The Good News Preached to You 1 Peter 1:25; Acts 2:14a, 36-41; 1 Peter 1:17-25; Luke 24:13-35
Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God our Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord, whom the good news of the gospel is all about.
Our message is based on our Epistle, especially verse 25: 25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
So much of the news these days can be discouraging and depressing, but the good news that’s in God’s Word can overcome all the bad news in this fallen world.
The message of Easter, this good news that Jesus has risen and overcome sin and death for us, supersedes any other news in this entire world.
I remember my mother telling me about when she was a child, she was outside playing or something, and all of a sudden she heard the school bell ringing, the country school was about a mile away from their farm, and she ran inside and told her parents, “The school bell is ringing… the war is over.”
And her dad, “No it must be something else.” So they turned the radio on and heard the good news that Germany had surrendered and the war in Europe was over.
It was a long, terrible war, but people were literally dancing in the streets when it ended.
We’ve got something even better to dance and shout about: by His death and resurrection, Jesus won the war of Hell against Heaven, of evil against good, death against life, the war of sin and selfishness against goodness and love, the war of Satan and demons against God and His angels, the fallen world against the Church, Jesus won the war of all wars, and eternal victory. That war never has to be fought again, although we must contend with sin and its consequences in this life, but not in the life to come.
Since Jesus rose victorious over sin and death, now every Sunday is a celebration of Easter, and so we start the service by ringing the bell.
Imagine how the bells of Heaven rang, so to speak, how saints and angels shouted for joy at the good news that Sunday morning that Jesus had risen… and how Hell wept, and Satan despaired.
Thanks to Jesus we have this eternally good news to share in this world of never-ending bad news, it seems.
As bad as the worst of news is, the best of news, the Gospel, is infinitely better, and worth getting excited about and shouting about, more than any other news!
Which is why, after the apostles had seen Jesus risen, and the Holy Spirit came to them at Pentecost, they couldn’t be silenced, even though the authorities tried to shut them up. The news was just too good to keep quiet about.
What God gives us through His Son and His Spirit, by His Word and His Sacraments, is too good not to be happy about, and shout about, and sing about, and preach and teach and proclaim.
Speaking of shouting for joy, a number of years ago, when I was baptizing two boys, whose father had grown bitter and fallen away from faith, and so hadn’t allowed them to be baptized…
… but he had a change of heart and came back to the Gospel, and so we were baptizing his sons, about 3rd and 4th grade, as I remember…
… and some of their classmates from the day school were there, and as soon as I baptized the first boy, the oldest, his friends stood up and cheered…
… and before I could even dry his wet head, he jumped up and cheered, too.
And then I baptized his little brother, and they all did the same…
I didn’t expect it, but I loved it.
We adults who were there all felt so ministered to by their joy that was just too great to be contained.
And of course, their father and mother cried.
Those kids had it right, not that we have to jump and shout when we praise God, but that Baptism is that good, and the Gospel is news that good, and Jesus’ resurrection is that great, and His Word is that wonderful.
Thanks be to God that the good news of His Son has been proclaimed to us, preached to us, shared with us, taught to us, and written down for us to read in Holy Scripture.
Thank you God for all who in whatever way, have shared the Word and the love of the Lord with us.
After all these years of reading and learning and hearing God’s Word…after all these years of following the lectionary in worship, the appointed readings for each Sunday that we have in our inserts…
… these readings we’ve read and heard and repeated so often, and still, there are those times when you read, or hear, or study these verses, and a new insight just hits you, the Holy Spirit at work in your mind…
… and it’s like, “Why didn’t I think of that before”… or maybe I did years ago and forgot…
Always new insights and new applications of those true and ancient words… there’s just something eternal about them…
As our Epistle says, 25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.”
Or as John calls it in Revelation, the eternal Gospel.
In the vision he was given in Revelation, in chapter 14, verse 6, which is the appointed Epistle reading that we hear every Reformation Sunday, John says, Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal
gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.
In response, Peter says in our Epistle: 25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
I thank God for everyone who shared it with me… I’d be lost without it… lost in every way.
There’s both good and bad news in this world, some news worth hearing and repeating, and some not.
The Gospel is the best of news and the most needed of news.
No news, no information, no knowledge, is more relevant than the Good News of God’s Son overcoming death for us. That’s good news for everybody, for all people of every age and every place.
But it’s good news they’ll never hear, unless it shared and proclaimed. And Jesus has given His Church that noble task.
In today’s Gospel, when Jesus joined the two disciples on the road to Emmaus… and explained Scripture to them in light of His death and resurrection…
… and they invited Him to stay with them… and then when He broke bread… and they realized who it was… just like that, Jesus was gone and they were left in awe, entirely amazed.
They said, “Did not our hearts burn in us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
Even though it was late, and not altogether safe to be on the road…
… they ran back to Jerusalem and told the other disciples the good news that Jesus was alive, and they had talked to Him and broke bread with Him.
They said, “Yes, we know, He’s risen, indeed! Peter saw Him. too.”
The next thing Peter knew, it was Pentecost and he was boldly proclaiming the good news in public, in the marketplace, as we heard in our reading from Acts 2… no more hiding behind locked doors for the apostles, nor for us.
There’s no news like the Good News of our Good Shepherd, as we’ll talk about next Sunday… our Lord and God who died and rose for us.
And its news for the whole world to hear and repent and believe… and shout for joy!
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
May God bless us as we hear His Word, and as we share His Word.
And may His peace, which passes understanding, guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, who rose to give us Good News for today, and for eternity. Amen.