A man and a woman, Benedick and Beatrice, carry on a “merry war” of wits, as you see in this first skirmish:
BENEDICK: “What, my dear Lady Disdain! are you yet living?”
BEATRICE: “Is it possible disdain should die while she hath such meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come in her presence.”
Their friends wager that they can bring the two together by planting rumors that Benedick and Beatrice actually have very soft, loving hearts and have been complimenting and declaring love for one another – out of earshot. When Benedick and Beatrice learn of the compliments manufactured by their friends, they bloom; they bask in the warm glow; they decide that being loved, they do indeed requite the love. Even when they discover the trick and are angry at the perpetrators, they realize that their love is true. After some drama, everyone sings “hey, nonny nonny” and lives happily ever after.
Several years ago, I read a rhetorical question, “What is the real story, the metanarrative of the Bible?” My internal answer was that the Bible is the story of the great controversy between God and Satan. But the book went on to say that the metanarrative of the Bible is all about God and us: that God created us in perfect communion and fellowship with Him; that He lived and died and rose again to restore us to the kingdom of heaven, again in communion with Immanuel, “God With Us.” Genesis chapter one and Revelation chapter 22 – and everything in between – are about God’s love for us. Communion and restoration.
The Bible is about God’s love for you and me, page after page, eon after eon. That is the gospel, as Jesus said in John 3:16-17 NLT: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
Even the most hardened and chilled hearts melt in the sunlight of the Lord’s declarations of love for us.
“The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3 NIV.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”1 John 4:7-11 NIV.
Jesus “loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us.” Revelation 1:5 NLT.
“Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you. I've called your name. You're mine.
When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. When you're in rough waters, you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end — Because I am God, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you: all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in! That's how much you mean to me! That's how much I love you! I'd sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you.” Isaiah 43:1-4 MSG.
So, Like Shakespeare's Beatrice, we eagerly cave in to the Lord making much ado over something: love. “What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true? Stand I condemn'd for pride and scorn so much? Contempt, farewell! and ... pride, adieu! No glory lives behind the back of such. And ... love on; I will requite thee, taming my wild heart to thy loving hand: If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee to bind our loves up in a holy band; for others say thou dost deserve, and I believe it better than reportingly.”
What is that story above all stories? What is the focus of God’s Word? What is that “gospel” label that we toss around so blithely? That God loves us and wants us with Him all the time, forever, and He’s accomplished everything in His vast, limitless power to make it happen.
Surely that’s a pleasant and easy message to share. Which would make you an evangelist, a messenger of good news. You can make much ado – about the gospel.
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Much ado about something 