Luke 15.1-7 & 19.1-10
Question – is this a picture of good news?
This picture I would suggest is predicated on a
contractual understanding of what the Good News is within a Christian
framework. There are those who would argue that this is the Gospel message.
a) God
created and good world and placed humans in it.
b) Humans
rejected God’s command and chose to do things their own way.
c) Sin
and death resulted.
d) God sent
Jesus to die for us so that we don’t have to take the punishment for our sins.
e) If we
accept this and seek to follow Jesus we can be assured that we will go to
heaven when we die.
f) If we
do not accept salvation in Jesus then we will enter eternal punishment after
death.
In his book, ‘Simply Good News’, Tom Wright, argues that
this isn’t good news, but might be considered good advice!
News is the announcement of something that has happened the effect of which changes things, personally, in our family, locally, nationally or globably.
So, why might these four stories, told by Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John about Jesus be news and why call them good news – or in older
English, the Gospel.
Let’s remind ourselves of the journey we are on, the
journey of seeking to practise the way of Jesus as his apprentices.
Following Jesus, becoming like Jesus and doing the things
that Jesus did.
Therefore, a question – did Jesus preach Good News?
Mark 1.14-15, ‘After John was put in prison, Jesus
went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has
come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and
believe the good news!”
Note that this ‘good news’ is before Jesus’ crucifixion. Also note the first verse, ‘The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God… Therefore, everything we are going to read in this book is the good news, the Gospel, in Greek, the Euangelion – all of it!
Therefore, if we are seeking to be Jesus’s apprentices and
do as he did, then shouldn’t we be telling others about the same good news that
Jesus announced, demonstrated and embodied.
However, to discover, discern and digest what ‘Jesus’ Good
News’ might be, would take a lot more time than we have in a sermon slot on a
Sunday morning.
The Gospel, the Good News is so much bigger, broader and
dare I say it, better than a message of escaping from hell and an assurance of
going to heaven when we die.
The good news isn’t so much a lesson to be learned as a
life to be lived. A life to be lived as an apprentice of Jesus that itself
bears witness of a life transformed, a life becoming more like Jesus.
“The time has come,” Jesus said. “The
kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
And for the vision of that Good News, we turn to the
prophet Isaiah.
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
At the end of Matthew’s Gospel and in what has become
known as the Great Commission we read in chapter 28.19…
‘Then Jesus came to them and said, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
me.’
“Our God reigns!”
Now the Kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus.
In the Biblical narrative we note in the founding creation
stories of God creating a Temple space in a garden and placing it in Eden. Then
placing humans in that space to act as co-regents, to be image bearers of God.
This theme is then repeated in the tabernacle in the desert.
The High Priest magnificently robed to represent God as brilliant, shining and pure. The tabernacle structure itself made to represent God’s throne room in heaven as disclosed to Moses on Mount Sinia.
From the tabernacle to the temple with the same emphasis.
However, sadly somewhere along the way seeming to lose the
vocation.
The vocation mandated to the first human couple. To
represent God to the world so that the world may come and know God.
The vocation of Israel, to be a light to the Gentiles.
And as we were thinking about at the beginning of the
month, Simeon takes the 40-day old Jesus and announces…
“… my eyes have seen Your salvation,
which You have prepared in the sight of all
people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to Your people Israel.”
Jesus is the new Adam, Jesus is the tabernacle, Jesus is
the temple, Jesus is Israel personified, Jesus is the light to all the nations
and Jesus is the embodiment of the good news spoken of by Isaiah and by the
whole corpus of Scripture.
The Bible Project strapline says it well, ‘The Bible is a
unified story that leads to Jesus.’
Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth – not Caeser, either
then or now.
This Good News is big, bold, broad and beautiful and
brings the possibility of salvation right here and right now.
And Jesus, our Master whom we seek to follow, told stories
about what it would be like if people followed God’s will and ways, if they
lived in the reality of the Kingdom of God or if you prefer the reign of God, and
not the reality of the distorted and damaging kingdoms of the world.
We heard two such good news stories from Luke’s Gospel.
In December I was at a Christmass lunch with friends from
the Farming Community Network. And I don’t know how, but the Bible and Bible
stories bubbled up in the conversation. (I love it when that happens)
A farmer friend sat next to me said that one of his
favourite Bible stories is the story of the Lost Sheep, the one we heard today.
This story sits within a trilogy of stories about lost things, lost coin, lost
sheep and finally a lost son.
I asked him a question that puzzled me. Would a shepherd
actually leave ninety-nine sheep and go looking for that one stray. His answer
was an unequivocal yes, they would. What about the wellbeing of the ninety-nine
I asked.
“Hadn’t you noticed”, he responded, “that he had counted
the ninety-nine and by inference knew they were safe and secure.”
And farmers today will go through extraordinary lengths to
rescue sheep and lambs. Climb down
drainage pipes, dig them out of deep snow drifts and climb down cliff edges.
And the good news is this is exactly what God does for
each and every person. God offers a way out of the mess and mire of living a
life following the way of the kingdoms of this world.
‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and
destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.’ John
10.10
And the Farming Community Work, is a Christian based charity that seeks to embody and to be good news to the farming community. In the work, by principle we do not proselytise. We seek to be agents of God’s good news as we walk alongside farmers at times of stress and difficulty. Certainly, if asked, FCN volunteers would be ready give an answer to the hope that they have, but that conversation must be initiated not by the FCN Volunteer. FCN seeks to let its actions speak about God’s love, care and the Good News.
