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The Vulnerable Gospel

not being a victim
We know that we should share our faith, but many of us feel awkward doing so. Maybe it’s time we changed the way we shared the Gospel. Those of us who follow Jesus usually begin our presentation of the Gospel with an emphasis on sin and shame. And yes, that certainly is an important part of…
By Seth Barnes

We know that we should share our faith, but many of us feel awkward doing so. Maybe it’s time we changed the way we shared the Gospel.

Those of us who follow Jesus usually begin our presentation of the Gospel with an emphasis on sin and shame. And yes, that certainly is an important part of the Gospel. We are separated from God by sin and God’s provision for us is Jesus.

But, it’s not how Paul shared it (see Acts 26). Nor is it how Jesus shared it.

Jesus didn’t begin sharing his good news with the public until he’d gone to a vulnerable place. And maybe we should do the same. Luke 4 tells us that he went into the desert and fasted for 40 days. In that place of weakness, the enemy sought to exploit his vulnerability.

On the heels of that experience, Jesus tells us that the target of his ministry is going to be the vulnerable. He tells us why they are vulnerable in Luke 4:18-19:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

The poor are vulnerable because they have few resources. The others he lists – the prisoners, the blind, the oppressed, are all missing something that humans need for a full life. 

We see Jesus begin his ministry by doing just that – ministering to the vulnerable. He was what Walter Wangerin called the Ragman – exchanging the pain afflicting people (their rags) for hope. We don’t see him shaming people with a gospel of sin, but loving them by meeting their felt needs.

And when in Matthew 5-7 he explains his ministry to his disciples on a mountain, again his target is those who are vulnerable. Look at how he again defines those he is targeting:

The poor in spirit – that is to say, those who are hopeless and even desperate. Those are the candidates to experience the kingdom of God.

Those who are mourning – who have lost someone or something dear to them. They are feeling the gap that we feel down here on earth. God wants to touch them and comfort them.

The weak and vulnerable (the meek). God wants to give them an important stewardship – the earth itself. God wants to trust them with the earth’s bounty.

Those who are feeling hungry to see God’s kingdom established, who dream about a world where the broken are healed and justice reigns.

Jesus has good news to share with the vulnerable and he begins by telling them why they are the target of his ministry. Their felt need is the starting place for his Gospel. It is the landing strip on which love can arrive in their lives.

What if we changed the way we shared the Gospel to follow Jesus’ pattern? What if instead of presenting truth as a lawyer would present it – as a series of if/then propositions – we instead showed up with acts of love as Jesus did? What if we looked for the vulnerable and hopeless and began meeting their felt needs?

What if we led with our vulnerability as Jesus did? What if instead of the Four Spiritual Laws tract, we talked about why Jesus’ message was such good news to us in our place of vulnerability? What if we began by sharing our own story of weakness and then shared about a God who loves his kids and wants them to walk with him in a kingdom where love is the law of the land?

We’ve been given good news – news that we received when our hearts were open. Why not look for those who are postured that way and share with them from a place of vulnerability?

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