In the Beginning
From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17 NASB
To preach – Shall we try a new version of “in the beginning”? No, not the one in John’s cryptic prologue. That new beginning is about cosmological ideas, probably aimed at first century Gnostics and certainly at the heart of four hundred years of Christian philosophical interpretation. No, let’s start at the beginning of Yeshua’s teaching. We’ve examined the idea of Kingdom and the words for “repent” and “at hand,” but maybe we need one more look—a more personal one. Yeshua didn’t open his teaching ministry with salvation messages. He didn’t start by planting a church. He didn’t announce the end of the Law or his importance as the Son of the Most High. He started with this message about personal return and worship. He “preached” the Kingdom of God (Heaven). The Greek term is interesting.
Kērýssō means “ to announce, to proclaim.” It’s part of a group of Greek terms that include kḗrygma (proclamation), a favorite of Christian theologians who speak about Jesus’ sayings. A long time ago I was in Germany and I watched a town crier walking along the streets speaking in a loud voice to the houses. He was telling them the news. This is the way communication happened in ancient times. As a result, the herald was a very important figure in the community. If you wanted to know what was happening, you needed to listen to the herald. In both the Greek and Hebrew worlds of the first century, the herald was often viewed as the spokesman of the king (emperor). To miss his message meant potential threat.
I wonder if we think of Yeshua’s message like that. The “get saved” message is now so common, so public, so ubiquitous, that I don’t think we even connect it to turn-around notices from the king. But consider the attitude of the Greeks:
Since politics and religion are inseparable for the Greeks, heralds on foreign missions are regarded as under the protection not only of their country but also of the gods. To violate them is to bring down divine wrath. Even if their message is unwelcome, they must be hospitably received. They have a special sanctity which enables them to speak without fear or favor.[1]
Of course, the Hebraic idea is even stronger. A herald didn’t just provide the news. He was the spokesman of YHVH. But, strangely, the word kḗryx (herald) is virtually absent in the New Testament. Why? First, because the emphasis in the apostolic writings is not on the person but on what he says (the message). There is also another reason.
the Greek concept is too precisely defined; NT preachers are not sacral personages who can claim inviolability. Rather, they are like sheep among wolves (Mt. 10:16), will be persecuted as their Master was (Jn. 15:20), and are as it were dedicated to death (Rev. 12:11). Yet this does not prevent the message from taking its irresistible and victorious course through the world (2 Tim. 2:9; 2 Th. 3:1). The stress, then, falls on the verb kerýssō, not the noun kḗryx.[2]
What does this mean to you? Are you more concerned with the message than the messenger? Do you hear what he is saying as a personal notice? Or is it just more religion? Do you even know the message or are you proclaiming belief in the messenger?
Do you suppose that the immediacy of Yeshua’s message is about our general lack of concern for God’s direct involvement in our lives? If Yeshua were the town crier today, would we open the window, lean out and shout, “Oh, say that again. I don’t want to miss a word”?
Topical Index: preach, kērýssō, message, town crier, herald, Matthew 4:17
[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (430). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
[2] Ibid.
I guess I think of John the baptizer as the town crier. Being the last true high priest of the levitical priesthood .He did not set foot in the corrupted temple or the rotting fake priesthood in Jerusalem. John said he must decrease so Yeshua could increase. He bowed to the greater priesthood melchizedek. Even Caiphas in his hate for Yeshua rent his clothes which a high priest can never do.It sure wasn’t for mourning as they were not allowed too. I guess I don’t picture him running through the streets and yelling out commandments. It seems people followed him for what he did ,he demonstrated the kingdom He could forgive sin, heal the sick,and perform miracle after miracle. We can talk about the kingdom all day long , are lack seems to be in demonstrating it to others as the 1st century assembly did.
Thought i would share something that happened 2 days ago. I have a mentally disabled client who lost his wallet. It contained a fair amount of money and all of his identification. He was so very sad. One card was for taking a taxi to work free. Now he would have to ride his bike 6 miles and we have so much snow and cold yet. I blurted out in front of him and staff God will return it. I asked Abba to forgive me if I was acting presumptiously but I just knew it would be returned. Of course everyone said “fat chance that will happen. Sure enough next day a man delivered it in person with everything in it.I live in a big metro area it’s not like small town where your known. It was such joy to see God glorified and it sure stopped the the doubters.
Love the simple faith, Pam. Please tell us more stories!
Back in the days when to declare yourself a follower of Yeshua was a death sentence, that Name was power. Back in the day when to read, handle or possess the Word of God was a death sentence, that Book was power, too; you treasured it more than your life. To claim the Name or the Book meant the powers of earth were arrayed against you and you stood on the power of heaven alone.
Nowadays, we have the opposite, it seems. To invoke the Name of Yeshua or Jesus or Christ costs nothing, and Bibles are everywhere. Neither, it seems, represents the power of God in our lives or invokes the powers of earth against us. That which costs nothing apparently is worth nothing. It seems there is more than one way to bury the power of God inherent in that Name or that Book. We say the Name, but we don’t listen to what He said; we possess the Book but we don’t internalize or possess what it says to us. We have been sold a false Christ and that great Book has been criticized to the point that we no longer know how to accept the power of God hidden in plain sight in it’s pages.
