Good News!

Mark 16:15  And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.

We were visiting Lanette’s mom, and I was fast asleep on the couch. I woke up when Lanette began violently shaking me and screaming at the top of her lungs! Okay, it wasn’t like that, but she did awaken me.

When I finally shook the sleep off, she showed me a plastic wand in her hand. It took me a second to realize what it was. She was pregnant with our first child! Good news!

We were excited about growing our little family. Soon, two of us would become three, and a few years later, four. Good news!

Jesus told his disciples to go and spread the good news. The good news that salvation had come. The good news that heaven was available to us. Good news that we were no longer slaves to sin. Good news!

Somehow, over the years, we have turned good news into judgement and condemnation. We got the idea that the way to lead people to Jesus was to roast them like a hot dog over the fires of hell. We exchanged good news for bad news. We turned God’s love into God’s hatred.

The message Jesus gave to the disciples is the same message he gives to us: preach the Good News to everyone. Tell your friends who need Jesus what he has done for you. Tell them about God’s love, grace and mercy. That’s the Good News.

Today’s Readings: Deuteronomy 10-12; Mark 16