What is good news?

Jesus Revealed and Was Good News

•Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, revealing God’s unconditional love for all people.

•Incarnate: invested with a human nature and form.

•Jesus himself was the Good News, the Messiah and Savior of the world.

What is good news?

Gospel

The term ‘gospel’ comes from the Old English word godspel, meaning ‘good news’. Godspel was originally used to translate the Greek word euaggelion (Latin evangelium), a term the early Church used for the Good News of Jesus. The Church uses the word ‘Gospel’ to refer to the four New Testament books that proclaim the life, teaching, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. More generally, however, the word refers to the proclamation of the entire message of faith revealed in and through Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

What is good news?

Jesus Revealed and Was Good News

Jesus’ announcement of the coming of God’s Kingdom and the Messiah who would usher it in must have excited the first disciples. No prophet or Jewish leader before Jesus had ever declared the Good News that God’s Kingdom had come.

The formation of the Gospels

The Life and Teaching of Jesus

The Church holds firmly that the four Gospels, ‘whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while he lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation, until the day when he was taken up.’

CCC, no. 126

The formation of the Gospels

The Oral Tradition

For, after the Ascension of the Lord, the Apostles handed on to the hearers what he had said and done, but with that fuller understanding which they, instructed by the glorious events of Christ and enlightened by the Spirit of truth, now enjoyed.

CCC, no. 126

The formation of the Gospels

The Written Gospels

The sacred authors, in writing the four Gospels, selected certain of the many elements which had been handed on, either orally or already in written form; others they synthesized or explained with an eye to the situation of the churches, while sustaining the form of preaching, but always in such a fashion that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus.

CCC, no. 126

The formation of the Gospels

The public ministry of Jesus:

• revealed God’s unconditional love for all people;

• announced the coming of the Kingdom of God;

• revealed Jesus to be the Messiah and Savior, the Son of God;

• revealed how best to live as the People of God and his disciples.

The formation of the Gospels

The Preaching and Living of the Good News

The early disciples witnessed the Risen Jesus and came to believe that he had, indeed, risen from the dead.

The formation of the Gospels

The Written Account

• Subsequent generations would need a written account of the life, Death, Resurrection and teachings of Jesus.

• The four Evangelists tell ‘the honest truth about Jesus’.

• Each was inspired by the Holy Spirit but with his own particular style, audience and emphasis.

The formation of the Gospels

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

• Matthew 14:13-21• Mark 6:30-44• Luke 9:10-17

Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels—Mark, Matthew and LukeThe Gospel According to Mark

The Gospel according to Mark portrays Jesus as an active healer and miracle worker, who accepts loneliness and suffering as the cost of obedience to his Father’s will.

Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels—Mark, Matthew and LukeThe Gospel According to Matthew

The Gospel according to Matthew emphasizes that Jesus is the Messiah promised to the Jewish people.

Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels—Mark, Matthew and LukeThe Gospel according to Luke

Luke’s account of the Gospel emphasizes Jesus’ mercy, compassion and concern for all people, especially the poor and others marginalized by society in his time.

The greatest story ever told

The coming of Jesus and his story changed the history of the world. That is why it is often called the ‘greatest story ever told’. Even nonbelievers acknowledge the power and force of Jesus’ life and how it has shaped all of human history.

The story of Chiara Lubich

Chiara Lubich (1920-2008)

•Born in northern Italy; baptized Silvia but changed her name to Chiara (Clare) on joining the Franciscan Third Order.•Founded the worldwide movement called Focolare, reaffirming the importance of the laity in the mission and ministries of the Church.•Under Chiara’s leadership, Focolare spread around the world, with around 140,000 members and 2.1 million affiliated people today.