It seems the DNA of our history has conferred upon us exactly the wrong lesson; we instinctively know that as long as we carefully steer clear of all that historically created opposition; of all that created dissension between us and the world, the powers that be in that world will leave us alone. Lesson learned; right? So because the world doesn’t mind Christ as long as He does not hold preeminence, we demote Him down to the point where we treat Him the same as the rest of the world treats their great ones, and that Name falls carelessly from our lips in worship or in reference. And because the world does not mind that great Book as long as we allow the world to critically assay it, we are careful to only accept what the world tells us it says. Thus, organizations such as the Jesus Seminar are the new nose we must be careful to pass through before we access Him for ourselves. As long as no one is offended we can be a follower of His all day long. Didn’t something get dropped somewhere along the way? Has the world really changed? Or did we?
Thank you, Laurita, “new nose”… we read “new noose”… is that what you meant?
There is a “mentally disabled” man in our greater community who wanders the streets preaching loudly and passionately the gospel message. Each time I encounter him I am humbled at his courage because I am rarely in a position to do what he is doing, even person-to-person. Or am I just afraid?
Well, Leslee, I went and looked up the idiom “through the nose”. As I have always heard that term used to mean “paying too much”, but also used to mean being forced to pay, too, it was interesting to learn that it may have come from what was used to be called the “nose tax”. If you didn’t pay your tax, your nose was slit! Wow!
I used the term above in the sense of being forced to experience through someone else’s experience instead of our own. That may mean I came up with another creative expression which, because I made it up I have to apologize for because I didn’t explain what I meant. Thank you for graciously giving me the opportunity to clarify what I said for you and for me, too.
Laurita, that helps! I am also thankful YHVH is “long of nose” (as Skip wrote in Feb 2012 “Deep Breaths (2))… we need that!
Yes! That’s the Nose I want to breathe through, too!
Hear ye! Hear ye!
The message IS HIM!!!
When this old world actually gets it, maybe then,
the eagle can land.
“If Yeshua were the town crier today, would we open the window, lean out and shout, ‘Oh, say that again. I don’t want to miss a word’?”
THAT IS A VERY GOOD QUESTION! Especially for those of us who may somewhat erroneously exalt “Jesus”, or even “Yeshua” (or whatever spelling and pronunciation one uses) to a certain nature of divine, supernatural personhood that there is then little attention given to his actual teachings, warnings, and instructions, as though having, in essence, a magical belief IN him, proclaiming him, and worshiping him through singing and service AS THE ONLY ONE TRUE GOD HIMSELF, is about all one needs to do to be “saved”, “go to heaven”, have eternal life, and be in his good favor until we die. Why would it even matter so much WHAT he has to say, if we what ultimately matters is acknowledging WHO he is and that we give him our sincere hearts’ affections and appropriately deserved acclamation? After all, he is the Perfect One whom no one else can compare to, be like, or equal anyways. Not to speak of the fact that he is the great giver of mercy and forgiveness, a humble, suffering servant of God the Father, who gave his life for US! We are the to-be-pitied ones who, though so undeserving, have now become the entitled ones.
BUT THAT IS NOT ONLY A GOOD QUESTION FOR THOSE OF US who are so inclined in their faith and living, BUT ALSO FOR OTHERS OF US, AS WELL. What about for those of us who have become so anti-Christianity and pro-Jewish, that we now are “pendulum swinging” so far as to question the SUPREMACY of him, among all other men, as the Messiah of Israel, the only begotten son of God, the great high priest, the consolation of Israel, even the one who is to be “the author and finisher of our faith”? To those of us, the significance of who he is may be declining so much that he is now not much more than a common man, regarding whom many have thought far too highly of and who bears little more significance, if any, than the significance of Moses or Paul, or even some other more contemporary Jewish rabbis, theologians, or philosophers. Would even those of us “open the window, lean out and shout, ‘Oh, say that again. I don’t want to miss a word’”?
HERE’S ANOTHER GOOD QUESTION. If Yeshua were the town crier today, WOULD WE EVEN RECOGNIZE THAT HE IS YESHUA, or WOULD IT EVEN MATTER THAT IT IS HIM, other than to satisfy some intellectual curiosity of what he is like or what he might have to say, still believing that we are well within our rights to question his authority and whether or not we will revere his message or otherwise hearken to whatever he says? WOULD WE FALL AT HIS FEET LIKE A DEAD MAN and would we say like the apostle John said, “LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO? YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE!”?
Here’s John’s response when Yeshua “walked by his window” one day on the Isle of Patmos and had something to say in his hearing:
“Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned, I saw seven golden menorot. In the midst of the menorot, I saw One like a Son of Man, clothed in a robe down to His feet, with a golden belt wrapped around His chest. His head and His hair were white like wool, white like snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of rushing waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came forth a sharp, two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at full strength. When I saw Him, I FELL AT HIS FEET LIKE A DEAD MAN. But He placed His right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last, and the One who lives. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever! Moreover, I hold the keys of death and Sheol.’” [Rev 1:12-18]
Again good questions Jerry and Lisa.
Would I recognize the voice calling and helping? I doubt as I would not be listening as I would be busy living. Then David was also busy and when he was trapped he called and pleaded and the lord lifted him out of his ditch of despair.
The messenger has no glory it is the message that is important. The messenger does what the Father empowers to do. Then depending on the sending which function is being fulfilled Yeshua was fulfilling the complete anointed functions the priesthood of Melchizedek. Never before and never to be repeated again. So our ears are not tingling at the sound of his voice. Our ears are tuned to WIIFM. And when I hear the benefit I jump onboard.
Maybe the question should be towards what are we tuning. Struggling to survive, seeking means of redemption or identifying opportunities to redeem…
Ye, still a long road to reconciliation…