A CURIOUS KIND OF GOOD News
| February 26, 1989
8:30 and 11:00 a.m. Worship Services
John M. Buchanan
“Fourth: presbyterian Church, chicago ©

Scripture:
Exodus: 3:1-6
Luke: 13:6=9°")

"...1f it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, “you can ‘cut it
down." . Cae Luke 13: 9 (RSV)

There’ is, as‘always, both good news and’ bad news... The good. news
about healing is good only to the degree that you know: something about
sickness. .The good news about freedom is good to. the degree that you: know
something about. bondage. ~ Good news about: heaven ‘is--good to. the: degree that
you'know something about hell: You might even ‘Say there is no such ‘thing
as good news unless there is also bad news. “Or you might. say that bad
news; when it-is honest, is good news :

There® is “within religion. an inclination to: emphasize either. bad news
or good news; to°come down hard ‘on guilt or grace, -human culpability or:
human potential. You might.say. that Puritan religion with its grin
distrust of: human nature.was bad news religion.... And that Protestant—
Evangelical hell-fire ‘and brimstone jostling: with the devil, hell and: sin.
is an almost artful expression of the bad: news, And. you might say that. the
strange’ phenomenon of New Age Religion, emphasizing getting. in touch with;
your feelings, celebrating your humanness, or the. enormously popular ae
variations on the theme of the’ Power of Postive Thinking, are expressions.
ofthe other side of: the ‘equation... Good News Religion.

My proposal this morning is that Biblical Religion. is always a mixture
of good news and: bad news or good news which ‘is honest about the. bad news.

There. “is: one. verse in the Bible pakticularly that illustrates the Oo
point. I. chuckle’ whenever I’read it: It-eecurs early in Luke as we are”
introduced to John the Baptist: John was ‘a | real heli- fire and: brimstone
préacher..: He said things like..

“You brood of vipers! “Who warned you ‘to flee from the. wrath to come?
Even now the axe is laid to the root of the tree; every tree therefore that.
does not. bear fruit is: cut’ down and thrown into the fire."

Then, warming.to his: task, he told them: about’ the one who was to come
after him and it wasn't very cheerful.

Referring. to. Jesus, John said,. “His winnowing fork is in-his. hand toa

clear. his threshing floor.. the chaff he will. burn with. unquenchable
fire." > And.then->the sentence. Athat..makes- me. chuckle: "So, with many other
exhortations, he preached 'good news' to them." [Luke 3: 7,9,17,18]

That's a curious kind-of good news! "I wonder when the hearers
realized it was good -.if ever?...In-any event there is..a whole. genre of
-recent. good news/bad news humor.

"I have. good news. and bad news," a celestial messenger says to a
startled man:. "The good news..is that: you. will have.your reward in heaven.
The bad news: is ‘that it begins today." The Bible is consistent. It
brings bad news and: good news together..in:'a synthesis: which is, we-believe,
God's: truth: about the human. condition... Luke was right about. John... the
bad: news is: part of .the good news; :

_ The bad news, Biblically Speaking, is. that. human: beings -are. never
quite as god as God made them to be... There seems to be a flaw,..a-loveable
one, but a flaw nonetheless. At the same time, God holds human: beings
accountable for their behavior and the the welfare of the community, indeed
the.welfare of the whole creation. High expectations,: accountability plus
human: failure equals bad. news. wo . ;

: One time Jesus told about a vineyard and. an unproductive. fig.tree. eo,
It. is-a particularly intriguing and: wise.story.:..It: is also.a-New. Testament
version. of a dood news/bad. news joke.

The owner. of the vineyard comes looking for fruit on-a particular
tree... Everyone who heard that. opening: sentence: knew: Isaiah: 5 where.Israel
is described as God's vineyard and God, as .-the vineyard:owner. The images
were old and beloved and familiar to-all..

