demand for total surrender, and the promise of life attached to it; The parable of the wicked husbandmen, in which Jesus is clearly saying that his coming is God’s final call for repentance; The opening announcement: ‘The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has drawn near’; The final commission: ‘All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me; go therefore and make disciples … and lo I am with you to the end of the world’. The Gospel in its original form is the announcement of an event