The Unanswerable Question

Today's Verses -- Luke 20:1-8

Context:
We are still looking at the days prior to Jesus' crucifixion. We don't know exactly what day this is, but it is most likely Tuesday or Wednesday of Passover Week.

Text:
1One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. 2"Tell us by what authority you are doing these things," they said. "Who gave you this authority?"
3He replied, "I will also ask you a question. Tell me, 4John's baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?"
5They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Why didn't you believe him?' 6But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet."
7So they answered, "We don't know where it was from."
8Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things." (NIV)

taken from http://www.biblegateway.com/

When you think of someone 'preaching the gospel', what message do you expect? I expect something similar to Peter's speech on Pentecost when he talks about how Jesus came to be the ultimate sacrifice for us on the cross then rose again three days later. What do you think Jesus himself was telling the people the very week this was to happen?

Since we have been watching Mark Moore's lessons on how to study the Bible, I thought I'd try out some of the tools. I went to BlueLetterBible.org and clicked on the 'lexicon' button. I typed in 'gospel' and looked at the New Testament uses of that word. I saw that there were three words used in the the New Testament that were translated as 'gospel'. I clicked on the first one (euaggeizo) and it showed all the places where it was used, and Luke 20:1 was listed. That was quick!

So, according to this site, this particular use of the word means:
1) to bring good news, to announce glad tidings
a) used in the OT of any kind of good news
1) of the joyful tidings of God's kindness, in particular, of the Messianic blessings
b) in the NT used especially of the glad tidings of the coming kingdom of God, and of the salvation to be obtained in it through Christ, and of what relates to this salvation
c) glad tidings are brought to one, one has glad tidings proclaimed to him
d) to proclaim glad tidings
1) instruct (men) concerning the things that pertain to Christian salvation

So without trying to take anything out of context, I think it's safe to say that Jesus was talking about the coming kingdom of God, and possibly even hinting at how he was the one who would provide salvation to all. I wonder if it was harder to believe him when he spoke about coming events than it was for people to believe Peter when he talked about what had happened in the past?

I also especially like those texts where he stumps the Rabbis! How much trouble do we get into when we try to come up with answers that will be politically correct, as they did, instead of just speaking what we truly believe?