"For. three years," he says, ay ve been looking for. fruit and there is
none. Cut it down!" Now what you and J. don't: -know is that it takes a. fig
tree three years to mature and: the Levitical law. prohibits harvesting :the
fruit for the next three years. So_if the master. has. been. looking
unsuccessfully for fruit for. three years it means that this ‘fig. tree has.
been taking up space and, using up nutrients in. the soil without. producing
anything: for nine years.

God. owns the. vineyard. _If the vineyard | is ‘Israel, this. particular
tree must be. the religious leaders of Israel: Pharisees, Scribes,.-Priests.
So. what comes. next is actually a good news/bad: news. joke.. The vinedresser
interrupts:.. "Give it - another year... Let. me have an opportunity to work
with it. a. bit, put some manure on it.” The word.manure- was never:-used:in.
polite company. It was as inappropriate in this conversation as it.:is.in
church. But Jesus used it, and the people listening were howling in
laughter as the people always laugh when the powerful. are brought down a
few notches... The good news is. that grace abounds, The tree gets yet

‘another chance, another. year to produce. The bad news: is - we're going.to
have to be honest - that it's going to take some outside help, a little
manure. in fact.

oe

2/26/89

“It's ‘a wonderful: little story and it is-a relevant. story because,
frankly; modern religion doesn't seem. to“ know much about othe bad news which

“Makes =the’ good } news /so- good.

Religion,:we: think, with some. justification, has been obsessive about
human frailty and “has added to the already heavy ‘burden. of. guilt people
carry around. Enlightened - religion ought to’ celebrate human ‘goodness
instead ‘of- dredging up all that. old business about. The Fall, (“Original
Sin and what the: Calvinists: used to°call “total: depravity."

The typical Presbyterian reaction to the claims of: the: General
Confession, “We have done those things we ought not to “have done and we
have left undone those things which we ought | to have done, and there is no
health in us" is ordinarily, "Who me?” eee Bs

Under. the influence of enlightened humanism the Christian church has
been more and more émbarrassed by its own ideas about. the human condition
with the result that the bad news is banished. The: laté Phyllis McGinley.
wrote wonderfully penetrating poems about our chumannéss. ‘One series,” a :
favorite of mine, is called Sonnets From The Suburbs. One. of the sonnets -

is about the “community | church:

“The Rev. Dr. Harcourt, folk agree ae
nodding” their heads in solid satisfaction | Rees
“Is just the man for: this community.» ee ee
Tall, young, urbane, but ‘capable of. ‘action,
He pleases when he serves. He marshals out
=the younger’ crowd, lacks trace ‘of clerical unetion,
“Cheers: Kiwanis and the Eagle Scout>.
Is popular at every function

And:in the pulpit eloquently speaks
On ‘divine matters* with both wit and clarity,
Art, Education, God, ‘the Early ‘Greeks, :
Psychiatry, Saint Paul, true Christian clarity; :
vestry repairs ‘that shortly must begin =. 05
All things but Sin: He seldom mentions Sin.
["Sonnets from the: Suburbs, ‘Community ‘Church, “
- Times Three, p..134,°-135]

The historians tell us it was the First World War which failed so
utterly to make the world safe for. democracy; and. the Second World War
which called*into question all the assumptions about humanity getting ~
better and better. Whatever-‘it ‘was, a°generation:. ago our ‘best’ thinkers
concluded that. the bad news, the Christian Doctrine of ‘sin and. the
accountability ‘of human beings for: their behavior, might be the most...
valuable insight Wwe have. : Fd en PUN oe!

Reinhold Niebuhr broké with: the “easy liberalism of the day. and wrote
the classic 20th century analysis of the human condition which still
penetrates.

Niebuhr wrote that we are insecure: “We seek to overcome our
insecurity by a will-to-power which overreaches-the-limits: of human

resolving to love more. And. if we know. anything. about: ourselves itvis that
trying to love doesn! 4. get. the: job done. . We can't: love: more: by. trying
harder. _ We need. reinforcements, -We need help: from the outside; a little
manure. perhaps, , -or a little grace, ~— or a good- combination. of both.

