Tell of the Good News—Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11; Luke 2: 8-15
Sometimes I like to watch goofy videos online to pass time. I laughed hysterically at one recently. A daughter came home with her husband for a visit and to tell some big news to her mother. She proceeded to place a hamburger roll in the oven. Her mom was very confused by this. Finally, the daughter said, “It’s a bun…in the oven.” Her mom says, “Yes, I saw you put it in there. I know what it is.” The exasperated daughter says, “No mom, I have a bun in the oven.” Her mom says, “Yes, I know. You just put it in my oven. It’s already baked, so I don’t know why.” Finally realized that her mother would never get it, the daughter says, “Mom…bun in the oven. Come one. I’m having a baby.” Her mother, was absolutely shocked and excited. Sometimes, it’s easy to miss the good news in life.
If I were to ask each of you to name a couple of troubles in your life, I’m betting you could throw the list together rather quickly. But if, instead, I asked you to tell me some good news in your life, I wonder how many would have to think for a moment? So, let’s ask it and think on it. What is your good news today, here and now, and how could you share that good news with others?
Christmas is about good news. Luke’s Gospel, and particularly the birth of Jesus, is one big, incredible announcement of good news to all the world. In fact, the words Gospel and Good News are often used interchangeably in many churches: “The Gospel of the Lord for you this day!” And “Hear now the Good News from Luke.” If you look a bit further, a rough translation of “gospel” mean “good telling, good story, or good news.” And yet we find so many people who are absolutely miserable during the Christmas season when the greatest story of good news ever told just happens to be read.
I think sometimes we see the practical and forget the magical. We understand the story of Jesus in terms of a teacher, a Rabbi, who showed us how to be forgiving and reconciled. We understand that he taught justice, healing, care for the poor and struggling. We see an announcement of good news to the lowly shepherds out in the fields and to the most wealthy and great Magi or wisemen the eastern part of the known world could send. We understand practically that Jesus’s birth was good news for all people: Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, male or female, all people, everywhere.
But I think we still miss a bit of the magic or the holy in this good news. Have we read the story so much that it seems like just a bit of good prose to us? Have we lost the attraction and mystery of things unexplained, hope we don’t quite understand; joy which lifts or souls even if it doesn’t really make full sense to us? Are we so “aged,” jaded, and disillusioned that there’s nothing holy and awe-inspiring left for us in the birth of a Savior who loved the whole world?
It’s hard for us to understand with unexplained things like angels, miraculous births, holiness, and so on. So maybe we need to start by anchoring ourselves in something we can grab on to. One of my favorite African-American spirituals is the hymn, “Ain’t a That Good News.” It says, “I got a Savior in-a that kingdom, ain’t a that good news? Imma gonna lay down this world, gonna shoulder up my cross. Gonna take it home to my Jesus, ain’t a that good news?” There’s a joy in the melody and the lyrics that is simply contagious. Ain’t a that good news? Start there, right there.
In life there is good news. The angel said to shepherds, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy to all people.” When the angels were gone, the shepherds were still there, sitting in a dark field, surrounded by what were now pretty startled sheep. Shepherds in that day and age were despised. They were seen as dishonest people who used others’ lands for their own sheep. But something was different this night. There was good news for them, not just kings and priests, but for them too. There was joy that they could take hold of in that dark night. The boring routine of their lives was interrupted by a joy which brought a holy love to them.
Isaiah, many years before, spoke the prophetic words of this good news. He writes, “The Spirit of the…Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor,” comfort to the brokenhearted, release for the captives, freedom for prisoners, and God’s favor to those who mourn. Israel, at this point, was still captive. These were little more than words, a prophecy for them, but the hope of what could and would come brought good news of great joy. And for them in their time, it was enough for comfort.
Don’t miss the good news. Each year at Christmas, we seem to struggle more and more with finding our way to Bethlehem and the birth of a loving Savior. It’s not quite so magical and powerful now as when we were filled with wonder at the beauty of this gospel story. For many, I wonder if Luke 2 is treated like a fairy tale similar to that of Santa and the North Pole. I heard someone say the other day that the Christmas Gospel Story is just one of the Christmas-themed stories they enjoy. We will never find our way to Bethlehem so long as we continue to be enthralled by all the bad news in life and fail to let our spirits be renewed by the Good News.
This Christmas, however bad things may be around you, let yourself be a little broken and vulnerable to a story of good news. Maybe instead of starting out with “I hate everything!” start out with a bit of good news, “Today is another day that God is going to love me.” It may not change what’s going on. The shepherds were still shepherds. They still had to do hard work. They had to live in a society that didn’t like them. They still had struggles. But I daresay that if you read this story a couple more times, especially on down through verse 20, that the good news changed them in a powerful way, even if it didn’t change their life’s circumstances.
There is always good news. Blogger and preacher Dr. Shermaine Sanders starts her blog posts off saying, “God’s got good news for you today!” For the people of Israel, that good news was that one day their captivity, oppression, and suffering would end. The Spirit of God was upon the writer in Isaiah to bring good news that God had not forgotten them, God still loved them, and God would eventually deliver them. Many years later, when Christ was finally born, the angels proclaimed from the heavens, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy!”
What is the good news in your life? What word of hope or inspiration can you share with others? A friend of mine recently started over in her mid-forties with a new career and had to go back to graduate school to make it happen. She had lived in the same town, had the same friends, made a real home where she was for her entire life. And even though everything in her life changed in just a few short weeks, if you ask how things are going, all you get is good news.
God has good news for you today. What is your good news? Will you look for it? Will you let that good news be your strength and hope in life? Will you tell that good news with others who need to hear it? May the Spirit of the Lord be upon us too, and may God anoint us to bring good news in this world. Amen.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/242341275406481