Hello, my name is Peter Herbeck and I’m glad to present Lesson 2 of Module 1 of the Online Basic Evangelization Training. The module is “Introduction to Evangelization” and the lesson is “Introduction to the Kerygma.” In this lesson, we will introduce a new word, a Biblical word, “kerygma.” After this, we will consider the power of the Gospel.
Jesus literally is the fulfillment of all desire. Psalm 145 tells us that he satisfies the desire of every living thing. When we evangelize, we can go forward knowing that in every human heart is the desire to receive all that Jesus has come to give us. In the first chapter of the 1st Letter of John, it begins with this beautiful expression from John saying: “What we have seen, what we have touched, what we have heard, we declare to you, that the eternal life that was with the Father has appeared to us.” Every human being, whether they are conscious of it or not, has a desire to pass from death to life, to overcome the “death” problem. And then he goes on to say, he wants to declare it to us, because he wants us to have fellowship with them, because they have fellowship with the Father, with God. Every human being was made for that fellowship, whether they are consciously aware of it or not.
The Scriptures have lots of ways of talking about the coming of Jesus and the person of Jesus fulfills every fundamental human desire. For example, in the Gospel of John, the first chapter, it says this: “The light that has come in Christ shines in the darkness.” Everybody, ultimately at some level, is afraid of the dark. What does that mean? Afraid of death. And it is the Light of Jesus that is the only thing that can satisfy the desire to overcome that wall of darkness that every human being has to deal with that is called death. St. Paul called it the “reign of sin and death.” [John] goes on to say that, “The true Light that enlightens every man has come into the world.” Every human heart wants enlightenment. People talk about it a lot in society, right? They say, I want to know where I have come from. I want to know why I am here. I want to know where I am going. Jesus alone can answer those questions and satisfy that desire. Jesus came to give us power to become children of God. People desire power to live a different way of life: “I want to reach my capacity as a human being.” How is that found? It is found by becoming a child of God, and only Jesus has the power to give us the ability to fulfill that desire.
At another place in John’s Gospel, verse 14, chapter 1, it says: “‘We beheld His glory.’” The Apostles beheld the glory that was present in the person of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures tell us we were made for glory. In fact, Paul in his Letter to the Romans tells us that because of sin we have “fallen from glory.” We have something in us that desire to be lifted back up to the place of glory, but it only comes through sharing in the life of Jesus. So John was communicating that they beheld something in Jesus that they longed for in their own hearts.
In another place, a famous passage from John, chapter 10, Jesus says he comes to give us life and have it to the full. What do our hearts long for? Abundant life! And ultimately it is life that can pass beyond the grave into eternal life. At another point, in John’s Gospel, chapter 15, verse 11, it says Jesus “came to give us joy, full joy.” Every human heart has a longing for joy, but it can only come through the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus comes to bring us freedom. How many cultures talk about freedom constantly? We desire freedom. We don’t even know what it is. But ultimately what our hearts long for is the freedom from the powers of sin and death, freedom from the oppression of Satan and the fallen world that we inhabit, and even the fallen flesh that we ourselves battle with every day. Only Jesus can give us the full satisfaction of the freedom that we long for.
Ultimately the freedom that we long for the most is Love. God is Love. And ultimately what we long for is God Himself. And it is Jesus who brings the Father to us. He is Love Incarnate. And it is being united to Jesus that allows us to come into the relationship as children of God with the Father to become His children and experience the fellowship that the Apostles experienced so tangibly. That should be an encouragement to all of us, to know that whenever we go out to evangelize, what we are bringing — literally — is the fulfillment of the desire that’s in every human heart, whether they know it or not.