https://odb.org/2025/11/05/the-victorious-jesus
Matthew 4:23–25 (NIV): 23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
In Matthew 4:23, we’re told that Jesus’ ministry in Galilee consisted of “teaching,” “proclaiming the good news,” and “healing every disease and sickness.” The term translated “good news” (Greek, euangelion) points to the way Matthew’s gospel subverted the idea that the Roman Empire had ultimate authority. “Good news” was commonly used by the empire as part of its propaganda to celebrate events like a Roman military victory or the birth of an emperor. Matthew’s description of Christ’s widespread healing ministry would’ve also challenged Rome’s claim to have brought health and prosperity. By describing Jesus proclaiming good news while healing diseases and casting out demons, Matthew’s gospel undermined Roman propaganda by insisting that real hope was to be found in Christ, who was victorious over death. Let’s respond in worship to Jesus who defeated death, the ultimate enemy (ODB Insight, 5th November 2025).
I’ve always associated the Good News as the proclamation of the message of Jesus Christ as set out in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Or we could equate the Good News as also the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It essentially means that God is with us in the flesh (Immanuel), that the Kingdom of God is at hand and that in His teachings, Jesus proclaims the Good News and heals every disease and sickness among the people. But most significantly is the message that He died for our sins so that we may be reconciled to God and have everlasting life for all eternity.
Yet the Good News or euangelion in Greek was also the phrase used by the Roman Empire to proclaim its military victories or the birth of an emperor and the decrees of the Emperor. Thus the early Christians and the writers of the Gospels subverted the Roman message by using the same phrase for the message of Jesus Christ and thus implied that there is a more powerful kingdom at work (albeit in the spiritual realm). Early Jewish hope of the Messiah faded as they were thinking in secular terms of a Saviour to free them from the shackles of the Roman Empire but Jesus was the Messiah in the spiritual sense. The Kingdom of God proclaimed by Christ was a battle not against flesh and blood but principalities and powers of darkness and dark forces of the air. Basically, its fight is with the ruler of this world in the shadows.
The message this morning is that even the world as we see it exists in the natural and physical realm is as real as the pain we feel when we pinch our skin, there’s still another unseen world existing in parallel in another realm. That world can determine happenings in the natural world but its goal is not our successes or wealth or survival in the world, but our souls. The dark world’s only concern is where are we headed as spiritual beings. We may die and our bodies perish when we no longer have breath, but our soul and spirit remain intact. Are we on the narrow road that leads to eternal life or the broad road that leads to destruction? In the end, life is really just that. Will our faith be still alive when we breathe our last? Will we still be running the race then?
As much as challenges in life or at work may be overwhelming, don’t neglect our faith. Keep it burning for God. Make sure we are always on the right path. Always check whether our ticket to salvation, given to us by the grace of God, is still in our pocket. Lose it and we will be thrown out when the conductor checks.
Ronnie's Thoughts 