On Monday last I was in Onley prison. As well as volunteering with FCN I also volunteer with Prison Fellowship. On Monday, some of the Rugby Prison Fellowship Group met in the prison for a time of prayer and to have lunch together. Over lunch we chatted about the Sycamore Tree Course that Prison Fellowship runs in prisons across the country. You may have guessed that the name comes from the second story we heard today. It is a six-week course based around restorative justice.
Through a series of exercises and homework in their own
handbooks, participants are invited to be honest about the crime they have
committed, the effect of that crime on others, and the ripple effects of that
crime beyond the immediate victim. On the final week there is an act of seeking
restoration. Presented almost like an act of worship one by one the
participants are invited to show a picture they have drawn, read a statement,
or a poem they like or may have written. Jane and I were in Onley for Week Six
in November last year and we both found it to be a deeply moving experience.
They also put pebbles in a bowl of water to recognise the
ripple effects of their crime and light candles signifying a hope that they may
find a better way forward.
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the
Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now, I give half of my possessions to the
poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four
times the amount.”
That’s restorative justice.
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come
to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of
Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
That’s Good News – that’s restoration – that’s salvation.
When we know that there are lonely people, and we invite them along to Connexions – that’s good news.
When we know people are struggling with English not being
their first language and we offer English Speaking Classes – that’s good news.
When we know that parents of tinies would welcome a space
to be with others to share life and concerns and we invite them to Coffee Break
or Make Time – that’s good news.
When we know that some people really struggle to make ends
meet, to cook decent meals and to be able to buy the food in the first place and
we invite them along to Make Lunch – that’s good news.
That’s the Kingdom of God come upon earth, that is a realised Lord’s Prayer, that is good news, the good news we are called to bear witness to and to embody. Being good news and speaking good news – that King Jesus reigns.
And that through those who align themselves with him as
his apprentices, empowered by his Spirit the whole of the created order is
being restored and redeemed until finally heaven and earth are conjoined.
Will we get it wrong at times – most certainly.
Will our seeking to live the good news mean that a times
some might take advantage of us, certainly.
I imagine the buzz going around about Zacchaeus
announcement about giving out large swathes of cash, that some would have
sought to present themselves as wronged by him or as deserving poor.
A shepherd searching for one of his lost sheep.
A tax collector repenting and entering the Kingdom of God.
Lonely people finding company and community.
Young mums meeting with others and finding mutual support.
People struggling and finding help at its most basic level,
around food.
Strangers finding friendship and help in learning English.
Prisoners being treated with respect and helped to take a
long hard look at themselves and their life choices.
Farmers being helped to build resilience and having
someone to walk alongside them when they need that knowledgeable company
because they are at a loss or in a difficult place.
We are storied people and as Jesus’ apprentices our life
story is infused with God’s story. It is allowing that combined story to bubble
up naturally. Much in the same when we were sitting in a pub enjoying a
Christmass meal stories about favourite Bible passages came up naturally into
the conversation. Good conversations are also God conversations.
However, do not try to shoehorn Jesus into every
conversation. Remember the story of the Children’s Leader asking the children
what was white, had big ears and hopped. To which one child answered, it sounds
like a rabbit, but its probably Jesus!
Then be aware that people might be listening into your
conversation. I would like to think that when the Sunday Lunch Club is having a
meal there is very natural conversation around the Sermon or Scripture or some such
thing. And then as a follow up, how we
are and how we act becomes another very important witness.
Alan has spoken many times about how we might rehearse our
story, how we might have a simple framework, so that we can give an answer for
our hope and our faith, even if not answer all the questions that might be put
to us.
Let me offer you another simple way of how you might frame
your story. A way that recognizes some have
been brought up in the Faith, what we might call cradle Christians. Yet others,
like me, came to Faith later in life, what I refer to as conversion Christians.
BEN & ANN.
BEN = Before Encounter Now. What
might be termed ‘conversion Christians’, coming to faith with no or very little
lived experience. What was my life like before I encountered God. What was that encounter. What is my life like now.
ANN = Always known God Needed an ‘owned
faith’ Now. What might be termed ‘cradle Christians,’ nurtured and
brought up in the faith. Brought up in the faith, maybe a Christian family, going to church regularly. But coming to recognise I needed to own the faith for myself. And what is it like now being a Christian.
Both may have a date, but that's not important, and both may have baptism or confirmation or some other such 'event.'
Or you could be an admixture. Importantly both stories are
valid and in my experience God’s leads us into conversations with those for
whom our story is best suited. It is also good to have the stories of others to
hand as well. Stories of lives transformed and redeemed and lives given meaning
and purpose.
One of the very earliest creeds simply stated, that ‘Jesus
is Lord.’ That is the Good News, that is the Gospel, God reigns. Through Jesus’
obedience, death, resurrection and ascension Jesus has now received all
authority in heaven and on earth. Whenever we act in accordance with God’s
will, way and purposes, that is a witness to God’s Kingdom come upon earth and
his will being done as in heaven.
The Gospel message is to invite people to repent and
believe in this Good News, that is, to turn and orientate their lives with
Jesus as Lord of all and Lord of their lives. Inviting people to embrace God’s
story and find their unique place within that story and to live out the Gospel in
the company of God’s people, in the power of the Spirit, sharing faith in words
and actions.
In our world that at the moment seems to have gone a tad
crazy, let us invite people to come on in and taste the new wine, the wine of
the kingdom, the wine of the kingdom of God.
https://youtu.be/Hc3TJXTpJYs?si=bfXoxMfwTXde3eNB
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