The Gospel Come to Life

The New Testament contains four different accounts of the life of Jesus--four different takes on the story of a 1st century Jewish itinerant rabbi who was executed by the political authorities, and who mystically, surprisingly, didn't stay dead. There are four versions of this story instead of one because when four different people observe the same event, they tell the story of that event in different ways.  Each perspective is unique.  Elements of the story that are less important to one will stand out to another, and visa versa. 

But all four versions are understood to share the truth of Jesus' story, and present the good news of his life to us.

We are so accustomed to opening up the Bible and seeing those four names at the start of the New Testament--Matthew, Mark, Luke and John--that it is easy to forget that in the first years after Jesus' death and resurrection, these four gospels didn't exist.  There were no written acounts of Jesus.  There were just stories told by disciples about the amazing man they followed, the one who had opened their lives to a new experience of God, who they believed was God.  

Stories told out loud, passed along from person to person, spreading around the world.  Stories about the amazing, profound, unique life of Jesus.

On Sunday we will get a glimpse of what it was like to hear the story of Jesus, just like those earliest forbears in the faith.  A man named Bert Marshall will tell the entire Gospel of Mark--the gospel that scholars tell us is the oldest of the bunch, the first to be written down--outloud in a dramatic storytelling event here at St. Peter's at 5:00 p.m.  Bert has committed Mark's gospel to memory, just like the earliest evangelists, and he will share it with us in one full sequence--from beginning to end.

I've heard from others who witnessed Bert's telling of the gospel who say that it is remarkably powerful, that they were stunned by just how affected they were.  Maybe it's because most of us are used to hearing only short chunks of the gospel--a story here, a story there--but never the whole thing altogether.  Hearing how it all fits together, hearing how Jesus' amazing life captivated others, showed them love, how it infuriated and threatened the religious leaders of his day, how it ulimately led to the cross...well, it's powerful stuff.

I hope you'll come and experience the gospel in this way.  It will launch us into final two weeks of Lent, and give us new perspective on the one we claim to follow.  See you Sunday.