Good News (Mark 1)

In Mark 1, Mark introduces the subject that he will be writing about.  He says that he will be writing about the "gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God."  Most of us know that Gospel means "Good News," but what really is the Good News about Jesus?  When I grew up in the church, I was taught that the Gospel equaled salvation.  In other words, the Gospel could be reduced to Jesus died for you so that your sins could be forgiven and you could live forever in heaven.  As a child, I understood the Gospel to be future oriented.

As we read through Mark, though, we will see that Jesus' teaching is often as present centered as it is future oriented.  And we will see that while the forgiveness of sins through Jesus' death is an absolutely essential part of the Good News, the Good News cannot be reduced to that.  Note in Mark 1, where the Gospel is introduced, there is almost nothing about heaven or the future.  Instead, the truth of the Good News is revealed in the authority with which Jesus teaches and heals.  Jesus is not just bring a future kingdom.  He is reigning very much in the present as well.  He is ushering a new experience of God and the Spirit, and He is demonstrating a love and compassion for the poor and the broken.

Did Jesus die for our sins and make atonement for us? Yes.  Is that Good News? Yes.  Does the Good News only shape our future?  No.  If we think so, that is our mistake.  Mark 1 makes it clear that the Good News about Jesus shapes and transforms our present world as well.