Good News about What?

The harvest is past, and the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
Jeremiah 8:20

   The word "gospel" is usually translated "good news," and the preacher is usually expected to be upbeat, perhaps even including a few choice witicisms in the homily, for the amusement of the congregation. An upbeat sermon would certainly be welcome today, the day of our pot-luck luncheon, when we formally begin a new year, full of hope and confidence.

    But what do I find when I open to our first lesson?

The harvest is past and the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.

    The passage from which this is taken is a lament over Judah. It distresses Jeremiah to denounce his people, who may be suffering from drought. But, alas, there is no physician, no balm in Gilead to restore the health of the daughter of God’s people.

    After the chapter break the tone becomes even darker. The basis for the prophet’s lament is the complete corruption of the people. Here, instead of sympathy, Jeremiah has nothing but contempt for the lying, deceiving, untrustworthy nation. He would like to get as far away from them as possible:

O that I had in the desert a wayfarer’s lodging place,
that I might leave my people and go away from them!

    At this point I began to despair how I might evoke good news out of such a reading, so I turned to the second lesson, and what do I find there? the dark parable of the dishonest steward, who cheats his master in order to obtain a comfortable retirement, instead of the disgrace and punishment which he deserves. And then, wonder of wonders, Jesus praises the dishonest steward for his shrewdness, and contrasts such shrewdness with the obuseness of the sons of light.

    I finally had to ask myself, Whose side are you on anyway? And what possessed the compilers of the new lectionary to confront us today with not one but two such downers? In the Prayer Book lectionary, the readings come in sequence, and you have to take what you get and make the best of it. But the readings in the new lectionary are deliberately chosen—by someone. Why were these readings chosen? Was it just to spoil our potluck luncheon?

    But perhaps we are wrong to understand "gospel" so readily as good news, and to expect the readings to be always upbeat. Some years ago I gave a talk on the topic Good News about What? When I looked for a publisher, I was unsuccessful until my ninth try, and then, I think, my success was partly because I happened to know the publisher personally. So any monkeying with the equation "gospel" = "good news" is clearly bound to be unpopular.

    And yet, when I went to my Greek dictionary, I discovered that the word from which gospel comes means simply "messenger." Whether the message is "good news" or "bad news" depends on the context. In some passages, where the word is used of divine judgment, it clearly means "bad news," at least for some. So maybe today’s awkward readings may serve to remind us of the dark side of God, which the New Testament largely projects onto Satan. Depending on one’s situation in life, some Biblical readings may come across as "texts of terror." But even these, as canonical scripture, must be taken seriously.

September 19, 2004