Sermons for the Month
BAD Makes News
DATE: December 19, 1999
SERVICE: Advent IV
TEXT: Luke 1:47-55“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
I've got good news and I have bad news. All of us have heard jokes that start off with that line. And the punch line is always the "Bad News." Generally, we all like good news, but its the bad news that get our attention. And given a choice between good news and bad news, we'll take the bad news every time. People often say to veteran broadcaster, Paul Harvey, "Paul, why don't journalists and broadcasters emphasize more good news instead of tragedy, destruction, discord and dissent?" Harvey's own network once tried broadcasting a program devoted solely to good news. The program survived 13 weeks. We say we want good news, but we won't buy it. In Sacramento, California, a tabloid called Good News Paper printed nothing else. It lasted 36 months before it went bankrupt. A similar Indiana tabloid fared even worse -- the publishers had to GIVE IT AWAY. Evidently, the good news people say they want is news they just won't buy. Listen to any broadcast, Paul Harvey suggests, or pick up any newspaper. You'll learn that when records are crashing, it is always the worst wind or the worst fire or worst flood or earthquake or whatever -- because bad news makes news. For example, * On August 31, 1997, Chicago Tribune sales soared 40 percent due to coverage of a crash that killed a princess. * The very next issue of People made it the lead story and sold more than a million copies. * Newsweek and Time broke sales records when they did the same in the following weeks. * For an entire month after the crash, Britain's biggest newspapers gave 35 percent of their total news coverage to the death of Princess Di. Not even the end of World War II got that much ink. As Harvey suggests, bad news makes news -- and one gunshot makes more noise than a thousand prayers. That doesn't mean it is more important -- just that it sells more newspapers. The heads of all the major television networks understand this basic fact, and they make sure that news broadcasts are full of bad news. That's why the weather report does not stop with simply announcing that today's winter temperature fell to 0 degrees. How boring is that?! No, the forecaster goes on to say that the "chill factor" is 40 degrees below! That's news! In spite of all this bad news, Paul Harvey believes that the best of times is NOW. Our nation has enjoyed nearly a decade of controlled prosperity, with high employment, low inflation, and rising profits. But that is not news. Instead, the headlines we read are typically these sampled from a single day: ? RIOTERS GO BERSERK IN SEATTLE ? HELICOPTER HITS HOUSE, FOUR DIE; ? MARS LANDER FAILS, SHAKE UP AT NASA There's no mention of the cities that are not experiencing riots, the houses that are not being hit by helicopters, or the satellites that are not collapsing and crippling com links. BAD makes news (Paul Harvey, "A Time to Be Alive," Imprimis, October 1998, 1-2). Here, then, is the question du jour: Could the same be true of the world's lack of enthusiasm for the Christmas story? Let's face it: Good news can be boring. God is love. Mary is his favored one. Joseph is a righteous man. Jesus is such a sweet little baby. We've heard the story so often, and we've seen the pageant so many times. It just doesn't get the adrenaline flowing any more. But hold on: There's a surprise to be found in today's Scripture, the "Magnificat" from the first chapter of Luke. In order to get to that, let's take a look at this passage. First, it is an explosion of free verse by Mary -- a young woman who could have first thought she was getting some really bad news when the angel arrived and said, "Greetings!" "An unwed mother? You want me to become an unwed mother?" But she quickly saw the good news in Gabriel's announcement and realized how truly awesome it was. In the "Magnificat," she does her part to make sure people know by itemizing the noisy good news about her Good News God. Take out your hymnal and turn to hymn #6 and following all with me (Read or Sing if you dare the "Magnificat.") Let's take a look at what Mary sings here. Check out these headlines: GOD TAPS NAZARETH NOBODY. "My soul magnifies the Lord," rejoices little Mary, "and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant" (1:46-48). It is truly surprising and newsworthy that God chose a poor Galilean girl to become the mother of Jesus the Christ and the most significant woman in all of Holy Scripture. "Mother of God," "Heavenly nurse," "Help of the helpless," and "Dispensatrix of all grace" are just some of the names given Mary over the centuries. She became an unbreakable link between Jewish and Christian history, and also a bridge to Islam -- in the Koran only one of the 114 chapters is given the name of a woman, and the name of that chapter is "Mary." Church historian Jaroslav Pelikan sees her as the inspiration for the great abbesses of medieval times -- the most powerful women in an age of powerful men -- and today as the driving force behind people engaged in struggles for social justice around the world (Cullen Murphy, The Word According to Eve [Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998], 170-71). Not bad for a nobody from Nazareth. Her selection by God should give hope to any of us who are feeling trapped in small roles or small jobs or small towns. The great truth of Mary's story is that God uses the small to lead the big, the weak to teach the strong, the ordinary to carry out the extraordinary. All we need to do is to remember that it is availability and not ability that is key, and to say, along with Mary, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word" (1:38). And now comes the surprise: LORD BUMPS BIG BOYS, LIFTS LITTLE GUY. Some genuine bad news particularly if you happen to think of yourself as one of the "big boys." "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones," says the Magnificat, "and lifted up the lowly" (1:52). From computer giants to the world's biggest oil companies, merger has become the favorite sport of the captains of industry. Whether it's the information age giants like Microsoft and America Online, or the industrial age big boys like Exxon and Mobil, those who run the economy agree on one thing -- bigger is better. But what's wrong with this picture? What's wrong with it is that God is working to bring down the powerful and lift up the lowly. God is concerned more about the common good than about corporate greed. "Can anybody seriously suggest that bigger, more powerful, and more profitable corporations will help to protect the interests of workers, consumers, the environment, local communities, and the forgotten poor?" asks Jim Wallis in Sojourners magazine ("Merger Mania," March-April 1999, 9). "Is it right that the casino economy of Wall Street profits when the real economy of workers and their families suffers? Is it fair that the people who do the firing get a raise, while the people fired can only fear for the future of their families?" Christians who follow the Good News God of the "Magnificat" are called to look for the common good along with capital gains. But wait there's more and this is good: 2000-YEAR-OLD PROMISE KEPT. "He has helped his servant Israel," Mary notes, "in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever" (1:54-55). Long before men began gathering in sports stadiums to hear talks and worship, long before guys met in small groups on a weekly basis to support each other in their struggles and commitments, long before a modern men's movement led by a college football coach existed, there was a "Promise Keeper" -- the Lord God. God kept his promises to Israel, from the time of Abraham to the time of Mary, and he keeps his promises today. The greatest sign of his promise-keeping was the birth of his son Jesus Christ: "A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse," said God through the prophet Isaiah, "and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord" (11:1-2). He'll grow up to judge the poor with righteousness and kill the wicked with the breath of his lips. His kingdom will be a peaceful one, marked by righteousness and faithfulness and the knowledge of the Lord. This is news -- news of surprising selections, unexpected elevations and the preservation of ancient promises. It's noisy news, awesome news, but better yet ... it's good news. It's the good news that God has come to earth in Jesus Christ, to call us to himself and to point us toward his just and everlasting kingdom. Let's celebrate together this Christmas Eve and then again on Sunday, December 26, the good news that Jesus Christ is born. AMEN