"Gospel story' is a verbal way of accounting for reality that ... is simultaneously divine and human. It reveals, that is, it shows us something we could never come up with on our own by observation or experiment or guess; and at the same time it engages, brings us into the action as recipients and participants, but without dumping the responsibility on us for making it turn out right ... This is not a text that we master, it is one that we are mastered by.
"In some respects this is an odd kind of story, this Jesus salvation story. It tells us very little of what interests us in a story. We learn virtually nothing about Jesus that we really want to know. There is no description of his appearance. Nothing about his origin, friends, education, family. How are we to evaluate or understand this person? And there is very little reference to what he thought, to how he felt, his emotions, his interior struggles. There is a surprising, and disconcerting, reticence in regard to Jesus. We don't figure Jesus out, we don't search Jesus out, we don't get Jesus on our terms. Jesus and the salvation that he embodied are not consumer items." - Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
I read this section of Eugene Peterson's book over a week ago, and I can't get it out of my mind. It woke me back up to the significance and particularity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was reawakened to how truly different and vital this story is.
Let me explain by contrast.
As I began to consider what the Gospel was, I began to realize how much the Gospel is NOT. Most surprisingly, the story of Jesus Christ has relatively little - if anything - to say about politics, economics, entertainment or education. These four pillars of any society or civilization are after thoughts. They are embarrisingly absent in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, while they daily dominate our newspapers and conversations. And if they are there, it is only as a backdrop or side-story to the greater drama: Jesus' ministry, death and resurrection.
Besides these surprising omisions, the Gospels are also relatively sparse on the literary details that we've come to expect in fine novels or articles. As Peterson points out - especially in Mark's story - the stuff we learn about Jesus makes us yearn to know more, and it by no means allows us to feel like we're done with it.
So, what is the story of Jesus about? As Peterson resolutely explains, it is about salvation. For there are many stories, systems, ideas and tales intended to improve, encourage, entertain or educate us, but when it's all said and done, what we really need is a story that redeems us. That's what a Gospel is about.
Wes
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