Good news

Our new dog, a baby beagle/pointer mix with the hint of a pit bull face, came toddling into our living room the other night with her bowl grasped tightly in her teeth.

A message, it seems clear, was being delivered to her owners.

What came to mind, as Daisy dropped the bowl at my feet and licked my face, was an old quote attributed to a Sri Lankan pastor, the late D.T. Niles.

"Evangelism is one beggar telling another where the food is."

Evangelism is a word from New Testament Greek, known as koine Greek, which has an imperfect English translation.

Roughly translated, evangelism means "good news".

In a culture dominated politically the last few years by the phrase, "fake news", it may be inspiring to know news may be envisioned more positively.

Backstory

During 10 years spent teaching New Testament at Southeast Missouri State University, I disabused students from thinking the era in which Jesus lived was any kind of utopia.

There is apparent scholarly unanimity that the Judea of the first century B.C.E., formerly referred to as A.D., was marked by grinding poverty and widespread illness.

If you were born poor in Palestine, there was no sense of upward social mobility; there was a discernible chasm never crossed between haves and have-nots.

If you got sick, unless blessed by an unusually robust immune system, you were going to die; there was virtually nothing resembling modern-day medicine at the time Jesus lived.

Trapped by existential circumstances, hopelessness was no doubt experienced by many.

Good news

To the masses with little money and no access to even rudimentary health care, the arrival of an itinerant carpenter who could heal with touch and occasionally with merely a word, was a revelation.

What sometimes is missed is Jesus's fame for healing and for miracles made him someone worth hearing.

People went to hear him because of what He could do.

People were transformed by what he said.

In the face of a brutal Roman regime, he advocated love rather than violence; reconciliation instead of rancor; understanding instead of hatred.

While he was dying, he was heard to utter: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

We live in a much more prosperous age, but good news is needed now just as it was then.

Rich and poor, healthy and sick, have God's attention and care.

When we consume bread and wine at the Lord's Table, sometimes called communion or the Mass, we remind each other where the food is.

In this post-Easter period, the "food" is the risen Christ.

He is the great good news.