Good News

Matthew 24:13-14 – “But those who endure until the end will be saved, and this good news of the kin-dom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.”

There are two different 'ends' in this passage. They cannot be the same end, because the word ‘then’ signals a sequence of events. The end of torture and death will come, the good news will be proclaimed, and then the end will come. Presumably this second end is the close of the age referred to earlier.

Where are we on this timeline? Well, we still have wars and rumors of wars, false prophets and conspiracy theories, false leaders and corruption. Clearly, we’re not at the end; possibly not anywhere near it. Although, the good news has been proclaimed throughout the world. Most of it anyway. Rather than waste time and words trying to calculate our current position, I’m more interested in what this good news is that has been proclaimed.

It’s no surprise that there are many different versions of this good news as there are Christian groups – and there are a lot of Christian groups. My denomination is one of nine different Presbyterian groups just in the US. It stands to reason that some of the good news that has been proclaimed is not what Jesus thought of as good news. Indeed, if the good news we proclaim has no love for God, ourselves, or neighbors, it is not the good news. The good news of Jesus is that God loves all of us. He showed this by healing people, by listening to them, by sticking up for them, by teaching (or trying to teach) others. We have a hard time imagining this all-encompassing love, so we substitute ideas that we can grasp, that we can wrap our brains around easily. By coincidence or not, these substitutions ask less of us than Jesus did.

When Jesus taught, he also healed. He cared about the circumstances of everyone’s life. Before he healed people, he listened to them or to the person requesting healing. He even learned during his ministry that arbitrary exclusions – I was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel – were not in God’s plan. If we want to be Christians, we must follow our teacher. We too must care about the physical, mental, financial, and spiritual condition of the people we preach to. A person who hasn’t eaten in three days will not be able to hear your carefully-crafted sermon over the rumblings of their stomach. Proclaiming the gospel necessitates that first we humbly listen to those who come to us. Spreading the good news is not a one-way relationship; we do not condescend to give something to someone we judge needs it. No. Spreading the gospel is a two-way relationship. Both parties give and both parties receive.

That kind of relationship takes time to establish and nurture. Trust is not always automatic, even if you wear a collar or robes. Without this time and attention, without love, the news we are spreading may not be the good news we think we are spreading. Without love, how can it be good news?

Peace

Matthew 24:11-12 – “Then many false prophets will arise and will lead many astray. Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many people will grow cold.”

It gets boring writing about current politics, but this is exactly what we are seeing in the US today; conspiracy theories and corruption. Conspiracy theories used to be fringe beliefs that most right-thinking people could see were false. Today, some of these beliefs are mainstream, regardless of the fact that they are false. Pizzagate is a great example. In case you haven’t heard of this theory (lucky you), it involves Hillary Clinton sexually abusing children in the basement of a pizza parlor. The pizza parlor in question does not even have a basement. That didn’t stop one “hero” from going there and shooting up the place, trying to rescue those non-existent children.

This is the danger of spouting lies and not calling out those who believe in such lies. They get repeated and people want to believe. Fox News is in the business of keeping these theories alive and in the news. If you watch them, you support a big piece of the problem with conspiracy theories, even if you yourself do not believe them to be true.

The false prophets of the NRA are succeeding in their quest to make us all live in constant fear so that we’ll buy more guns. More guns leads to more gun violence. A young man in Florida killed three people in addition to himself, because he lost a video football game. Without access to guns, this person and the three others who died, would probably still be alive. A young man was shot and killed a few blocks from us last week. A drunk man, angry at some perceived slight, drove down and shot him. Again, no guns, no shooting, no death.

Hearing the false prophets’ explanation that the violence in Florida was due not to guns, but rather to the use of headphones. How stupid does the NRA think we are? it’s enough to make the angels weep. The NRA’s hearts have grown cold. They only care about themselves. False prophets and lawlessness are harming many people around the world.

Yet, these conspiracy theories and corruption are nothing new. Jesus’ world was rife with violence and corruption. The Roman soldiers only had swords, yet they were every bit as cruel and heartless as those who put children in cages and those who thought it was a good idea to do so. This is because unlearning what we learned as children is disorienting, painful, and scary. Who wants any of those things? So, we double down on our smug refusal to see people who do not look like us as people. We become easy prey for conspiracy theorists. Anything is better than admitting our coldness and cruelty to ourselves. This is the gehenna, the hell that Jesus talked about. Some of us have lived in this hell all our lives. In doing so, they make a hell of the lives of those around them.

There doesn’t seem to be much peace in that thought. However, we can control our own thoughts, our own beliefs, our own reflections, our own actions. We can leave that hell, if we are there, anytime we want to by clinging to the truth. We can create peace in our households and neighborhoods by being peaceful in our interactions. 

Peace is a worthy goal in this time of lies and propaganda and fear-mongering.

Living for Christ

Matthew 24:9 – “Then they will hand you over to torture and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.”

Hey, Jesus, don’t sugarcoat it! This is a really blunt prediction of what life will be like for the disciples (and us). History has shown his words to be true. Following Jesus can lead to torture or even to our death. It meant death for Dr. King. However, just to be clear, Christians as a societal group are not persecuted here in America. We get persecuted when we follow Jesus’ commandments to speak out against injustice.

There was a time in Christianity when people were killed simply for being a Christian. Although that is not true in the US, there can be a focus in some Christian circles on being willing to die for Christ. No doubt, that is a tough decision, and I personally would not judge anyone for how they decided. However, living for Christ is the pinnacle of being a Christian, in my opinion. Loving our enemies is hard. Praying for those who have hurt us or others is hard. Speaking out and acting against injustice is hard.

The question is not, “will you die for Jesus?” The question is, “will you live for Jesus?” Living for Jesus means that loving our enemies, praying for those who’ve hurt us, and speaking out against injustice must be done every day rather than once. When I was first diagnosed with lupus, I thought it would kill me. As time went on, and I realized I have a manageable case and it would be chronic, that seemed worse. Because now I have to live with it every day. It will never go away. That is harder in the same way, although not the same degree, that living for Jesus is harder than dying for him. It means sticking our neck out for others. It means risking ridicule or praise. It requires all of our mind, our body, and our strength every day.

Are you willing to live for Jesus?