A critical look at the Full Gospel

I’ve just been listening to an address by Steve Jobs at Stanford University. He tells three stories, the last of which refers to death as a gift. He says that death clears out the old and makes way for the new, that to be reminded of death gives life more focus and immediacy. He makes good sense and in many respects I would agree with him except in one respect. Death is not a gift.

The shortest verse in the Bible is ‘Jesus wept’, a phrase abused by many who have never read the book. But even for those of us familiar with its context there is some confusion over its meaning. It comes in the story of the death and resurrection of Lazarus and its often assumed that Jesus was sorrowful at the demise of his friend and sympathetic to the grief of Lazarus’ sisters. However, seeing that Jesus was intending to raise Lazarus on that day its not likely he would be sorrowful. But the verse does indicate a strong emotion which some render as Jesus being angry.

Jesus found himself in a chaotic situation. Lazarus’ sisters were mourning their brother, cut down in the prime of his life and were asking why Jesus had not come earlier when he would have been more use. Professional mourners were wailing and stirring up emotions of grief and sadness so that those, for whom the loss was poignant, could express their emotions and come to terms with the loss. That place stunk of death – no wonder Jesus was angry. In a few days time Jesus would be crucified and you can imagine him saying, ‘Death, you can have me but you are not taking my friend’. Jesus came to defeat death and in Revelation we are told that death is finally thrown into the lake of fire. Death made Jesus burn with anger, it drew him to the cross and in him it met its match.

But this is not what I meant to say. Jobs was confronted with death when he discovered he had cancer (which has since killed him). At the time of this lecture he thought he’d beaten it but that, sadly, was not to be the case. Steve was obviously pleased that his cancer was operable but that wasn’t the focus of his story – his focus was death and that within it there was hope. The hope of all Christians centres on death, the death and resurrection of our Lord and the demise of death itself. Lazarus died eventually, as did all those whom Jesus healed. But what’s been eating away at me for several months is Christians’ obsession with healing.

Over the last 200 years we’ve been introduced to a new gospel (‘gospel’ means ‘good news’) what has been coined the ‘full gospel’, the good news that Jesus came to give you healing and wholeness. But my recollection is that Jesus came to give us life and to live life more abundantly. These are not the same. Abundance doesn’t require healing or wholeness but the realisation that however pain racked or guilt ridden we are, the kingdom of God is within us. You see salvation comes with good and bad news. The bad news is that you will suffer persecution and Jesus isn’t going to rescue you from trouble or strife. The good news is that he will help you carry your burden and, when all things have been put under his feet, all sorrow and suffering, disease and discomfort will pass away.

Search on the Web for healing and wholeness and you will find countless self-help books and websites, holistic remedies and cures. You will also find a plethora of websites promoting Christian ministries of healing and wholeness, with stories of miraculous signs and wonders. They will tell you that God heals today just like Jesus did when he walked this earth – just like the Apostles did in the book of Acts. It’s like visiting a carnival where the church has one of the stalls. So what makes the church stall different to all the others? The sad truth is, very little. I recently asked myself what difference it would make to my faith if Jesus were not God. I couldn’t think of a good answer until I read Paul’s letter to the Colossians and realised the Bible is like a stick of rock with Jesus written right down the middle. Break into it at any point and Jesus is there at the centre. The big difference isn’t that Jesus’ miracles are real and the rest are bogus or that emotional healing is more profound if you’re a Christian. Many Christian healings are bogus and you don’t have to look far to see screwed up Christians. The only real difference comes when Jesus is at the centre. It’s all about him.

The greatest threat to road safety is speed. Our answer is to make cars safer to mitigate speed’s effects but someone has said that what we could do with is a spike sticking out of the steering wheel. At least then we would have a healthy fear of our foe. For the Christian all roads lead to the cross. That’s where Jesus defeated death, that’s where we lay down our lives in the hope of the resurrection. For Steve Jobs it was death, not healing, that was the heart of his message. For him, facing death meant valuing life. For the Christian the cross is the gateway between death and life. In dying we live, in brokenness we find healing and in grief we find joy. Its not the other way round.