There is an old
story about two men who met in town one day.
Pat said, “I
went up in an aeroplane yesterday, Mick.”
To which Mick
replied, “Ah, that’s good, Pat, that’s very, very good!”
“But it wasn’t
that good, Mick, ’cause when we were ’way up there the engine cut out and I had
to jump out.”
“Ah, that’s
bad, Pat, that’s very, very bad!”
“But it wasn’t
that bad either, Mick, ’cause I was wearin’ me parachute.”
“Ah, that’s
good, Pat, that’s very, very good!”
“But I wouldn’t
say it was good either, Mick, ’cause when I pulled the cord the wretched thing
didn’t open.”
“Ah, that’s
bad, Pat, that’s very, very bad!”
“But it wasn’t
that bad either, Mick, ’cause I landed in the middle of a haystack.”
“Ah, that’s
good, Pat, that’s very, very good!”
“But it wasn’t
that good, Mick, ’cause the farmer’s pitchfork was pokin’
up just where I landed.”
Good news?! Bad news?! “How are you going today?” “Terrific! Wait till I
tell you about it!” “Rotten! Why did you have to ask?” “Well ... Just so so – things could be a lot better’!’
News is
important to most of us. We buy the daily newspaper, tune in to the news
broadcasts or watch that most popular of TV programmes − The News.
We can react to
The News in a number of different
ways. Some people just don’t listen to it. They maintain their personal
happiness by shutting it out, by refusing to know what is happening about them.
Others are satisfied that the bad things that happen are at a distance from
them or their loved ones. Some people feed on it, the way they also feed their
minds on fiction. Others allow it to nourish depression, to justify pessimism.
The news was
not so good
Things were
pretty grim in the
I suspect the
official “criers” of the day did their job well enough – letting people know
what the imperial armies were doing, what the Senate in Rome was doing about
taxes, what disease or pestilence was spreading, what natural disasters had
occurred...
But for all the
pomp and grandeur of
That doesn’t
mean they were worried by the news. Perhaps they even felt justified that it
was so widespread! In fact, for many it had become their religion. After all,
don’t the gods behave the very way we do?
So they gave
themselves to a liberated sexual lifestyle. Fidelity in marriage was regarded
as optional. Homosexuality – male and female – was accepted and common.
Wickedness, evil, greed and depravity were everywhere – envy too, and murder,
strife, deceit and malice. They were all too ready to slander others and
arrogantly justify their own behaviour. They seemed to invent new ways of doing
evil ...
That report
comes from the apostle Paul in the latter part of Romans chapter 1. And, just
in case his self-righteous Jewish readers got the wrong message, he went on to
make sure that they understood that this corruption was in them too – “Now you,
if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your
relationship to God; if you know his
will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if
you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are
in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you
have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth – you, then, who teach
others, do you not teach yourself?” (2.17-21a).
Paul, in fact,
concludes that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3.23) and
that “the wages of sin is death” (6.23a)! That’s bad news! And it’s not
something to be smug or complacent about!
But there is
good news
We sometimes
feel that the person who believes in good news today must be ignorant or
malicious or mad. Of course, you’ve got to keep up hope – or perhaps you will
go mad! We console ourselves that things can’t get much worse, that good times
are just around the corner!
Paul the
apostle believed there is good news – believed it in full awareness of human
evil and acknowledging that “it’s not just them, but me too!”
Just listen to
him – “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the
salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile”
(1.16). (That last bit about Jew and Gentile, by the way, wasn’t added to make
the Jews feel good! They were rather slow to acknowledge their need of
salvation! God had been trying for centuries to get them to see their need
alongside the rest of the world.)
This good news
focuses on Jesus, who was not just “another good guy”, but the very Son of God
(1.2-4), come into this world because of the incredible love of God and the
dire need of the human race! God desires to draw us back into a positive
relationship, desires so much that he has sent his own Son – the second Person
of the Trinity – to live our life, to die our death – the wages of our sin – so
that we can receive the gift of his love – eternal life (6.23b)!
From time to
time we read in the papers that a car manufacturer is recalling all of a
particular model – a potentially serious fault has shown up and needs to be
corrected.
And here we
have the Maker himself stepping in to take action over a fatal fault in human
nature – ours not his! And he lives our life the way it always ought to have
been lived. Then he dies the death that ought to happen to us because of the
disaster we have been. That wasn’t the end of him – as it would have been for
us – and it wasn’t the end of the matter either, because he now says, “You can
be forgiven. You can be a new person. I am offering you the gift of eternal
life!”
So what do you
do with a gift?
According to
the old saying, you should “never look a gift horse in the mouth” – to check
its age. We shouldn’t be finding fault with something freely given.
God’s gift,
however, will stand “looking in the mouth”! The Gospel record passes careful
scrutiny and thought. The person and work of Jesus Christ prove to be
authentic.
But the
question remains – what do you do with a gift? More specifically, what do you
do with “the gift of God” which “is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”
(6.23)?
One day the
disciples of Jesus were arguing about which of them would be greatest in the
kingdom of heaven. Jesus took a child and said, “I tell you the truth, unless
you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven” (Matthew 18.3). Change – or repent – and become like little children!
How do our children respond to a gift? They receive it and open it and use it!
And Jesus calls
us to repent – to change the direction of our lives from ourselves and our way
to God and his way – to receive the gift of forgiveness that he died to make
possible and to allow this gift to transform us into what we were always meant
to be.
“I am not
ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of
everyone who believes . . .”
Let’s receive
this gift ourselves! And let’s share it with others!
Lord Jesus, I need you. You see all my rebellion and sinfulness. You know me and love me. You took the penalty for my sins on the cross. I trust you as my Saviour and desire to obey you as my Lord. Come into my life, Lord Jesus! Teach me how to live. Help me to share your good news with others. Thank you for all that you are and all that you have done! Amen.
© Peter J. Blackburn, Halifax &
Ingham, 12 July 2009
Except where otherwise noted, Scripture
quotations are from the New International Version, © International Bible
Society, 1984.
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