2015 ArtPrize Exhibit
In the last post I mentioned a couple of books that take up the question of why the best news the world has ever heard is so often heard as bad news.
In Simply Good News, author N.T. Wright considers some important questions like— Why would we refer to information that’s been around for thousands of years as “news” and— why would we want to call it good news if the Gospel of Christ amounts to such bad news for the great majority of the world’s population.
Wright opens the door to talking about a number of difficult questions by reminding his readers that the Greek word for Gospel was used in the first century for news regarding the outcome of a military battle. For example, it was “gospel” for many first century Roman citizens to hear from the battlefront that Octavian, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, had brought to an end 13 years of civil war by defeating Mark Antony. (The author indicates this is not an unrelated example since Octavian was eventually named Augustus Caesar, the first Roman Emperor—under whose reign Jesus was born).
So— when the “gospel” went out that Jesus of Nazareth had risen from the dead after being executed for claiming to be the king of the Jews, some were happy and others weren’t.
However it was heard, the news deserved its headlines. The Gospel being announced by Jesus’ followers was, first and foremost, good news about an infinitely powerful King who was willing to go to war against everything that was ruining us, and our world—by taking on himself the angry, violent, natural consequences of our rebellion. It was news about a Son who died claimed to be revealing the heart of his Father in heaven.
And what about his enemies? Even before his crucifixion, Jesus had urged his followers to do more than love one another. And from his cross, he expressed the same heart when he said of those who hated him enough to demand his death, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”
Any resistance therefore to this good news didn’t/and doesn’t need to be born out of a fear that the risen King would come with self-centered vengeance on those who had sided with his enemies. The only real reason for fear would be that those who had invested heavily in themselves at the expense of others— would have to decide to continue in rebellion, or be forgiven and occupied with the Spirit of a new kind of kingdom.
The King of this kingdom wasn’t and won’t be enthroned on the outcome of an election (except on the throne of our own hearts). Neither has he ever been loved by everyone— or any of us, all of the time. But as author NT Wright says, the real good news— is far better than the unasked for advice his people often try to give others, and even one another, in the name of “the Gospel”.
Note: The “burnt wood” exhibit from ArtPrize 2015 reminded me of the way C.S. Lewis portrayed Aslan.
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