Matthew 4:23

Alistair Johnson

It all seems too obvious, too simple (and I'm a very simple person), but in order for something to be good news, doesn't it have to be good news for the person receiving it?

What's good news for me might not necessarily be good news for you. For you it might be dodging the bullet of being made redundant or getting your hospital results back and they are negative. Maybe you got the good news that you are moving house, you got a pay rise, your daughter has passed her exams, you're pregnant or simply that there is enough money in the bank to pay the bills this month. Bits of good news for you are not always good for others.

The problem with good news is that it is subjective, so individualized. No wonder when we talk about good news people are indifferent and unresponsive.

Our senses have been tuned to respond to bad news, we have become skeptical. Good news just doesn't sell. There is no good news that can fulfill all of our needs, no political party, no social or economic group that has that kind of powerful good news.

And that was the very response two thousand years ago when Jesus began to tell people, 'The good news is at hand'. This news, (his news), could transform everyone. Naturally, not everyone believed it, but that didn't change the nature of his message. Jesus didn't just tell of the good news, he lived it out with every breath of his soul, even when no one was looking. This news was personal, intimate and pervasive. It's power had the potential to put lives back on track. It was the type of good news that was good for everyone.

Shouldn't we be joyful about that?

One of the most critical issues facing Christians today is dullness. We have lost our astonishment. Robert Capon-Farrar wrote, 'The Good News is no longer good news, it's okay news. Christianity is no longer life changing, it's life enhancing. Jesus doesn't change people into wide-eyed radicals anymore; he changes them into nice people.'

In our world today we have a problem with our understanding of good news; nothing about Jesus is considered good news outside the four walls of our life. If we truly considered the good news to be good news we would want to share it with everyone. Many of us for whatever reason choose not to share it; whether you're like me and it's out of fear of being mocked or whether you just aren't sure that it is that powerful. Sharing our faith seems to be a massive hurdle to get over.

One of my young people challenged us the other night by posing this question, 'If you had the cure for cancer would you choose to keep it for yourself or would you want to share it with the world?'

The good news is astonishingly, actually good news. The stories that Jesus told that point us to the Father and his plan of redemption for human kind are indeed good news.

Sometimes because good news has become so subjective we have accepted that the good news of God has somehow become that too. Indeed God convinces the opposite is true; he cares about all his people and is in the business of saving the lost.

Maybe it's about time we took seriously the good news of Jesus. Simple.