In the face of Empire - the elites taking it all off the backs of the rest, when all power seems to be in the hands of the unscrupulous who make up their own rules and exploit everyone else - a new message arose in the 1st Century - even a new genre of message.
In the lived witness of Jesus and His Good News of Agape Love and Grace, a writer wrote an account of what happened when Jesus' message was lived by people who followed Jesus.
It is Gospel. Good News in the face of bad news. It is hope in the midst of despair and light in the midst of darkness.
And it all starts, this first Gospel written, in the first chapter, reporting the first public words of Jesus, with an Imperative - a command -
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; Repent, and believe in the Good News." Mark 1:15
"Repent" (metanoia) means to change one's thinking or mind, in order to turn around - to go in a different direction.
It was empire thinking that brought people to the darkness in which they sat. It was the greed, lust for power and desire for status of elites that drove the empire to exploit, abuse and oppress the people. It was the collusion of the King and the Temple cult leaders of the time that further rendered the rest of the people without much hope. But now God was calling them to repent. Now, anyone who aspired to be like them rather than oppose them was called to repent. God wanted different thinking, different acting - a different way. Jesus came commanding it.
And what was the alternative? "Believe in the Good News." What Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us as witnessed to in the following pages would be THE opposite of what empire stood for. Kingdom of God values bring Good News instead of despair when people live them. The Good News was that people could resist empire and its ideologies, philosophies and normative practices that divided, conquered and destroyed much of the world. People who live a different way, even AS resistance to empire and then as a better way that the world might adopt and live. Instead of believing in a way that divided, exploited, oppressed and destroyed, people could believe in Jesus' way - God's Way for the world that would restore justice, peace and hope. It was Good News.
It was centered on the opposite of empire values - in Agape Love that calls one to actively commit to the other and not just the self or those just like oneself. It was centered on the teachings of Jesus around graciousness and humility in a culture that valued ruthlessness and hubris. It was centered on the example of Jesus in lifting up, making whole and empowering, even liberating those around Him out of that Agape Love, rather than exploiting, oppressing and destroying others for the sake of oneself.
It is about sharing resources so that none go without what they need, rather than hoarding what one has in order always to have more.
It is about sharing power with others so that all have what power they need, rather than overpowering others in order to promote self at their expense.
It is about being secure enough in oneself that one need not be perceived as being "better than" or "more blessed and highly favored than" anyone else, and lifting up others.
This Good News of God in Jesus is a different value. It is not easy to embrace and live in the face of empire values. But it is life sustaining, peace producing and love generating by its nature - the opposite of what is produced by empire values.
We are in a new age of darkness. The darkness of lies (some call "alternative facts") has overcome the light of truth. The few have all the wealth and power and the many struggle to survive, exploited and destroyed by the greed, lust for power and desire for status that that the few wield like a sword. Empire values dominate the culture and threaten the world, just like in the 1st Century.'
And in the first Gospel written, in the first chapter, witnessed as the first public words of Jesus -
"Repent, and believe in the Good News."
Can you?
Will you?
Pastor Jamie
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