What can we learn from how angels delivered the gospel to the shepherds? Luke 2:10 literally says they evangelized us:
And the heavenly messenger said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for I am evangelizing you of great joy which will be for all the people.”
I know that’s not what our English translations say. Evangelize means something different to us — something like converting an outsider to our faith.
What’s weird about that is that evangelize is not really an English word. We just took a Greek word and transliterated it into our language: euangelizō => evangelize. Then we modified the meaning to suit ourselves. So in recent centuries, evangelizing pagans became part of colonializing them. Some big businesses like Microsoft now employ evangelists to convert people to use their products.
Can we recover what evangelize meant in the New Testament? The angel who came to evangelize us could be a good example to follow.
Continue reading “The heavenly messenger’s gospel (Luke 2:9–12)”
Seeking the kingdom 