom the world considers to be beyond redemption.
To be told that you are not dirty because you are sick, that you are not wicked because you are poor, that you are not rejected by God because you are rejected by men, that living a virtual hell on this Earth does not inherently mean you will live in Hell in the next life, and that even your darkest sins, if you are willing, can be washed away by this Divine Son of Man so that you can one day see the Face of God: THAT is truly good news, and it rang like the sweetest of music in the ears of a poor and desperate people.
Blessings in Christ,
KindredSoul
…and the post of the day goes to… Back2Church!
