Sermon for the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany, Year B - "Good News?"

Preaching Texts: Jonah 3, Mark 1.14-20

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, your word can sometimes frighten us with its demands. Heavenly Father, your word can disturb us with its bold truth. But heavenly Father, we know your word is gospel. Heavenly Father, we know your word is good news. Help us cling to your word and to its promises for us. We pray in the name of Jesus, Your Son, Your living Word, Amen.

Good news, Jonah – you’re going to be a prophet! But you will not prophesy to God’s people Israel, oh, no: you’re going to Nineveh, that great and wicked city in the east, capital city of the Assyrian Empire, the great nation that has fought against Israel for years. Other prophets have called God’s people to repent and return to the Lord our God, with hardly any success. In fact, these other prophets have often been abused and threatened for their words. But you, Jonah, are going to be different. You’re going to be sent to a nation you despise. You’re going to walk through the city with one sentence of prophesy against the Ninevites. You’re going to camp out on the hillside to watch God rain fire and brimstone on those Ninevites. Then you’re going to see God go all weak in the knees and forgive the people of Nineveh, at which point you’re going to throw a hissy fit and sulk for days, and it’s all going to be recorded and remembered centuries later. Good news!

Good news, John – you’re going to be the last great prophet of Israel! But not like Jonah, no sir! You’re going to be as controversial as all the prophets who came before you. You’re going to live in the hills around Jerusalem, a wild man with a wild message. You’re going to baptize your cousin Jesus and tell the world that He is the Messiah – and no one will believe you. You’re going to be arrested, jailed, and beheaded because a stupid, adulterous, incestuous king made a promise to his wife’s daughter, who also happens to be his niece! Good news!

Good news, James & John – you’re going to get caught fighting over who will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven! History will remember you as the Sons of Thunder, but you’re also going to be remembered for the bad example of those who completely miss the point. Good news!

Good news, Peter – you’re going to leave your family, leave a thriving fishing operation, leave a life for which you’ve slaved for years, and follow a homeless teacher for three years. After he is crucified, dies, rises again, and ascends into heaven, you’re going to spend the rest of your life teaching about this man Jesus. Eventually you’re going to be crucified, but you’re going to ask to be crucified upside down. You’ll die thousands of miles from home. Good news!

Good news, Paul – you’re going to spend a year or so persecuting the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Then, on your way to Damascus, you’re going to be struck blind by the same Jesus you’ve been persecuting. You will be healed in Damascus and spend the rest of your life on four great journeys around the Mediterranean, proclaiming the good news of the same Jesus you once persecuted. After about 30 years, you’ll die in Rome, beheaded because of your faith, and no one will know where your grave lies. Good news!

Here is the peace of God that passes all human understanding – that the good news of God was so captivating that these disciples would follow the good news wherever it led them. The thing is, that good news led them to other people, who also started following the good news. In turn, the next generation met others, who also started following the good news. And so it went for generations, until here we are today, still following the good news. But what is it that we follow, and where in the world is it leading us?

I have often wondered about these disciples and their following Jesus. What was it like, standing there in the boat and seeing the Son of God walking on the beach toward you? What did His voice sound like? Was it the warm welcome of your dearest friend, or the commanding voice of God in all glory? And most importantly, how did Jesus’ first followers hold on to their faith in the hardest times?

I can’t answer those questions this side of heaven, but I can tell you what I think about this good news of God that Jesus proclaims.

The good news of God is not a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. When Jesus says, “Repent, and believe in the good news,” He doesn’t mean that if you repent once, you must begin a life of believing, and never slip away from the faith. The more accurate way to translate the phrase would be this: “Be repentant, and keep believing in the good news!” Repentance and belief are two sides of the same coin, a way of life for those caught up in the net Jesus is casting. Repentance means turning away from our sins, from ALL our sins, including the sin of thinking we can believe our way into heaven.

