Sat 26/4/14 Food for soul: Be the good news!

Mark 16:9-15

After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared early on Sunday morning to Mary Magdalene, whom he had delivered from seven demons. 10 She went to his former companions, now weeping and carrying on, and told them. 11 When they heard her report that she had seen him alive and well, they didn't believe her. 12 Later he appeared, but in a different form, to two of them out walking in the countryside. 13 They went back and told the rest, but they weren't believed either. 14 Still later, as the Eleven were eating supper, he appeared and took them to task most severely for their stubborn unbelief, refusing to believe those who had seen him raised up. 15 Then he said, "Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God's good news to one and all.

Food for thought! Be the good news!

Do you realize how many times in this text there is "disbelief" in the resurrection?

Verse 11 When they heard her report that she had seen him alive and well, they didn't believe her. 

Verse 13 They went back and told the rest, but they weren't believed either. 

Verse 14 Still later, as the Eleven were eating supper, he appeared and took them to task most severely for their stubborn unbelief, refusing to believe those who had seen him raised up.

And do you realize how Jesus, in spite of all this disbelief, still tells such unbelieving people "Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God's good news to one and all"? Jesus is telling doubting people to announce exactly what they doubt; he is telling them to go forward, in spite of their hesitations.

In other words:

Jesus does not wait for us to get all the knowledge there is on the resurrection; Jesus does not wait for us to understand everything on his resurrection; Jesus does not wait for us to know all the theology; Jesus knows that the resurrection is a mystery that we cannot fully comprehend; so he tells us to go on and announce him, anyway. 

Jesus entrusts to us, you and me, the announcement of this great news; with the little or much we know and believe, Jesus tells us, as he told them then, "Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God's good news to one and all." In other words, what we announce is not ours, it is Jesus' good news. In spite of ourselves, we can be of use to Jesus. Yes, inspite of yourself, you can announce the good news; inspite of myself, I too can announce the good news of Jesus.

And note this one as well: Jesus tells us to into the world! Yes, it is into the world, the real world we live in, the main street, the down town, the office we work in day in, the home we live in; it is there that he sends us to go and be, not the bad news, but the good news. Where we are, we are called to make people happy, not sad. If, when you move into a place, an office, a home, people feel sad, then you are not proclaiming yet the good news; if when you come back home your children instead of running to embrace you they run away from you and hide, then you are not good news to them. And your spouse, does s/he rejoice when s/he sees you? Does s/he smile when you return home? If not, you are not being good news to her/him. Something must be done. Go into your world and proclaim the good news. Be good news, not bad news!

We are called to leave our comfort zones and take the good news into the world. "Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God's good news to one and all."

Read this: 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 

But this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us—is held in a perishable container, that is, in our weak bodies. Everyone can see that the glorious power within must be from God and is not our own.

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. These bodies of ours are constantly facing death just as Jesus did; so it is clear to all that it is only the living Christ within who keeps us safe.

Yes, we live under constant danger to our lives because we serve the Lord, but this gives us constant opportunities to show forth the power of Jesus Christ within our dying bodies. Because of our preaching we face death, but it has resulted in eternal life for you.

We boldly say what we believe, trusting God to care for us, just as the psalm writer did when he said, “I believe and therefore I speak.” We know that the same God who brought the Lord Jesus back from death will also bring us back to life again with Jesus and present us to him along with you. These sufferings of ours are for your benefit. And the more of you who are won to Christ, the more there are to thank him for his great kindness, and the more the Lord is glorified.

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our inner strength in the Lord is growing every day. These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won’t last very long. Yet this short time of distress will result in God’s richest blessing upon us forever and ever! So we do not look at what we can see right now, the troubles all around us, but we look forward to the joys in heaven which we have not yet seen. The troubles will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.