At the entrance of the annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Nazareth, we find a Greek phrase written under the cross: “’Η ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΣΜΟΥ,” meaning “The church of the Annunciation.” The similarities in the Greek wording between “Gospel” and “Annunciation” are not coincidental. In fact, they not only share a common root but also a similar concept. While the term “Gospel” is broader than “Annunciation,” the Annunciation is a crucial part of the Gospel.

The Bible presents four key scenes that advocate the Annunciation. In the first, God promises hope after Adam and Eve's fall, declaring enmity between the serpent and the woman's offspring, who will crush the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15). Second, Isaiah prophesies that a virgin will conceive and bear a son, Immanuel, a sign of God's presence with His people (Isaiah 7:14). This prophecy finds its fuller fulfillment in and through the birth of Jesus Christ from the Virgin Mary. Third, Matthew's Gospel reveals Jesus as the promised offspring of the woman, the Savior who conquers sin (Matthew 1:21-23). Finally, the ancient serpent, the dragon, attacks the child and his mother, mirroring the original cosmic conflict (Katanacho, The Christmas Dragon). However, the child overcomes the dragon, establishing a kingdom of righteousness, peace, and love. These interconnected scenes underscore the central message of the Gospel and the significance of the Annunciation, the event that initiated the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan (Katanacho, Introduction to the Old Testament, 173-191).

Therefore, it is not a big stretch to consider Nazareth, the city of Annunciation, as the city of the Gospel. As we celebrate Christmas, a time when we remember the incarnation that took place in Nazareth and became evident in Bethlehem, it is especially meaningful to reflect on the meaning of the Gospel. The Catholic Church of the Annunciation writes: “Verbum Caro Hic Factum Est,” which means The Word became flesh here. Both Orthodox and Catholic connect the humanity of Jesus to Nazareth. Understanding this perfect humanity, a central aspect of the good news, is essential to grasping the significance not only of the Annunciation, the nativity, but also of the Gospel.

So, what is the Gospel? This question resonates with particular urgency in the Middle East, a region scarred by endless wars and suffering. As we witness the devastation in Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria, and grapple with the psychological and societal fallout, it's hard not to question the meaning of human existence. Amidst the chaos, the injustice, and the despair, many confront the stark reality of human cruelty.

Where is the empathy that binds us as human beings? Where are the champions of justice and equality? Where is the moral guidance we seek from religious leaders? Where is the divine spark that should illuminate our actions? For generations, humanity has cried out to God, "Why have you forsaken me?" Today, that plea is directed towards our fellow humans: "Where is your humanity?"

We are Abel, our blood cries out for justice. We are Hagar, our children are dying from thirst. We are Joseph, unjustly imprisoned. We are in the hands of Pharaoh, but where is Moses?! We are a poor starving widow longing for Elijah’s compassion. We are Daniel in the lion’s den, surrounded by threats and danger. We are Ahab, our land is stolen. We are the wounded traveller, abandoned on the road, yearning for the Good Samaritan’s mercy.  

Did not Abraham embody the promise of a new beginning and therefore embody the gospel in his generation? Was not Joseph a gospel of reconciliation to his brothers, Moses a gospel of liberation in Egypt, and the Good Samaritan a gospel of mercy to the man on the road? Where then is the gospel for Palestine and Palestinians? Where is the gospel for Israel and Israelis? Isn’t Nazareth the city of Annunciation, the city of the Gospel? Yet, where is the gospel for Nazareth and its people? Where is the gospel for Bethlehem? Where is the gospel for Gaza? Where is the gospel for Tel Aviv and Yad Hashmon? Who will present it? Who will proclaim it? A true gospel must be holistic, encompassing the perfect Jesus Christ, the firstborn of a new humanity.

