PRE-EASTER AND POST-EASTER KERYGMA

The word kerygma is understood as the preaching of life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This practice is associated in the early years of Christianity, in fact, as early as the time of the apostles as we can read in the Acts. However, in an accommodating definition of the term, kerygma can also be the preaching of Jesus Christ himself, as we can read in the gospels. When the apostles and father of the Church spoke about Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection, that is kerygma. When Jesus Christ preaches about the Father, Spirit, and about Himself, that is kerygma.

With this understanding of the word kerygma, the preaching events made can be classified as a kerygma that belongs to either the pre-Easter or post-Easter era. Easter becomes our reference in classifying and differentiating these preaching events, as this event proves to be the catalyst that moved the apostles to preach with conviction about the good news preached by Jesus Christ. 

Pre-Easter kerygma pertains to the preaching events made by Jesus Christ. We have the gospels as basis of our understanding and analysis of the said preaching events. The motif of the pre-Easter kerygma is the “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven.” Furthermore the content of these preaching events by Jesus Christ can be characterized by an eschatological flavor, that is the coming of the kingdom of God.

We should bear in mind that Jesus Christ preached within a tradition, history, and mindset. And in this case, he preached, with  a Jewish backdrop. It is characterized by hope for the coming of a savior that would liberate Israel from her oppressors. It has political leanings as it views eschatology as the reign of a king, of a messiah from David’s lineage. Eschatology is politicized as it is viewed as a fundamentally political program.

Though Jesus Christ preached in this situation, He did not preached about hope with political undertone. He preached with prophetic expectation: the coming of the kingdom to the poor, powerless, through repentance and belief in the gospel He preached. The kingdom that is to come that Jesus Christ preached about is very much different from the kingdom that the Jews understood and hoped for. It is not of political and dynastic in nature. The kingdom that Jesus Christ preached about is the reigning of God and His will among us. His kingdom is not of fortresses and towering citadels. It is about God dwelling with us, in us. Its coming to us is possible only through repentance from sin and belief in the gospel Jesus Christ preached. With this understanding of the coming of kingdom as the reign of God, we look at Jesus Christ as the focal point of the coming of the kingdom of God, of the reign of God with us, in us. He is after all the God-incarnate who pitched His tent among us, the kingdom of God himself among us.

With the backdrop of Jewish hope for a messiah, savior, and king, it can be said that the pre-Easter kerygma preached by Jesus Christ himself, as we read in the gospels, is characterized by the coming of the kingdom of God, thus eschatological. However, eschaton is understood as the reign of God among us, an event more than a sphere. Thus, Jesus Christ is viewed as the Kingdom for through Him (through his words, actions and offering) God acts in the world.  

Post-Easter kerygma are preaching events delivered after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, particularly after the Pentecost which marked the beginning of the preaching activities of the apostles (empowered by the Paraclete). They are preached by the apostles and the father of the Church before assemblies in the early years of Christianity. The preaching of the apostles and the fathers of the Church are characterized not of eschatological tendencies but of Christological character. Though there existed an expectation of the imminent end of the world (eschaton) and the second coming of Jesus Christ (parousia), it is evident that the evangelists and the early Christians realized the delay of the arrival of the Lord. In this context, the waiting Church realized what really is the Kingdom of God, rather who really is the Kingdom of God. As mentioned above, Christ Himself is the Kingdom of God, because from Christ the Spirit comes, and the God reigns among us. To understand such “kingdom” and its coming (through repentance and belief in the gospel), early Christians developed a plethora of Christological discourses arguing on the “kingdom in Person:” he autobasileia.

The hope preached in the post-Easter kerygma differs from the pre-Easter kerygma. The post-Easter kerygma preaches not of pure theology of hope, like before. It proclaims of a hope that is present yet still to come; a reality but not yet. It no longer a pure theology of hope living from mere expectation of the future, but pointed to the now in which the promise had already become present. Such present was of course itself hope, for it bears the future within itself. And the early Christians held on that experienced hope; Jesus Christ.

Though the two kerygma may seemed to be opposed with one another as one is characterized by its eschatological outlook towards the coming of the kingdom, while the other is described as Christoogical in orientation, the two kerygma are united. They may be contrary but definitely not contradictory, as both flows from the same stream of thought. They both deal with the same material object, which is the kingdom of God and its reign. They differ on their formal object, which is eschatological for one and Christological for the other. They deal with Jesus Christ as the Kingdom of God, the reign of God here on earth, whose words and actions are instrumental to the establishment of God’s kingdom. However due to the varied and deviating backdrop on which these two kerygma are set (as mentioned above), the perspective and manner of reception of the material object differs. The pre-Easter sees the reign of God coming among us through the deeds of Jesus Christ himself. The focus is on the coming of the Kingdom. The post-Easter sees the reign of God as Jesus Christ Himself. The focus is on the Kingdom who had come and was experienced by us (God-incarnate). But nevertheless, they deal with the same reality, that is the kingdom of God. The development of the notion of what is meant by the reign of God, from eschatological to the Christological, shows a progressive development of the seminal thoughts of the promise for a Davidic King Messiah, Coming of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ as the reign of God, immanent Parousia, delayed arrival etc. The flow from one notion to the other of what is meant by the reign of God shows the schema laid down (before) and the reality that’s occurs (later) filling-in the lacuna present in the schema. The difference between the pre-Easter and the post-Easter kerygma manifest the development in the understanding of the reign of God (the one material object discussed through our salvation history) made possible through the events that took place in reality. But in the midst of differences and changes in our understanding and perspectives, there remain to be constant. There exists an inner unity that connects the pre-Easter, post-Easter (and even with the other era if you want). That is the reign of God, Jesus Christ Himself, who remains unchanging since time in memoriam.