Good ... News?
"The Good News of Jesus". In perhaps one of the most famous lines of Scripture, an angel appeared to the shepherds in Luke's Gospel and announced that they were bringing "Good News of great joy that will be for all of the people."
Good News.
Of great joy.
For all of the people.
This morning I was thinking about the concept of "Good News" and, in particular, the "news" part. Y'all already know how I feel about the "Good" part and how the church (throughout history) has taken something that was meant to be GOOD for ALL people and made it really GOOD for SOME people and really BAD for everybody else.
Right?
Because …
"Believe in this message or burn in hell!"
... Sounds pretty good for the few that "believe" and really bad for everyone else, no?
Anyways.
Today I'm pondering about "news" because the word "news" makes me think of ... well ... the news. I hate the news, to be honest. I very rarely watch it, but do rather enjoy watching the late night comics (Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, etc) give their "takes" on the news.
But the actual news?
Eh.
It's so depressing, right? And everyone is always arguing and demonizing the other side, creating division, fueling hate, declaring who is our enemy. Like, for instance, a few weeks back the "Christmas Tree" (if you want to call it that - it was literally a wire cone covered with sheets of green plastic) outside of Fox News was lit on fire by a homeless guy.
He was homeless.
He's caused trouble before.
He obviously has a lot of mental issues going on.
... This guy lit the tree on fire for whatever reason and the Fox News anchors declared it a "war on Christmas" and talked about how "no one is safe" and "our streets are dangerous" ... it went on and on and on between 4 or 5 different newscasters, all reporting how this tree had been burned down and no one cares, but everyone cares when a Qur'an is burned and ...
WT-actual-F are y'all talking about?
Ugh.
Anyways, I can't stand the news.
BUT.
Here's the thing about the news that's really important or key to understanding what news is AND what (I think) the Good News is - the news reports things that have ALREADY HAPPENED ... right?
The nightly "news" isn't a nightly "prediction" about what will happen tomorrow, but a report of what has already happened or what has already taken place in the world.
And.
So.
Why do we often preach about the "Good News" of Jesus as if it's something that WILL HAPPEN one day down the road ONLY FOR the select group of people who believe the right things about Jesus and get their ticket to heaven?
Right?
I mean, this is how I was taught to understand the Good News - the Good News is that Jesus came to die on the cross so that if I believe in him then I get to go to heaven when I die instead of hell.
It's GOOD for me.
It's BAD for everyone else.
It's a FUTURE thing, not really a PRESENT thing.
BUT.
Didn't the angel say this news was GOOD for ALL the people? For everyone, everywhere? And if "news" is about something that has already happened.
Well.
Then.
Isn't the Good News something that’s ALREADY HAPPENED for everyone?
What has happened to that message? Why has the message became so future oriented as opposed to presently empowering? Because if news is about something that already happened and what has already happened was (according to the angel) GOOD for all people, everywhere ... then why on earth are our pulpits and our churches filled with such a terrible message that outcasts, shames, ridicules, and threatens people with the fires of hell?
We've botched up the message, I think.
The angel came to report not that Jesus was born and that he could be our ticket to heaven, but that in Jesus God had come to earth and that this was good for all people because God had come to redeem, to restore, and to remind ALL OF US that buried deep within the core of who we are is a spark of divinity ...
Within you.
Within me.
Within our neighbors.
Within all the people of all the nations.
... A spark that we are meant to live from so that we can light the world around us on fire with the love, grace, and inclusiveness of God.
That sounds like Good News to me.
Much love.
Glenn || PATREON / BUY ME A COFFEE