Some misunderstand the gospel, reducing it to the life of a perfect man. Yet, Jesus is more than a perfect human; He is the firstborn of a new creation. His gospel is not merely about individual salvation but about the radical transformation of humanity and of the whole universe. The failure of humanity today is a cry and a plea that calls us to present this new humanity. The humanity of the gospel.

Therefore, I believe it is essential for us to talk about the gospel, about the good news in a time of bad news and human savagery. The gospel is God's plan for the salvation of the universe. It is God's wisdom for solving humanity's problems. It is the way to build a community of love, forgiveness, and peace. The gospel is useful for politicians and sociologists. It is the divine solution to the problems of Palestine and Israel. It is the divine vision for building healthy human relationships. It is the path to getting rid of personal and systemic sins including wars, bloodshed, racism, and hatred. It is a plan for peace, not only between humanity and God but also between human and human, between Jews and Gentiles, between the Jews of Israel and the people of Palestine. It is hope after we have reached the brink of death. It is life even though the dead have rotted. It is the way to build a relationship with God and make peace. The gospel is the new humanity that God creates through Christ, a humanity of forgiveness instead of revenge, a humanity of love instead of hatred, a humanity of Christ instead of the savagery and imitation of the works of the devil. The gospel is a humanity in which there is no favouritism or racism between Jew and Arab or between male and female. The gospel is a religious, social, and political revolution. The gospel is a new way of thinking, a radical social vision, and a compelling lifestyle. In this Christmas season we ask, desiring to expand our question: What is the gospel and how do we live it here and now? We cannot find the answer without the perfect man, Jesus the Son of Man, the amazing baby of Bethlehem.

Unfortunately, the gospel has been distorted by some, who have turned it into a tool of division and oppression. Some have used it to justify racist ideologies, while others have focused solely on spiritual salvation, neglecting the physical and social dimensions of faith. The gospel became concerned with heaven and neglected earth. It became like a spiritual train that takes us to heaven, not bring the Kingdom of God to earth. The Gospel became good news about the millennial future but not the present time. Furthermore, parochial theologies prioritize individual salvation over social justice, ignoring Jesus’s prayer "May your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.". Consequently, people are deprived from encountering a holistic gospel which includes the salvation of the soul, spirit, body, communities, and the environment.

We have prioritized sharing the gospel instead of living it. We became experts in revealing the words of the Bible but not in revealing Christ. Some have presented a distorted view of the gospel, focusing on the vertical dimension, that is, the relationship with God, without the horizontal dimension. They neglect the social and environmental dimension of faith. The good news is not only for the individual but for humanity in all its aspects. A gospel that prays without feeding the poor, visiting the imprisoned, standing with the oppressed, challenging the oppressors, and enlightening the consciences of the unjust is a distorted gospel. A gospel that is concerned with the individual and not with society, the state, the environment, and justice is a twisted gospel. A gospel that has a tongue full of words but lacks working hands is not the gospel of the book of Acts. The size of the words seems to be like a giant but the accompanying love is like a dwarf, especially toward non-evangelicals, or “extremists”, or the oppressed. It is unfortunate that the gospel of the salvation of souls does not express the precise meaning of the holistic gospel, or the gospel as Jesus understood it. Ron Sider confirms this by saying that several evangelicals do not understand "the gospel" as the Lord Jesus understood it.

Therefore, I find it appropriate to reflect a little bit more on the holistic gospel. First, it is a gospel that is connected to both the Old and New Testaments, not just the New Testament. The gospel is a divine plan and not merely an event centred around the cross and resurrection. To be clear, the cross and resurrection are essential, and should be, but the Gospel entails much more.

The Apostle Paul says, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh" (Romans 1:3). We apparently see that the gospel is found in the Old Testament scriptures and that it speaks of Christ. The connection between the two covenants is like the bond of a Catholic marriage. What God has joined together, let no man separate.

