In Viral Gospel Part 1. I discussed the components of a
virion (a virus particle) and what this can illustrate for us about the truth
and expression of the Gospel and how to address the issues of false gospels and
vaccination. Today’s post will delve more into the first century Palestinian
context in which Jesus used the word “gospel”.
When Jesus started his ministry he was anything but ignorant
of the cultural context into which he as the Savior had stepped. There are a
few things we as aliens to this historic moment need to know. Palestine was an
occupied land ruled by the Empire of Rome. It was a backwater territory in the
vast empire, but an important trade-route, so despite the continuous thorn the
Jews were in the side of Caesar the empire would not let this area go. The
praetorium, the local center of the empire’s administration, taxation, and
military housing in Jerusalem (where Jesus was brought before Pilate) was built
next to and taller than God’s temple as a declaration to the subjected people
of Israel who was truly Lord of the land.
It is important to understand when Jesus used the word
“Gospel/Good news” which is a translation of the Greek word “εὐαγγέλιον” (euangelion), this word had very
specific connotations. “Gospel” was Caesar’s word. “Gospel” was a declaration
of victory, prosperity, or peace, and was an important aspect in the cult of
Caesar. That’s right, cult of Caesar. Dating back to 42 B.C. when Julius Caesar
was posthumously deified and Caesar Augustus declared himself “Son of God” it
became the civil religion of the Empire to worship Caesar. Common civil duties
like the meeting of the local assembly (Greek “ἐκκλησία”, ekklesia, the same
word later used for “church” in the New Testament) and paying taxes to Caesar
included worship of Caesar as God’s son (this adds some context to Jesus’ talk
about rendering to Caesar and to God, but that will be another blog post). Below
is a link to a picture of a denarius of Caesar Augustus Tiberius, Caesar at the
time of Jesus’ ministry, with the inscription which translates “Caesar Augustus
Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiberius#mediaviewer/File:Emperor_Tiberius_Denarius_-_Tribute_Penny.jpg
Jesus’
strategy with his word choice is similar to a virus exploiting a host cell. When
a cell is infected with a virus, the viral nucleic acid seizes control of the
cell’s machinery and repurposes it to begin creating viral proteins (which form
new capsids, the protein shells of virions) and copies of the viral nucleic
acid. When Jesus came rather than
creating new terminology he hijacked Caesar's promises
like a viral take over. He took these preexisting political words of his day,
and he redefined them to illustrate the contrast and incompatibility between Kingdom
and Empire. By using the word “gospel” Jesus was calling people to put their
allegiance not in the empire with its military superiority, but in his kingdom;
not in Caesar who ruled the world, but in the Messiah who came to die for and
save the world. His goal was to expose the futility of weapons, selfish power,
and war; to show another way of living was possible. Jesus’ subversive use of
“gospel” foreshadowed his true purpose: demonstrating true power by dying
at the hand of the empire’s war machine for those who do not deserve it.
