Is the Gospel still relevant in this age of division? At one level, we can answer with a resounding “yes” because, through the Gospel, we understand how Jesus brings the righting of wrongs, the untangling of sin and death, and the healing of shattered hearts and lives. However, as we experience moments of struggle and division, it is the whole of Scripture that testifies to the continual salvation of God. “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). Only a few chapters before this passage, Paul writes in Romans 12:2 that as Christians we must not be “conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Stories “written in former days” throughout scripture are meant to reform our imaginations for exactly these moments of turmoil and fear. By imagination, I do not mean inventing an idea or concept disconnected from reality. Rather, imagination in this sense allows one to understand the vivid stories of scripture in the present moment while also considering more broadly how God may be speaking in other ways. A Gospel-formed imagination can bring an understanding of how the Gospel is particularly relevant in the divisive times we experience today.
Families and marriages in turmoil: What do we do?
Americans are deeply pessimistic about the future of the family. This is not a new concern. It might be the oldest concern, as Adam and Eve knew the beauty and peace inherent in the goodness of creation and were the first to feel the cosmic consequences of sin in their own relationship. Shame and blame replaced the freedom and safety they had known with each other (Genesis 3:7,10, 12). Their mutual partnership was broken into a disordered hierarchy (Genesis 3:16). Yet, God spoke the Gospel of the good news of Jesus Christ into this moment of despair. Things would not always remain broken because God promised a Son from Eve who would have victory over the Snake (Gen 3:15).
The prophet Micah described his own corrupt time when “the son treats his father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother” (Micah 7:6).
How do we see the Gospel at work in Micah’s lament? Jesus refers to the passage from Micah in a surprising way in Matthew 10:35-38. Rather than saying, “Look at the mess of relationships!” which Micah clearly grieved, Jesus doubled down on division in a different way. He said, “whoever loves father more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”
Our imaginations can be formed in two ways. First, division and hostility in families has been true since the fall, and God’s salvation and grace meet his people in these moments because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is one of reconciliation. Families have the potential for the deepest wounds but reconciliation is possible. Second, there is a kind of division that Jesus claims is necessary: the love for God that outweighs any other allegiance, even our families. That division is in our own hearts, not against others. Reconciliation is possible in Christ only when our love for him is undivided; or divided against the world in his favor. This is the good news of rightly ordered loves. Wholehearted devotion to Jesus is what makes living out of his love, his life, and his truth possible. This division makes us people of peace.
We are divided by politics: What do we do with this fear?
We are living in a moment of deep tribal politics and distrust in the government. Many people throughout scripture experienced a level of government corruption and abuse that most of us have never known. The Hebrew people were enslaved and abused by the Egyptian Pharoah and army. When God led the Hebrew people out of slavery, Pharoah chased them, and death felt certain. But the salvation of God led the people through the Red Sea into a freedom where they could know and worship the living God.
Jeremiah and Ezekiel both spoke as prophets during the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem precisely because there was not one person “who acts justly and seeks truth”—including King Jehoiakim who cut Jeremiah’s scroll and burned it (Jeremiah 5:1, 36:23). Into this complete refusal to hear God’s word or repent, God promised he would make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah; that he would be their God and they would be his people (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
And of course, Jesus was killed by the Roman government, yet through his death we know life in him. The early believers in Jesus were persecuted in Jerusalem and throughout much of the Roman empire, yet the Gospel abounded (2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Philippians 1:12). Even persecution by religious authorities was not stopped by the government, and still the people went out “proclaiming the word” while “crowds listened eagerly” (Acts 8:1-5).
We can learn from these experiences—sin and evil have been defeated in the death and resurrection of Jesus, yet they still have power in this moment. Like Habakkuk, we can lament before God that “we cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble?” (Habakkuk 1:2-3). The good news always has been, is now, and will be forever, that our God hears our cries. He is Emmanuel: God with us. Our circumstances might even grow worse, but the good news is that Jesus is with us, his people, and we are meant to experience and proclaim his healing, his peace, and his love in the power of his Spirit to a hurting world with our words and our actions.
Throughout the teachings of Scripture, we can see how the good news of the Gospel is relevant now. Like Habakkuk, we, too, can say, “Though the fig tree does not blossom and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:17-18).
