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But what was the good news or gospel of Jesus, originally? Look how “Matthew” (
5:13-14) understood those Messianists who neglect, forget, or abandon the “gospel.” To him, they were
This video presentation and the following essay dive into that question
Gospel Nextology
For both John the Baptist and Jesus, God was about to inaugurate
theocracy ( = kingdom of God) for Israel. Therefore, the gospels of both John and Jesus concerned Israelite theocracy. Since this was “coming up next,” neither John nor Jesus was “
eschatological” (meaning “last things,” a German category coined by 19th-century theologians).
Ancient agrarian peasants scratched out subsistence survival and viewed time very differently than we post-industrial Western people do. They didn’t speculate on the possible or imagine long-scale, distant future times. Hence, Jesus wasn’t anything like Washington Irving, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Gene Roddenberry, Isaac Asimov, or Frank Herbert.
Is there ever a time in the gospels when Jesus isn’t involved in some conflict? If so, those times are very few. Same thing with his followers! Like Jesus, they are always pissing people off and causing problems. Go look through the entire book of Acts and count the times Jesus’ followers wind up in court.
American Christians may not care about honor, but Jesus and his movement did, bigtime. There are two ways to get honor in their cultural world.
To understand this and its social game, watch the following video presentation
Honor & Shame In A Social Game