Life instead of death
Why do we evangelize? Why share the kerygma? There are, in fact, many reasons. But there we want to focus on one very important reason. In the last lesson on the basics of evangelization, we introduced the idea that we evangelize in order to save people from sin, death, and hell, and for eternal life. Wow! These are life-and-death stakes. Indeed, as St. Paul says in the letter to the Romans, “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rm 6:23).[1] The gospel must be preached, then, that people may have life. As Jesus testified, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10).
But there is a clincher. In chapter 10 of the letter to the Romans Saint Paul specifies, “[The Lord] bestows his riches upon all who call upon him” (Rm 10:12). God’s “riches,” His divine life, are bestowed only on those who “call upon” Him. What does it mean to call upon God, and why does He bestow His life only on those who do so? Remember that God created us to live in intimate relationship with Him and share His divine life. But because human beings, among all earthly creatures, were created intelligent and free, that relationship and sharing of His life requires an actual response. We must turn to God knowingly and freely to share His blessings.[2] And not just to any god. We must turn to the one true God who has revealed to us His Name. And so in the letter to the Romans, Paul continues by quoting the prophet Joel, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rm 10:13).
So in order to obtain eternal life, we must call upon the name of the Lord. It is at this point that St. Paul says: “But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher” (Rm 10:14)? People need to know the Name of the Lord, before they can call upon Him, and so it is we who know His Name that must share it! It is we who must share with others the name of Jesus Christ, Lord and Son of God the Father!
In all this, the point is that in God’s saving plan, He wants to share His divine life with people through other people. He wants to raise up a handful of loving servants to build up His Kingdom among the rest of the world. He chooses some to receive His greatest blessings now, so that through them, He might later choose others.[3] And so St. Paul is right. How are people going to call upon the God who is revealed in Jesus Christ, without someone to bring them the kerygma of Jesus Christ? If they don’t hear the gospel preached, how can they call upon the Lord, be saved from sin, and receive from God the “riches,” the divine life, that they were created for?[4]
We were created for union with God. As the divine Son of God sent into the world as a man, Jesus Christ makes the invisible God visible. Therefore, it is not so much that we need to know Jesus Christ in order to be saved, as some kind of arbitrary requirement; instead, knowing Jesus Christ is itself salvation: “This is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent” (Jn 17:3, emphasis added). That is where you and I come in. When we respond to the call to evangelize, we are making ourselves available to the Holy Spirit as instruments of His saving work. We preach the kerygma, the gospel, in order to bring salvation to people of all kinds: old and young, rich and poor, good and bad. In bringing them Jesus Christ, we bring them salvation from the dominion of sin, death, the devil, and hell; and we bring them the possibility of enjoying eternal life with God, the saints, and the whole host of angels.
Whatever other reasons there are to share the kerygma, and there are many, we do so first to bring life and light where there is death and darkness. Jesus is the Life and the Light. Without Him, there is death and darkness. We evangelize because it is a matter of life-and-death. It is not just important, but urgent that each member of the Church seek the Lord God with all his heart, and then preach the gospel with all of the joy, love, enthusiasm, conviction, and power which he receives from Him.
[1] There are of course other reasons why we evangelize, but it is important that we should say more about this first reason, because it invests the kerygma with a very great urgency. Another question is raised by the discussion of hell: Why should failure to believe be punishable by eternal torment? Many people, some Christians included, think that it could only be a cruel, evil god that would visit any offense with eternal punishments. We cannot go into the topic of hell in depth here, but have reserved it for a later course: “How inscrutable His ways”: The Economy of Salvation and the Role of the Church, from our Theology of Evangelization video series.
[2] Indeed, it is only because human beings are intelligent and free that they are even capable of sharing in the divine life at all. For if “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8, 16), then God’s life is above all intelligent and free.
[3] This is a pattern evident throughout the Sacred Scriptures, beginning with Abraham: “The Lord said to Abram: … I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; … All the families of the earth will find blessing in you” (Gn 12:1-3 NABRE; See Gal 3:8).
[4] At this point, we need to turn to the teaching of the Church to assure us that even if through no fault of their own people do not hear the kerygma, there are still ways, in God’s plan, by which they might receive the gospel and come to salvation in Jesus. See the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), sec. 846-848. We cover this topic in greater depth in the Course, “How inscrutable His ways”: The Economy of Salvation and the Role of the Church, from our Theology of Evangelization video series.