July 21, 2026 · David Farmer

The Pre-Cross Gospel

“And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words. One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.””
Luke 20:1-8 →

## Fearing Men

I grab these surrounding verses for context, because we can see the overall stance of these leaders. They feared their people. They were the Men of God in that society! Now if what these “leaders” of the people thought and felt about John and Jesus was correct, why did they do nothing!? They fear man. They did not have faith in God to protect them if they stood up for His honor and glory in truth.

## The Essence of the Gospel

So what is the “Gospel”? Some of you will answer along the lines of, “It’s the Good News of Jesus Christ dying for our sins so we can have relationship with God and go to heaven!” Yes, gospel is translated from εὐαγγελίζω (ev-ang-ge-LEE-zo), which comes from two Greek words; “good” and “messenger”. A messenger brings “news”. From this word we get the English “evangelize”. But before Jesus had died on the Cross, what was the Gospel? What was He teaching? What was He preaching? He had already told His closest followers three times that He would die. They hadn’t heard

Him, and He didn’t even tell them exactly why or how all that would work. He didn’t get to what we call the good part. So I doubt we can put words in His mouth here as He speaks to the public about the “Gospel”. Which brings us back to the same question. What is the essence of the Gospel? I’m going to propose that Luke is writing two contrasting ideas together here. These leaders fear man. Jesus is teaching to believe in God. The whole Bible, pre and post Cross tells the same message; believe in God, not yourself. Abraham believed God, and he was counted righteous (Genesis 15:6). The basic message of the Cross says to believe that God in flesh died for your Sin. Believe in God, not yourself.

## Self-Check

Jesus did not fear man but believed in God. Do you fear man when it comes to standing for your belief in God? Or do you believe God when it comes to standing against your fear of man?

## Mercy