Global warming will kill us all. Lowered sun spot activity will soon cause a new ice age. We are about to face a famine. We have an “epidemic of obesity.” Terrorists are certain to use nuclear weapons to bomb a major U.S. city. The global war on terror is hype designed to take away our civil liberties and usher in a fascist state.
These are all stories I have read fairly recently and are all bad news.
We seem to love bad news . . . getting off on the adrenalin rush that problems cause. Of course, some of these problems are real and demand action, but there is no doubt that we are consumed with bad news. One can almost see the delight on cable news anchor’s faces when a really big bit of bad news (Hurricane! War! Plague!) comes along. We are the first generation to have a group of highly paid people who root for the appearance of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, since it would help their ratings.
(”In an exclusive interview with CNN, Famine speaks!”)
Today my church celebrates the triumph of Jesus over death. Best reason and my own experience testify to the historic truth of this event. It is news so good that it overshadows all the bad news that ever existed. As a result, it can seem tedious to us. It was done for us by God and demands a response, but not one that will lead to the “moral equivalent of war,” massive new government programs, or a flurry of cable talking.
It is so practical that the impractical world of talking heads and pundits cannot do much with it. You can doubt it (as some try to do), but it is mostly just reality . . . as huge, unmoving, and fundamentally unfit for hype as the existence of the cosmos itself.
We try of course, given that we are humans. We will try to exploit anything for profit, but God’s gift of Himself is free. There is not much money to be made on free . . . not in the end. The Bible is out there waiting to be read . . . and once you get a copy the world is changed. God waits around every corner to reveal Himself to you.
The miracle of Jesus is that He was the miracle. He did great things and said very wise words. But He was more than a great man, because He defeated death. Defeating death is not something men can do, because He did not just prolong life (something one can imagine science doing), but He defeated the evil, boredom, and futility that make human life a kind of death from the moment of self-awareness.
Jesus Christ does not just keep living, He is the first and only man since humanity blew it, to really live. He is alive . . . utterly. He is real and the rest of us are still in shadow.
The good news is that you can experience this today. It will bring pain as the old ways die. It is not tonic for what ails you . . . since what you think ails you isn’t. Instead, it will kill the cancer that is in your soul, which sadly is what most of think is our soul. It is radical, but it brings joy in the wake of pain. It is real. It is good news.
Of course, the bad news of daily life must be dealt with. God will call some of his people to deal with the problems of here and now. The Kingdom of God is here, but it is not yet fully revealed. In the meantime, we must cooperate with God and deal with the mess we have made and are making.
The good news does not ignore the bad news.
The good news is, however, so good that we can be sanguine about the bad. We need not panic, but act with rational and spiritual efficiency. Even in a crisis, and there are real crisis, in the midst of our quick reactions we can be at peace. This is not a peace that the chaotic world can give, but it is based on the deepest reality of the soul.
The good news is real. Good is real and it is deeper and more fundamental than evil . . . which is just twisted good after all.
Thanks be to God that death is defeated, sin is forgiven, and hope is not a lie.
Jesus Christ lives.