Gospel Is New Life

Genesis 31:36-44; Psalm 10:12-18; Matthew 8:2-12

Rev. Chris Harbin, Rocks Baptist Church—Pamplin, VA

16 January 2005

There are many things we do to classify truth and error, right and wrong, fact and fiction. When it comes to the Gospel, one common way to treat it is through the theme of love. Jesus proclaimed that God is love and love is the hallmark characteristic of the true gospel. Another trait that we may overlook, is just as intrinsic to the central character of the gospel—life! The gospel gives life, renews life, and restores life. It does not take it away. Is that an adequate measure for the quality of our own living as well? If we live the gospel, does that not require that we bring life to all we touch?

God is in the business of giving life. He doesn’t always do things “our way,” but as in the life of Jacob, God comes into the midst of our distress and conflict to bring new options, opportunities, and new life into the mix.

Jacob had made a series of bad decisions. The character displayed in his name was one he had lived as his own. He had been the “heel-grabber” who had stolen a birthright and his father’s blessing, creating enmity between himself and his brother. Fleeing the strife he had created, he cast himself into the midst of another scene of strife. Laban became his father-in-law, forcing Jacob to endure the other end of relationship with one who strives to keep personal advantage at all costs. Having been tricked by his father-in-law once, he is tricked again and again. He toils seven years for one wife and is given another in her place. He works another seven for the one he desired, then six more years for flocks that should have come as dowry.

After twenty years of toil and hardship, being the brunt of another’s quest for power, privilege and control, he flees bondage to his father-in-law, only to be overtaken and his household subjected to search. We find in the midst of crisis and the height of conflict Jacob’s recognition of God’s presence and intervention. Amid Laban’s attempt to best Jacob and keep him “under his thumb,” God has stepped in to right the balance. God has provided life, hope, and new opportunity in the midst of Jacob’s crisis and despair. Jacob recognizes that it was God who had brought him to his current standing, and it is on God that he leans now.

Jacob’s toil and adversity taught him that life was beyond his personal control. As crafty as he might be, there was always another that might still get the best of him. Rather than continuing to struggle and strive through trickery, he has come to recognize his dependence upon God. In the midst of disaster, God is able to create new beginnings. In the face of death, this God creates life—new life with new possibilities. Enough of trickery, then, it was time to begin anew trusting God to craft a new life before him, even correcting the broken relationships in his past. More than a truce with Laban, Jacob begins a new direction for himself, trusting God to create new life in the broken relationships of his past—life where death threatened.

The psalmist cries out for God to aid the helpless. He recognizes that the desperate have no hope except in God. It is in that despair and distress, however, that hope in God is born. The psalmist recognizes that God cares for the oppressed, the poor, the helpless. God is in the business of rescuing those for whom there is no hope, for Gospel is life—new life where humanity must give up.

It was these who had no hope left whom Jesus touched so often. Jesus did not offer hope to those who claimed it already. He gave life to those who claimed nothing but death and hopelessness. It was these he offered a new beginning—life in the midst of chaos, dread, and doom.

The lepers of Jewish society were untouchable. They were forced to ward people away and remain outside the cities. All were afraid of contamination. Cure was unknown, but fear was constant. They were held at bay and considered to be under God’s judgment. It was an enormous risk for a leper to approach a healthy individual. Matthew tells us that as crowds followed Jesus a leper knelt before him. He doesn’t give us the details, but it was likely not an easy thing for this man to find his way to Jesus without bearing the brunt of the crowd’s anger. He offers Jesus nothing more than submission and a plea for help—for life in the midst of the death that enveloped him. Jesus reached out and touched him. He entered his world, and then he gave him new life.

The centurion was a man of power, position, and authority. He could have ordered Jesus to aid him, demanding his services under the authority of Rome. Rather, the centurion called Jesus “Lord.” When he approached Jesus about healing his servant, Jesus offered to break Jewish custom and enter the man’s house to heal the man. Granting life and hope was much more important to Jesus than following customs, prohibitions, and rituals. He was prepared to set taboos aside in order to minister life and hope in the midst of distress and chaos.

The centurion stopped Jesus, recasting his acceptance of Jesus’ authority and downplaying his own status among men. He asked simply that Jesus declare his will to heal the servant and trusted Jesus’ authority to grant life, hope, and a new opportunity for his servant. He asked not for himself, but for another, expressing his own acceptance of Jesus’ message of new chances and new life beyond the bounds of self-interest.

Jesus paused at the centurion’s words. Matthew reports that he was amazed. He told the crowds that here was a man who lived outside the bounds of Jewish faith and covenant, but who had accepted the grace of the gospel of the kingdom Jesus preached. Here was one who had found the message of hope and new life that Jesus had come to preach. He had found it and accepted it in a manner that the children of the promise to Abraham had not. He was living the gospel of new life that Jesus was challenging Israel to accept.

The gospel is not about self. It is not about authority or power. It is not about privilege, status, or position. It is about submission to God and trusting God enough to live in service to others. It is about getting self out of the way, granting new life and opportunity to those we might touch. This centurion could have sent any number of the hundred soldiers under his charge to bring Jesus by force to heal his servant. He could have ordered Jesus’ arrest until the servant was healed. He could have played games of status and power, but he knelt before Jesus with a request for help—new life for another.

The gospel is about new life. It is about a new position under God’s care. It is about living in submission to God and seeking new life for others. The gospel is new life—new life to share with a dying world. Are we willing to share the gift we have received? Do we have the courage to set our own issues aside, touch the untouchables around us, and allow God to bring new life through us? The gospel is new life. Will we allow it to flow through us into a hopeless world?

—©Copyright 2005 Christopher B. Harbin

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