It’s Still Good News
“The only thing better than singing is more singing.” ~Ella Fitzgerald
One summer in the local community theater, our family became temporary Iowans, performing The Music Man. In this musical, the chorus sings about an exciting vehicle called the Wells Fargo Wagon. The WFW was the Amazon of the nineteenth century, bringing such interesting things as “a box of maple sugar, a gray mackinaw, grapefruit from Tampa, a bathtub, and a cross-cut saw.”
Its arrival was an event for people in small towns, disconnected and distanced from stores and society. It’s not surprising, then, that the River City folks would line up and sing and dance about it.
Singing to herald the arrival of something important is a common occurrence in most cultures. Messengers have been greeted with joy for centuries. This is not the first song to be written about it; in fact, we know of one other in Scripture. Technically, it’s only a song in tradition. We have no proof the angels sang—but that these messengers brought joyful news is undeniable!
“Shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night. The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said, ‘Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord.’” (Luke 2:8-11 CEB)
These angels weren’t heralding a gray mackinaw. They were doing something the shepherds would recognize as common when a new ruler was born. The birth of a future emperor would have been hailed in similar terms. A Roman courier might have said these very words: “Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. Your savior is born today!” (In Rome, of course, not Bethlehem.)
It’s important to know this fact when we read this story about the angels telling the shepherds the good news of Jesus’s birth. We need to ask what, exactly, was different about what these angels sang.
Don’t Be Afraid
The people would have good reason to be afraid at the birth of a new Roman ruler. More exploitation and suffering was sure to come. So the angels proclaim the opposite—God is entering the world, and this Ruler comes peacefully.
Have you ever considered how many times God prefaced a divine entry into the world with “Don’t be afraid”? How many rulers of the day—and how many gods—threatened anger, injustice, and self-centered cruelty? God wanted to emphasize, Don’t be afraid. I desire love, not power.
How many of those who proclaim the “good news” today use tactics of fear, anger, and shame to talk about God? Beware those tactics. This isn’t the God the angels proclaimed.
Good News
Jesus’s birth is like the ultimate Wells Fargo wagon—filled with everything God promised. The shepherds knew when someone proclaimed good news, it usually wasn’t for them. So they’d ponder these words and wonder—a new ruler after God’s heart? Was this finally the jubilee they’d been waiting for?
When we’re tired of bad news, the Christmas miracle of good news given to an oppressed people who rarely heard it can cheer us. Love is born. While others dither around in the dark, trying to find a loophole to enable them to continue their hurtful ways, the people of God who follow the Light know: hope can set us free. Giving the gift of jubilee freedom from debt, oppression, and hopelessness is one of the best ways God’s people can spread good news like the angels did.
For All People
This good news wasn’t for a select few. The angels tell them—he’s your deliverer. Yes, you, shepherds. Maybe you’re not used to being included. Maybe you think the good news will pass you by like it always does. What have you to do with kings and emperors? But this good news includes all of us, too.
Good news for all people is about the best song ever. Not one person is left out. As God’s people, making sure people know that is an imperative for telling good news.
Your Savior Is Born
Your deliverer has been delivered. The shepherds would have understood this as both a personal deliverer from the worst of themselves and a corporate deliverer from the oppression of empires. The good news was that the world was under new management. How could one tell? By the peacemakers, the mourners, the gentle, and more.
Today
The wait was over. Can you imagine the excitement? Of course, the shepherds ran off to see it! If you’d been waiting so long, wouldn’t you?
What are we waiting for? Don’t be afraid. Run to look into the eyes of your deliverer. It’s still good news. It’s still freedom for those mired in hopelessness and injustice. It’s still reason to sing.
Scripture for Reflection
“You will make the fiftieth year holy, proclaiming freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a Jubilee year for you: each of you must return to your family property and to your extended family.” (Lev. 25:10 CEB)
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19 CEB)
“Suddenly a great assembly of the heavenly forces was with the angel praising God. They said, ‘Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.” (Luke 2:13-14 CEB)
Reach for More
What good news do you need today? What good news does your neighbor need? How can you be good news for your neighbor today?
If the world is under new management, how should your corner of it look? List two ways you can move it toward that in 2023.
is a writer, speaker, pastor, mom of three, and author of five books. She likes to travel, grow flowers, read Tolkien, and research her next project. She believes in Jesus, grace, restoration, kindness, justice, and dark chocolate. Her passion is partnering with the next generation of faith. Jill blogs at jillmrichardson.com.
Photograph © Mel Poole, used with permission