The promises that spoke of forgiveness of sins, righteousness, justice, peace, and end of wars are fulfilled in and through the gospel of the New Testament. The gospel of the Old Testament is the gospel of promise, while the gospel of the New Testament is the gospel of fulfillment and promise. We cannot read the Old Testament apart from the gospel of the New Testament (Bediako). The apostles were influenced by the life of Christ, his crucifixion, death, and resurrection. They read the Old Testament through the Christological event, and we must do the same. Reading the Old Testament without the New Testament does not give us the gospel, and reading the New Testament without the Old Testament deprives us of the holistic gospel that contains both covenants. Unfortunately, the Old Testament has become an omen of doom for many instead of being a gospel. Frankly, I am not surprised by this result. When we separate any text from Christ, we are prone to depart from the Kingdom of God.

Second, the holistic gospel is related to the individual, society, and the universe, not just the individual. The Apostle John says in the Book of Revelation: "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (Revelation 7:9-10). We find that the saved are diverse. Not all of them are from one people or one language.

Languages and nations will continue to exist, but they will be sanctified and cleansed from all sin. We will hear Arabic and Hebrew forever and ever. They will be two languages participating in glorifying the Lamb of God. The Jew and the Arab will stand together before the Lamb. Christ has broken down the wall of hostility and created a society free from racism and enjoying full citizenship for all the citizens of the Kingdom of God. In addition, salvation is not limited to the soul without sanctifying the culture and language in which the person lived.

The Apostle Paul declares that all creation awaits the future glory, saying: "For the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God" (Romans 8:21). The Apostle John confirms this matter when he tells us of a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1). The gospel is good news for poets, artists, and lovers of literature, for we will hear dialects, languages, and cultures after they have been washed by the blood of the Lamb. The gospel is good news for the lovers of the environment and nature, for there will be no pollution or deforestation or global warming. This good news includes the gospel now and in the future.

Third, the holistic gospel includes life before death and after death, and is not limited to life after death. The holistic gospel is the gospel of eternal life and the gospel of the Kingdom of God at the same time. This gospel includes personal salvation and eternal life that begins now, but it also extends to the life that flows through believers to extend the Kingdom of God through them. We experience the Kingdom of God now. Now we are filled with His Holy Spirit and sanctified. Now we live in love. Now and here we are peacemakers. We do not need to wait for death to experience the Kingdom of justice, grace, and forgiveness, but rather we embody this Kingdom, even partially, and thus we become the good news for our country pointing to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We are the good news first in our lives and then in our words. We are the good news every time Christ is revealed through our words and lives.

Fourth, the holistic gospel includes the social gospel and the personal gospel; not only the personal gospel. Let us live like Jesus, help the poor, and those with special needs, challenge the arrogant religious leaders, and defend women in an unjust society. Let us protect the environment that God created. Put differently, the holistic gospel is Christ in action. He said, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord' (Luke 4:18-19)." To love Christ and be transformed into his image is the path for spreading a new humanity. May we become more human this Christmas!

Bibliography

Bediako, Kwame. “What Is the Gospel?” Transformation 14, no. 1 (1997): 1–4.

Sider, Ron. “What Is the Gospel?” Transformation 16, no. 1 (1999): 31–34.

Katanacho, Yohanna. “The Christmas Dragon,” Raddix Magazine 41 (2020): no pages. Internet: http://www.radixmagazine.com/2020/12/19/the-christmas-dragon/?fbclid=IwAR08n7AQbCybKBAi-1dbX-5-6iKPVi0wIUAKnZeweFeL8u2uudCqYz2LGXA.

________________. Introduction to the Old Testament. Nazareth: Nazareth Evangelical College, 2023; Cairo: Dar El Thaqafa, 2024 (Arabic)

________________. “Ma Hu Al-Injyl?” Agsan Al-Krmt 12 (2022): 7-16. (Arabic)

Keller, Timoth. “The Gospel in All Its Forms.” CruPress (2010): internet, https://www.cru.org/content/dam/cru/legacy/2012/03/Keller-Gospel.pdf