The good news of God comes to us through the Holy Spirit’s work in us. “I believe that I cannot believe through my own reason or strength, but the Holy Spirit has called me with its gifts, enlightened me with the gospel, and sanctifies and keeps me in the one true faith.” The good news of God is a great gift from a loving God – we cannot earn it and we certainly cannot find it on our own. Remember – Jesus found Peter and Andrew, James and John; Jesus has found us, too.

The good news of God doesn’t come free: it’s going to demand your whole life. When Peter and Andrew and James & John left their boats, they left more than just some minimum wage job. The fact that they had hired men says that they were successful businessmen, people who had worked hard and earned a certain amount of property, respect and prosperity in their communities. Following Jesus meant giving up that life – and discipleship means the same for us, too. You may not be called to give up your jobs or your home – but you will be called to give up something dear to you. Maybe you will be called to relinquish some control over your future for the sake of your family. Maybe you will be called to give up something you always wanted to provide for your family. Maybe your possessions are getting in the way of your faith. Whatever it is, you will find that following Jesus always has a cost.

The good news of God gives us far more questions than answers. Announcing that the kingdom of God has come near doesn’t change the facts of life for Jesus’ followers. People are still dying. Sin is still the force that holds us in bondage. The forces of evil still prowl like lions, as ready to devour bodies and souls as they have ever been. We ourselves continue to struggle with sin and doubt and even despair at times, even after we’ve been told the good news of God.

We must remember that Jesus’ own followers had questions. Jesus first followers struggled with sin and doubt, too. Jesus’ first followers didn’t always understand what God was up to. But the good news of God kept them in the faith and reminded them that their questions were the result of faithful, honest discipleship, not a lack of faith.

The good news of God is not set in stone: God is free to change God’s mind. The people of Nineveh received the good news of God, in spite of Jonah’s desire for their destruction. The people of Israel received the good news of God, after Moses prayed for them to God. The good news of God meets the needs of God’s people, even if it means that God Himself must change to meet our needs.

All of this is good news for us, but it is not THE good news, is it? We do an awfully good job talking about the good news of God, but talking about something isn’t the same as experiencing it firsthand, and to experience the good news of God we must know the answer to this questions: what is the good news of God?

The good news of God is not an announcement or a proclamation. The good news of God is not a program or a concept. The good news of God is not a message or a means for a better life. All of these things flow out of the good news of God, but they are not the good news themselves.

The good news of God is Jesus Christ Himself. Christ is the living, breathing, actual kingdom of God, who comes near to us in His promises and brings good news through His Word. The good news of God comes through Christ giving Himself to us time and again until our lives are over-flowing with His goodness and mercy. The good news of God is Christ coming to put our sins to death in His death and to raise us up with Him in His resurrection. The good news of God is the gift of Jesus Christ for sinners like you and me.

Peter and Andrew didn’t follow Jesus because He had good news from God: Peter and Andrew followed Jesus because Christ IS the good news from God. James & John didn’t leave their father Zebedee because Jesus offered a better life: James & John left their father Zebedee because Jesus WAS life itself. Paul didn’t change his life because Jesus offered peace: Paul’s life was changed by Jesus Christ who IS peace itself.

As we think about the gift of the good news of God, we must be sure that we don’t trade the glorious good news of Christ Himself for the secondary stuff that flows from Him. The good news of God is Jesus Christ, our closest friend and Savior: without a living relationship with Him all the programs and messages and proclamations we have to offer ring hollow and do not satisfy. Following Jesus means coming to know and trust that Jesus Himself is the good news, that trusting in His promises is life itself, that all good things in our lives pale in comparison to His reckless grace and bountiful love.

Good news? Yes – good news! Christ Himself comes to you this day, offering grace and forgiveness and companionship for your life’s journey of repentance and belief. Good news? Yes – good news! Whatever the future may hold, the good news that is Jesus Christ promises to hold open the future for you, to see you through all the storms to come and to welcome you home when your journey is ended. Good news? Yes – good news! Your life is no longer your own – it is being swept up into the good news of God and will be kept with Christ until the day we see Him face to face. Christ Himself, the good news of God, will give you the peace that passes all human understanding, and Christ Himself, the good news of God, will keep your hearts and minds in Himself, now and forever. Amen.