Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people (Luke 2:10).
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7).
A few weeks ago, some of our members ran the St. Jude’s Marathon. Have you ever wondered how a long run came to be known as a “Marathon?” It got me thinking about the word, Marathon and how the race got its name. In the year 490 B.C. a famous battle was fought on the plans of Marathon near Athens, Greece. King Darius of Persia decided to invade and conquer Greece, which was an emerging power and threated the Persian dominance of the ancient Middle East. He sent an armada to invade some Aegean islands, conquer Athens, and then invade the rest of Greece. The Athenian army met the invaders on the Plain of Marathon. The Greeks were outnumbered and outgunned. They could not hope to defeat the large cavalry of the Persian army. The Greek commander reinforced his flanks so as to draw the Persians towards the center of the battlefield, and then ordered a general attack. In a classic envelopment, the Greeks surrounded and defeated the Persian army.
In order to advise the waiting Athenians of his victory, the Greek commander sent his fastest runner, Philippides, to bring news to Athens of the victory. According to legend, Philippides, who had already run 140 miles to Sparta, ran back to Athens, announced the victory, collapsed, and died. The modern marathon, 26 miles, 385 yards is based on this legendary event.
If we were to describe Philippides in Greek, we might call him an “Uangleos,” or “Bringer of Good News.” Another English word might be “Herald” or “Bringer of Glad Tidings.” The underlying word is also the Greek word from which we get our English word “Angel” The word “Good News” comes from a Greek Word, “Euangellion,” from which we get the words “Good News,” “Gospel,” and “Evangelism. When the angels appear to the Shepherds in Luke they proclaimed: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10). Jesus was sent and anointed by God for the specific purpose of preaching and proclaiming Good News to the people of Israel, and through them, to us. In fact, as we shall see, he was the Good News and, therefore, his birth is Good News!
Good News in Isaiah
The visions of the prophet Isaiah included visions of the future of Israel from the time of the Assyrians until the end of the world as described in Revelation, which often quotes Isaiah. In Isaiah 55, the prophet proclaims a message of hope the captives in Babylon:
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples. … Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. (Isaiah 55:1-7).
It was a part of Old Testament faith that sins must be paid for either by suffering or by sacrifice. This part of Isaiah is taken up with their restoration to the land of Judah and the end of their exile in Babylon. Surprisingly, Isaiah does not proclaim, “Do this: Make this sacrifice and you will be freed from the consequences of your sins.” He says that God will provide a savior and a salvation that will be free—“without cost!” God’s kingdom will come. The Messiah will come. Salvation will come. Israel will be lifted up. And, it is all going to be free. God intends to give mercy and forgiveness for free.
This is the Good News Jesus proclaimed and which we continue to proclaim: God acted in Jesus Christ to fulfill the promise made to David, to raise up a Savior for his people. God acted in Christ to provide for us a free salvation out of his sheer mercy and grace. By the merits of Christ, and his life, death, and resurrection, we can be healed, forgiven, and restored to the unique image God placed in one of us. This is the Good News whose coming we celebrate at Christmas.
Unbelievable Good News
In Mark, we are told that, right at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus came proclaiming this Good News (Mark 1:14-15). Luke gives us a deeper look at an incident from early in his ministry where he returned home and taught in the synagogue. He tells the story this way:
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:14-21).
When Jesus finished reading, he gave the scroll back to the attendant and sat down in silence. Everyone looked at him, wondering what he was going to say. What he said was amazing: “Today this prophesy has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). The people were taken aback. The people began to say to one another, “Who does this guy think he is?” “Isn’t this the Son of Joseph the carpenter?” (v. 22). “Isn’t this the son of Mary his wife?” Eventually, they even got mad at him because of his message and drove him out of town, almost killing him (v. 28-30).
