The Good News

HOMILY, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY – FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR B

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

 

TEXT:                        GENESIS 9:8-17, MARK 1:9-15

 

 

            The event of the first Lent is treated very briefly in Mark’s gospel.  It is summarized in two brief sentences. Mark’s gospel merely notes, “And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.”

 

            The time in the wilderness was a transition for Jesus – from his life as a carpenter in the area of Nazareth to the road which would ultimately lead him to Jerusalem and the cross. Yet, Mark tells us, that Jesus began his ministry in this way: “Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’”

 

            Galilee has been described at that time as a rural backwater of Israel. My Mississippi image would be the equivalent of Kemper County.  Name your own analogy for Alabama.  My question would be, “What could be the good news for that dirt poor, ignorant, deprived, largely-ostracized population of Galilee. What would separate Jesus from the 19^th century barker that would ride through small towns selling miracle tonic to gullible people?”

 

            To put it simply, the same good news you receive in hearing the gospel every Sunday. Jesus’ message – and his very being – are good news.

 

            For sure, it is different from the light-hearted stories we read in Reader’s Digest.  It is more meaningful than the happy bits we see on Facebook.  And it is life-altering, unlike the brief snippets of “good news” we see on the evening news broadcasts.

 

            The word gospel is a modern term, a contraction of the Anglo-Saxon “God-spell”, meaning good news.  Jesus’ very coming in fleshly form is Good News – for the people of Galilee and for us today.

 

            The good news of the gospel is essentially the story of the Bible.  As an examining chaplain for those about to be ordained in the Diocese of Mississippi, I would always ask the graduating seminarians, “Tell me the story of the Bible.”

 

            I did not want to know the history of how the books came to be included in the Bible, or how the translations came about, or what was the difference between history and faith history.  What I wanted to know was the message – what God is seeking to say to us.

 

            We see the signs of that message in the lesson from Genesis today.  God is making a promise to all humanity – a reminder of which will be the rainbow.  The subsequent books of the Bible add details, and the stories about Jesus put flesh on the promise.

 

            The promise – the meta-narrative of the Bible – is essentially this: Throughout faith history, God has been reaching out to us. And regardless of our station in life… and regardless of what we have done… God wishes to be reconciled to and present with us. He shows us that by his very example.

 

            That is the simple message.  It was true for the people of Galilee. It is true for the people of Kemper County.  And it is true for us.