“Without-a sense of sin, individual accountability disappears and not
long after it any sense that we matter as individuals... 1t doesn't take
children long to. conclude . that indulgent parents. aren't expressing: love:
that easy,. anything goes, indulgence.-actually. means. “You don't: matter.
What you. do has no meaning." Psychologists: -know.-that: some. youthful
misbehavior is actually a plea for: someone to. care. ‘enough to- say: "no.'
William Muehl, professor at Yale, put-it eloquently: - "The people*to whom
the Gospel is ‘to speak today are not huddled fearfully in the shadow of
ancient altars.. Theyare, rather, wandering. about aimlessly, troubled by
the increasing suspicion that no one literally gives a damn.about what they
do." [All the Damned Angels, p. 35,°38]

‘Well, someone does give a:damn; Someone®™ cares, very deeply. “Someone
cares enough to be. disappointed. when you and I are. not -as good°as we could
be... Someone cares enough about us to want-us to be responsible. Someone
holds us accountable -- which is the bad news but it is also: the good news.

We. want ‘to be taken seriously. -None of us has time. for-trivia: For
one. reason. or: another we take. time. out of very: busy lives. to be. together in
worship and my. sense is. that here, .above.all else, among all the places oo
that occupy our time, here. we want to be taken seriously... We may“ go to. the _
theater,. concert hall, health club, for diversion, for.lightness. and
delight, but here. we are. open to: seriousness. Here we may even invite
accountability... "We: are insulted," says. Fred Craddock, .."to have ‘grace
poured like: syrup! over our lives with no. diagnoses, .no.recommendation.for
surgery, no regimen for. recovery.‘ '_. (Preaching, pi 88]

The. bad news .which is.also the good. news,./is that. there is one who
takes_us very. seriously, a God. who. loves:us. enough ‘to hold. us:accountable.
This God. is no. indulgent: parent. but. a. parent, who ‘loves us so much that our
failures are borne deeply within the very. -heart. .of ‘God.’

The bad. news. which: is.also:the good news;..is-that- God may visit our
consciences; give us a few. sleepless. nights.on:occasion;. may torment-us
with."those. things we have left undone which we ought. to have done,: and
those things” we have done. which. we ought not to have done," not tc weigh us

down with more guilt, but, to get our attention, to persuade us to be.
honest, so -that we. can. be forgiven and remade."

God comes with love to do something. none of us can do alone, namely
overcome: our sin:and. lead new, and. grace-filled lives of. love... That's the
issue finally. God takes-us seriously... God loves. us. . God's. love. comes to
us.-inva very costly..sacrifice:--.the life. of a: beloved:-son: | Lent journeys
to ‘the cross and.there,: beneath. that cross, you and. I. become. witnesses to
what. seems to..be: the worst possible news... Our central ‘symbol]-seems to co.
represent nothing so:much as human sin and misunderstanding and cruelty - a
unless. it represents: divine love.and grace and forgiveness... And-it has
been: the experience.of,men and:women.for.2,000: years. that beneath the cross

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that transformation happens, the symbol of. our sin becomeés -the means of
forgiveness and new life.

The invitation of the Gospel is to be brave enough.to look at
ourselves in light: of. God's expectation and intent, not in order to make: us
feel guilty and inadequate, but precisely to expose us to God's healing and
recreative. love.

We do it weekly in the Prayer. of Confession and I invite you to-do it
now: -to look honestly at- your life: to ask, with full confidence. in God's
forgiveness, for: the resources. of God's love and Amazing: Grace:

Good News ~ Bad News, bad news that becomes, by grace, good news...

"Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved

How. precious did “that graceé appear

The. hour. I first - believed."

Grant. us: courage, 0 God, to look honestly at ourselves;. integrity to
admit our failures and faith to rely utterly on that amazing grace you have
given us-in-Jesus our Lord. Amen.

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