He is the Good News
Scripture Reading: Mark 1
Mark introduces his book this way: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God… (Mark 1:1). Let me change the word “gospel” and translate it in this sentence. The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God… What he was writing is not about a message of good news that Jesus preached, although Jesus certainly did preach the good news. What Mark was writing was that Jesus Himself is the good news.
If I were a paperboy, and I tossed the morning paper onto your porch, I would be the deliverer of the news, but I wouldn’t be the news. I’m just the one who brings it to you. After it is delivered, I become irrelevant to the content that I delivered. Whether or not you knew my name doesn’t affect the content of the news. Whether or not you give any thought that morning or in the future to me, is unimportant. You go out and pick up the newspaper, and if you are the friendly sort of person, you might give me a wave; but your eyes are soon averted toward the headlines and articles and away from me.
That is not the kind of relationship Mark has in mind when he writes “the good news of Jesus Christ…” He is not saying Jesus is just a delivery mechanism for some good news from God. He is saying that Jesus Christ is the good news. He is the headline above the fold and the title of every article on every page. There is no good news apart from Him.
The good news, the gospel is a message, but it is a message that cannot be separated from the Messenger. All four of the gospel writers write about Jesus because Jesus Christ is the good news.