This Particular Gospel

It’s Short.

I wonder who among us might need to hear that the Kingdom of Heaven is close by?

It would have been clear to the people of Israel why this was good news: For centuries, the Jewish people had sang about a time when the Lord's appointed would "be king over all the earth." And, you see, God's kingdom, It would be unlike every other kingdom or empire that was previously known. The king that God would establish would not be some distant ruler who reigned from some inaccessible place. No! He would know his people, and they would know him. They would be able to meet him face-to-face, as we sang earlier, and they would be welcomed into his fortress, and given a place in his stronghold–there they would be safe. They would enter his gates with thanksgiving in their hearts. They would enter his courts with praise.

"The Kingdom of Heaven has come near." It almost sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?

Likely the disciples would have needed to explain a little bit more about what they meant by it. Maybe they would have explained how all the prophecies about God overthrowing the oppressive forces around them were coming true in their time. Maybe Jesus gave them specific instructions to point out all the ways in which this awaited "Kingdom of God" was being established now, reminding all the people about the various promises from Scripture about that coming kingdom. But here, in this gospel reading, Jesus sends out his disciples with the message that that time was now, or at least it was right around the corner.

But, it's short. And it's sweet. It's just a little gospel, and really it's only a part of a larger story that would soon unfold. But, ultimately, it's a pretty simple message, short enough to write on the back of your palm in case Jesus was going to give us a pop quiz.

But, there’s more to the story.

But, I think another reason for the brevity is that much of the story really hadn't happened yet. You see, they only knew that the king had arrived and that the kingdom was coming. They didn't know the rest of the story. And at times the disciples were almost unsure whether or not Jesus was even the real promised king.

But, they most certainly did not know that Jesus would be crowned with a crown of thorns. That this king Jesus would be crucified, dying like a peasant, and his only charge would be that he was, in fact, the "King of the Jews," which would be inscribed above his head. That king would descend to the very depths of human experience, past humiliation, past suffering, past death, past grave, past all, all the very depths of hell. And that he would be raised victoriously by God as proof of who he is and what he has done. That he would then ascend to heaven and take his rightful place there on the throne of God. And that he would rule there until he comes back in glory. No, no. They did not know that part of the story. At least they did not know that part of the story. Yet all they knew was that the Kingdom of Heaven has come near and they were supposed to tell the people that Jesus had sent them, too.

If that story that I just told sounds at all familiar. It's just the second article of the Apostles Creed. Born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilot, crucified, died, buried, descended into hell. Third day, rose again. You know it and I know, I know. I just a couple of weeks ago, I was talking about how the third article of the Creed is a pretty good summary of what the Holy Spirit does in the church. But I think this is useful, and at least I think this is helpful.

The second article of the Creed, the one that we recite each week, it can begin to sound like a bunch of random facts about Jesus. But could I encourage you to think of it more as a summary of the Gospel? Maybe that sounds a bit odd. Maybe you've heard the Gospel described in other ways, like a great exchange that God does with us trading our sin for his righteousness, and I think that can be somewhat of a useful way to think about it, but, the Gospel isn't some thought experiment about a generic God saving us in a generic way. No, the gospel is what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. And that's why it's important to remember all those particular points about Jesus' life, which we recite each week in the Creed, because God chose to step into human history and to bring about his salvation with human life. He chose to give us that very life. I mean, properly speaking, the gospel just isn't about Jesus. It is Jesus, given for you.

It’s particular.

The good news is ultimately that a particular person came to a particular place and preached a particular message and lived in a particular way and died a particular death and then rose from the grave. And he did all of that for you. To bring you into his sheepfold. In other words, the gospel isn't a thing. It's a person.

Now, wait a second. For a moment there, didn't it seem like Jesus was saying the gospel wasn't for everyone? I mean, did anyone else's ears prick up when Jesus says, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel?" I mean, in other words, Jesus is saying, "Focus your ministry solely on the Jewish people. Don't go to the Gentiles," Jesus says. But isn't that you and me?

From the very beginning, God had committed to provide a savior to his chosen people. From the very third chapter of Genesis onward, God has been promising to send them a Savior, and Matthew identifies Jesus as that true son of Abraham, who was promised in our Old Testament reading from Genesis that Mimi read. Again and again, the Old Testament, it promises a king who would be their savior, who would...

• …establish a kingdom of justice and righteousness that would have no end as Isaiah promises - Isaiah 9:7
• …be a majestic ruler who would be like a priest and a king. A priest offering sacrifices on our behalf, as Zachariah's prophecies state - Zechariah 6:12-13
• … he would be higher than any earthly king as the Psalms of David tell us - Psalm 89:27
• …And ultimately he would be a shepherd of his people, as the prophecies in Ezekiel say. - Ezekiel 37:24

And this Jesus, he's determined to make good on that promise. You see, Jesus wasn't some unspecific savior sent to an indeterminate group of people. No! Jesus was a man and he was sent to God's people, God's chosen people. And He came to be their king and to redeem and to save his people and deliver them from their captivity and to give them new life.

And so, he came to his very own people preaching, "the kingdom of heaven has come near." In other words, "I'm close by. I'm right here."

And yes, later Jesus would extend his ministry to the gentiles. Because just as he looked out on that people of Israel and saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd, he looks out on us and sees the very same thing–he sees or helpless estate and sees that we too need a shepherd.

Remember the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15? Who Jesus first tells that woman that he was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel, but then later reveals that the promises attached to faith in Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, are for her, too.? And for all gentiles. So thanks be to God that we've been grafted into these promises which were first given to the people of Israel. But for this moment, when he was first sending the twelve, he's just focused on them.

And that’s good news.

But, I think that's good news for us. I think that that's good news that Jesus was located in a particular time and he came to a particular group of people. I mean, I think it's good news that he was situated in history because just like Jesus, we are particular. In fact, some of us are so particular, you might describe us as peculiar!

But just like him we're situated at a particular time and in a particular place we have a particular set of characteristics and we're all a part of a particular people. And I think this instruction to "go then therefore to that lost sheep, those lost 'sheeps' of Israel," which at first might seem limiting, is transformed into something that I think can be helpful to us.

You see, Jesus, He sent his disciples to a people that were just like them and to towns and villages where they grew up to people that they knew. To their families. To their friends. To their neighbors.

I wonder who are the "lost sheep" in our families and among our friends? I wonder what it might mean for us to first go there, to go to those lost sheep that God has placed in our own lives.

I mean, since Jesus is placed in a particular place, and has placed us in a particular place, with our particular families, and in our places of work and at our homes, and given us as a gift to those that are closest to us, I wonder who he's placed around us that would truly be consoled by the fact that the creator of everything, the very king of the universe, is close to us?

He's close to us, even now. In other words, I wonder who might need to hear that the kingdom of Heaven is close by? Who might need to hear that the king has healed us and that he has set us free? I know that I do.