Not long ago, I saw a movie in which the end of World War II was depicted. Most us have seen pictures of the great celebrations in London and New York that broke out when the Second World War was over. People had been anticipating the end of the war for months. From the time that the allies landed at Normandy, people looked forward to the day the war would end. After the Allied Armies crossed the Rhine River, the expectations grew and grew. People started stockpiling champaign and food for the inevitable celebration. But, there were others who could hardly believe that the war would end. They kept expecting something bad to happen. Even after the announcement was made there were soldiers and citizens from both sides who could hardly believe it was true. Some soldiers continued to fight. Months later, many Japanese soldiers continued to fight. In fact, the last Japanese soldier did not surrender until 1974, almost 30 years after the war was over! [1] Jesus’ hometown friends were like those who could not believe the good news of the end of World War II—they had been waiting so long, they could not believe that their waiting was over.
At Christmas we celebrate God’s coming into the world to defeat the powers of evil, sin, and death. On Good Friday, we believe Jesus won that victory for us on the Cross. On Easter, we believe God proclaimed this vindication and the defeat of sin and death by the Resurrection. If we will only lay down our arms and surrender to God, there will be peace. Too many of us just can hardly believe it is true. We are like Hiroo Onada, the Japanese soldier. We just keep fighting and fighting, not realizing that the war is over. Nevertheless, the reason we party at Christmas and Easter is because it is true: God has won our victory on the cross if only we will accept his free offer of grace.
Being Good News
A litte longer rendition of the passsage from Isaiah 61 Jesus read is as follows:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations (Isaiah 61:1-4).
If we listen carefully to the text, we realize that there are two movements to the text. First, Isaiah talks about the Spirit of God coming upon the prophet to proclaim good news of release to those who are captives. He proclaims the freedom of those in captive to the powers of this world.
Then Isaiah moves on to speak of what “They” (the freed captives of Israel) will be and do: “They” will be crowned. “They” will become righteous oaks. “They” will be planting of God to display his splendor. “They” will restore cities. “They” will rebuild ruins. In this passage, Isaiah is talking about the liberated Jews, and by the power of the Resurrection, Jesus is talking about us.
Those who hear the Good News and are filled with the Spirit of God are going to be empowered to change the world. He meant to include us in this promise—all who hear the Good News and respond to God’s grace will themselves become Good News just like Jesus. God does not just want us to hear Good News. He wants us to be Good News. By the power of the Spirit, we can be Good News to others by what we say and do!
Some of you know that each year I go away near Thanksgiving to pray about Christmas and about the general direction of Advent for the year to come. For the past two years, I have gone to a Catholic retreat center in San Antonio. The center is in the city, so people wander in and out of the grounds and nearby church all day long. It takes a while to get used to the silence of the retreat center, so ordinarily; I go on a walk or run to get acclimated to silence and the retreat itself. This year, as I was running on the grounds the first afternoon, I came near a meditation pool that is surrounded by a little wall and garden. There was a man covered with tattoos kneeling by the pool crying as hard as a man could possibly cry.
I had seen the man a little earlier as I left the guesthouse praying in another location and wondered at the time what was going on with him. I kept on going for a few moments, but in the end, I felt I should go back. (I am not a priest, and I was not sure I should interfere.) I walked up to the man, sat down beside him, and asked, “Is there something wrong?” There was. The man’s father had died. The man, I think, felt guilty about the relationship he had with his father. We just sat and talked for a while. I gave him what assurance I could that his father was O.K. and that God would forgive him for any argument they had before he died. After a time, I asked to pray with the man, who by now was no longer crying. As I finished praying, he said, “Are you a priest?” “No,” “I said, I am just a guy.” A little later, I saw him leave with his wife or girl friend. They were walking hand in hand.
In this particular instance, I did nothing more than anyone could have done. I was actually glad I was not a priest, just another guy. For in that moment, I was a little Christ, just an ordinary disciple, giving Good News to another human being who needed to hear the Good News of the God who came to give us Salvation. It is that same Good News we celebrate this coming week.
Amen
[1] Hiroo Onoda (March 19, 1922 – January 16, 2014) was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who fought in World War II and did not surrender in 1945. In 1974, his former commander traveled from Japan to personally issue orders relieving him from duty.